System Architect - Development

PPL Corporation; Allentown (Lehigh County); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

PPL Corporation is seeking a System Architect to lead architecture work in a hybrid role with on-site days at locations including Louisville, KY; Allentown, PA; or Providence, RI. You will shape software architecture, guide development teams, and ensure scalable, cloud-ready solutions while collaborating with the enterprise architecture function.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, modern tech stacks, and a focus on delivering robust, maintainable systems in an Agile setting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field.
• 10+ years of related work experience.
• Strong knowledge of architecture and trends.
• Experience with Agile methodologies.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Work in an Agile environment and be a strong team player.
• Provide hands-on development leadership and architecture guidance.
• Hire, develop and mentor engineers.
• Conduct code reviews for system modifications.
• Deliver end-to-end solutions using innovative design.
• Define subsystems, interfaces, and deployment requirements.
• Partner with enterprise architecture to ensure standards.

Skills

Microservices

Event-driven

Container management

CI/CD

API management

Leadership

Agile

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

AKS

GKE

ECS

OpenShift

Terraform

Job description

Company Summary Statement

As one of the largest investor-owned utility companies in the United States, PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), is committed to creating long-term, sustainable value for our 3.5 million customers, our shareowners and the communities we serve. Our high-performing regulated utilities - PPL Electric Utilities, Louisville Gas and Electric, Kentucky Utilities and Rhode Island Energy - provide an outstanding experience for our customers, consistently ranking among the best utilities in the nation. PPL's companies are also addressing challenges head-on by investing in new infrastructure and technology that is creating a smarter, more reliable and resilient energy grid. We are committed to doing our part to advance a cleaner energy future and drive innovation that enables us to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while maintaining energy reliability and affordability for the customers and communities we serve. PPL is a positive force in the cities and towns where we do business, providing support for programs and organizations that empower the success of future generations by helping to build and maintain strong, diverse communities today.

Overview

NOTE: This role is hybrid requiring 3 days on-site at one of our locations: Louisville, KY; Allentown, PA or Providence, RI.

The System Architect is a key technical contributor who can digest complex business problems and identify architecturally sound solutions. They will support solution development by providing, communicating and evolving the broader technology and architectural view of the system solution, with demonstrated expertise in a variety of information technology concepts, practices, and procedures, can design and partner to implement software applications. The System Architect understands API's, Back-end systems, CMS, Search, Cloud and DevOps, and mobile first methodology and helps transform concepts to life using Agile framework. We are looking for someone who is outcome focused, loves challenges, can work collaboratively and exemplifies the virtues of our talent model: Humble, Hungry and Smart.

Responsibilities

• Work in an iterative/Agile environment and be a strong team player.


• Provide hands‑on application development leadership and expertise in the creation of technical solutions to address system needs, working closely with enterprise architecture team.


• Hire, develop and mentor engineers. The system architect will also serve as the thought leader for the engineering organization. They will be responsible for making sure that the organization adheres to engineering best practices.


• Conducts code reviews for system modifications and development. Ability to work flexible hours as needed to accommodate remote team needs.


• Ability to deliver end to end solution using innovative approaches to complex design problems.


• Analyze and tune application performance, with a focus on user experience, system responsiveness and scalability.


• Work with supporting teams to devise and validate viable solutions.


• Participate in planning, definition, and high-level design of the solution and exploration of solution alternatives.


• Enable the Continuous Delivery Pipeline through appropriate design guidelines and investment advocacy.


• Work with customers, stakeholders, and suppliers to establish high-level solution intent, and the solution intent information models and documentation requirements.


• Establish critical NFRs for the solution and participate in the definition of others.


• Operate within an economic framework when analyzing the impact of design decisions - Cost/Benefit & ROI analysis.


• Work with multiple Technology teams to champion the adoption of patterns, platforms, and tools to support the usage and conformity of solution architecture.


• Define subsystems and their interfaces, allocate responsibilities to subsystems, understand solution deployment, and communicate requirements for interactions with solution context.


• Work across the Technology portfolio of products supported by other system architects to identify dependencies and help address the same.


• Plan and develop the Architectural Runway in support of new business Features and Capabilities.


• Assess wider industry technology trends and best practices to identify best-in-class Technology and architecture directions.


• Play an active role in identifying new technologies for improving systems.


• Effectively partner with the Solution Architects/Chief Architect on the Enterprise Architecture team to ensure architecture standards and solution guidelines are implemented effectively.


• Demonstrated track record & expertise in architecting technical solutions that include Microservices, event-driven systems, container management (AKS, GKE, ECS, OpenShift, Rancher, etc.), messaging systems (RabbitMQ, MQ, Kafka, etc.), data management, continuous integration / continuous deployment (Jenkins, Ansible, Terraform etc.), API Management (Apigee, Kong etc.).


• If applicable, in-person supervision of employees to ensure compliance with FLSA wage and hour issues as well as to monitor compliance with safety rules.


• May be assigned an Electric Utilities emergency and storm role. This is a special assignment that comes into play during storms and other emergencies when the company needs to restore power or respond to other issues affecting customer service. This role may necessitate the need to work after-hours, outside of your normal schedule.


• The company reserves the right to determine if this position will be assigned to work on-site, remotely, or a combination of both. Assigned work location may change. In the case of remote work, physical presence in the office/on-site may be required to engage in face-to-face interaction and coordination of work among direct reports and co-workers.


• Performs other duties as assigned.


• Complies with all policies and standards Hands-on experience producing detailed technical diagrams and authoring technical documentation with demonstrated experience in architecting cloud native solutions with platforms such as Azure, AWS, GCP, etc.

Qualifications

Required Education

• Bachelor's Degree

Required Experience

• 10+ years of related work experience.


• 5+ years leadership experience.


• Experience managing teams in a support and technology environment.


• Strong knowledge of advanced technology architecture and emerging trends.


• Familiar with the latest technologies, trends, standards, products, and applicability.


• Ability to effectively adapt to rapid technological and business change while maintaining enthusiasm and displaying sound judgment.


• A creative and analytical problem solver focused on translating complex business problems into architecturally sound technical solutions.


• Excellent interpersonal relations skills.


• Experience with Agile methodologies and fast‑paced environment.


• Driven, self‑motivated, able to work under pressure using sound judgment & professionalism.


• Demonstrates a craving for continuous improvement, through understanding of new technology innovation and its application.

Preferred Qualifications

• 5 years' experience architecting solutions that include automation, mobile, data management, integration technologies and deployment on cloud infrastructures, preferably for large enterprises.


• 7+ years leadership experience.