Solution Architect

Codalinc; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Maternity/Paternity Leave

401k match

Professional Development

Hybrid work environment

Job summary

Codal is seeking an experienced Solution Architect to design end-to-end architectures across software, data, AI, and DevOps for enterprise clients. This is a hands-on, client-facing role blending architecture, prototyping, and delivery leadership to translate business goals into practical, evolvable solutions.

You will mentor engineers, evaluate new tools, and align architecture with CI/CD and cloud platforms while balancing cost, risk, and time.

Qualifications

• 9+ years of hands-on software or systems engineering experience.
• Ability to solve complex client problems that impact client business.
• Proven ability to evaluate technology landscape and make defensible recommendations, including build-vs-buy and platform trade-offs.
• Strong grounding across at least two of: application architecture, systems design, data architecture, AI/ML, DevOps.
• Comfort learning a new domain/stack quickly with hands-on validation.
• Experience presenting technical recommendations to clients, including non-technical stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and modern CI/CD practices.
• Solid understanding of databases and data platforms (SQL, NoSQL, analytics).
• Clear, confident communication and adaptability.

Responsibilities

• Assess a client’s technology landscape and compare pros/cons of current vs proposed solutions.
• Design end-to-end architectures spanning application, data, AI/ML, and DevOps.
• Present and defend architecture recommendations to client stakeholders.
• Support discovery, technical planning, and pre-sales conversations.
• Create and maintain architecture decision records.
• Guide engineering teams through implementation with hands-on prototyping and reviews.
• Evaluate tools and AI capabilities to improve solutions or delivery speed.
• Align architecture with CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and data platform realities.
• Mentor engineers on architectural thinking beyond code.
• Support planning, estimation, and risk management across the project lifecycle.

Skills

Architecture design

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Communication

DevOps familiarity

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

An Introduction to Codal

Codal is an award-winning web design and development consultancy that helps enterprise organizations solve complex problems and accelerate growth through elegant, data-driven digital solutions. Our areas of expertise include application modernization, eCommerce, UX/UI design, product strategy, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.

At Codal, you will collaborate with some of the most innovative organizations in the world and work on cutting-edge technologies that push the boundaries of design and software development. We promote long-term success, not just for our clients but for our team, helping you develop a professional roadmap that takes your career to new heights.

Codal is looking for a Solution Architect who can look at a client's technology landscape, understand what's working, what isn't, and chart a credible path forward. You'll design and defend end-to-end solutions across software, systems, data, AI, and DevOps, translating ambiguous business goals into architectures that are practical to build and easy to evolve.

This is a hands-on and client-facing role. You'll move between whiteboard sessions with client executives, deep technical design work, and hands-on prototyping to prove out an approach before committing a team to it. You're comfortable weighing cost, timeline, risk, and maintainability against each other, then making a recommendation and standing behind it.

We expect this role to embody Codal’s principles of mindful excellence, insatiable expertise, diverse intuition, data-led curiosity, and candid leadership in how you lead technically, mentor your team, and engage with clients.

***Please note this role is open to Chicagoland residents and is not eligible for Visa sponsorship.

Who You'll Be Working With

You’ll work alongside client stakeholders, from engineering leads to executive sponsors, as well as Codal's project managers, designers, and delivery teams. You’ll be involved from early discovery and pre-sales conversations through hands-on implementation and post-launch support.

Responsibilities

• Assess a client's existing technology landscape (software, systems, data, and infrastructure) and rationalize the pros, cons, and risks of what's in place versus what's proposed.
• Design end-to-end solution architectures spanning application, data, AI/ML, and DevOps concerns, and document them clearly enough for both engineers and executives to act on.
• Present and defend architecture recommendations to client stakeholders, including technical leads and executive sponsors, with support from Codal's delivery and account teams.
• Support discovery, technical planning, and pre-sales conversations, translating client goals and constraints into a scoped, deliverable technical approach.
• Create and maintain architecture decision records that capture the trade-offs considered and the reasoning behind each major decision.
• Guide engineering teams through implementation, staying hands-on where needed (prototyping, code review, unblocking hard technical problems) without holding up delivery.
• Evaluate emerging tools, platforms, and AI capabilities, and bring forward recommendations that would meaningfully improve a client's solution or delivery speed.
• Partner with DevOps, data, and engineering leads to align architecture with CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and data platform realities on the ground.
• Mentor engineers and technical leads on architectural thinking, not just implementation, helping the broader team reason about systems, not just code.
• Support planning, estimation, and risk management across the project lifecycle, flagging architectural risk early.

What You'll Need to Be Successful

• 9+ years of hands-on software or systems engineering experience, including experience designing and owning architecture for complex, client-facing solutions.
• Understanding and ability to solve complex client problems that will impact client business.
• Proven ability to evaluate an existing technology landscape and make a clear, defensible recommendation, including build-vs-buy and platform trade-offs.
• Strong grounding across at least two of the following: application architecture, systems/infrastructure design, data architecture, AI/ML solutioning, and DevOps.
• Comfort learning a new domain or stack quickly (just-in-time), with enough hands-on ability to validate an approach yourself rather than only directing others.
• Experience presenting technical recommendations directly to clients, including non-technical and executive stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and modern CI/CD practices.
• Solid understanding of databases and data platforms (SQL, NoSQL, and analytics platforms such as BigQuery).
• Clear, confident communication skills, and the judgment to know when to hold a position and when to adapt it.
• The drive to learn, adapt, and apply to the ever changing technology landscape.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a consulting or professional services environment, including supporting pre-sales, proposals, or client discovery.
• Experience architecting solutions that incorporate AI/ML capabilities into existing products or platforms.
• Experience leading architecture review boards or similar governance processes.
• A track record of guiding teams through complex technical challenges and ambiguous requirements to a shipped outcome.
• Certifications in a cloud platform or AI such as AWS Solution Architect or Claude Certified Architect

Benefits

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive medical coverage for employees and their dependents.
• Maternity/Paternity Leave: Additional time off and support for new parents.
• Employer 401k match - 4%
• Professional Development: Opportunities for training, workshops, and conferences to enhance employees' skills and knowledge.
• A hybrid work environment for in-person collaboration and sprint-planning days

We continually review ranges to address skills, experience and markets. Base salaries are determined during our interview process, by assessing a number of factors that include but aren't limited to, a candidate's experience and skills relative to the scope and responsibilities of the position.

Pay range: $185,000 – $210,000 USD

At Codal, we are committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.