Vice President - Platform Architecture/Software Architecture

Talantir; United States; On-site; USD 240,000 - 360,000; Full time

Job summary

FICO is seeking a Vice President of Technical Architecture to shape and evolve the technical foundation of the FICO Platform. You will bridge architectural strategy with engineering execution, leading modernization efforts and ensuring pragmatic, scalable solutions across domains.

You will mentor architects, drive architectural governance, and partner with product management to align roadmaps with business objectives, while maintaining technical excellence across the platform.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a senior architect with deep expertise in designing and evolving large-scale enterprise platform architectures.
• Proven track record of defining and implementing platform architecture strategies in complex SaaS or PaaS environments.

Responsibilities

• Refine and evolve the technical architecture strategy for the FICO Platform, ensuring scalability, reliability and performance.
• Define architectural principles, standards and patterns guiding engineering teams.
• Lead architecture reviews and ensure consistency of decisions across platform domains.
• Partner with engineering leaders to translate designs into successful implementations.
• Drive platform modernization including cloud-native transformation, API strategy and microservices evolution.

Skills

Platform architecture

Cloud-native architectures

Microservices

API design

Execution & leadership

AWS

Engineering collaboration

Tools

Architecture reviews

Job description

The OpportunityJoin FICO as Vice President of Technical Architecture, where you'll play a pivotal role in shaping and evolving the technical foundation of the FICO Platform. This is a unique opportunity for a hands‑on architecture leader who combines deep platform architecture expertise with a strong bias for execution, working in close partnership with our engineering organization to bring architectural vision to life.As a senior architecture leader, you'll bridge the critical gap between architectural strategy and engineering execution, ensuring our platform architecture evolves in a way that is practical, scalable, and aligned with business objectives. You'll work closely with engineering teams to translate architectural principles into tangible outcomes, driving consistency and technical excellence across the platform. This role is ideal for an experienced architect who is equally comfortable defining architectural direction and rolling up their sleeves to ensure successful implementation.

What You'll Contribute

Platform Architecture Leadership

• Refine and evolve the technical architecture strategy for the FICO Platform, ensuring it meets current and future scalability, reliability, and performance requirements
• Define and maintain architectural principles, standards, and patterns that guide engineering teams in building robust platform solutions
• Lead architectural reviews and ensure consistency of technical decisions across platform domains

Architecture Execution & Engineering Partnership

• Work in close partnership with engineering leaders to ensure architectural designs are translated into successful implementations
• Drive execution of architectural initiatives by actively engaging with engineering teams throughout the delivery lifecycle
• Bridge the gap between architectural vision and engineering reality, ensuring pragmatic and achievable technical solutions

Platform Modernization

• Lead platform modernization initiatives including cloud-native transformation, API strategy, and microservices evolution
• Identify and drive resolution of technical debt that impacts platform scalability and performance
• Champion innovative architectural approaches that leverage emerging technologies to maintain competitive advantage

Technical Governance

• Establish and maintain architectural governance frameworks that ensure technical consistency across the platform
• Lead architecture review boards and technical design discussions that drive alignment across engineering teams
• Define and track architectural KPIs that measure platform health, scalability, and technical debt

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with product management to ensure platform architecture supports current and future product roadmaps
• Collaborate with cloud operations teams to ensure architectural decisions align with infrastructure capabilities
• Work with security teams to embed security and compliance principles into platform architecture

Technical Thought Leadership

• Serve as a senior technical voice within the engineering organization, elevating architectural thinking and practices
• Mentor and develop architects and senior engineers, building a strong community of technical excellence
• Stay ahead of industry trends and bring relevant innovations and best practices into the organization

What We're Seeking

Platform Architecture Expertise

• Extensive experience as a senior architect with deep expertise in designing and evolving large-scale enterprise platform architectures
• Proven track record of successfully defining and implementing platform architecture strategies in complex SaaS or PaaS environments

Execution Focus

• Demonstrated ability to drive architectural initiatives through to successful implementation in close partnership with engineering organizations
• Strong track record of bridging architecture and engineering, ensuring designs are practical, achievable, and delivered with excellence

Technical Breadth & Depth

• Deep expertise in cloud-native architectures, microservices, distributed systems, and API design
• Strong background in AWS cloud services, containerization, and modern platform technologies

Engineering Collaboration

• Proven ability to work in close partnership with engineering teams, influencing technical direction without direct authority
• Experience embedding within engineering organizations to drive architectural adoption and execution

Technical Governance

• Expertise in establishing and maintaining architectural governance frameworks that balance consistency with engineering autonomy
• Experience leading architecture review processes that drive technical alignment across large engineering organizations

Strategic Thinking

• Ability to balance long-term architectural vision with pragmatic near-term execution needs
• Proven experience making strategic architectural decisions that have significant and lasting impact on platform capabilities

Stakeholder Communication

• Exceptional ability to communicate complex architectural concepts to diverse audiences from engineers to executives
• Proven track record of building consensus around architectural decisions among diverse technical and business stakeholders

Mentorship & Leadership

• Strong passion for developing architectural talent and elevating technical capabilities across engineering organizations
• Experience building and nurturing communities of practice around architecture and technical excellence

Strategic Business Acumen

• Ability to align cloud operations strategy with business objectives and demonstrate ROI on infrastructure investments
• Experience managing large operational budgets and driving cost optimization without compromising quality

Leadership & Team Building

• Exceptional leadership skills with proven ability to build, mentor, and retain high-performing technical teams
• Experience leading geographically distributed teams and fostering collaboration across time zones

Stakeholder Management

• Strong ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and influence executive decision-making
• Proven track record of partnering with engineering, product, and business teams to deliver integrated solutions

About US

FICO is a leading analytics and decision management company that empowers businesses and individuals around the world with data-driven insights. Known for pioneering the FICO® Score, a standard in consumer credit risk assessment, FICO combines advanced analytics, machine learning, and sophisticated algorithms to drive smarter, faster decisions across industries. From financial services to retail, insurance, and healthcare, FICO's innovative solutions help organizations make precise decisions, reduce risk, and enhance customer experiences. With a strong commitment to ethical use of AI and data, FICO is dedicated to improving financial access and inclusivity, fostering trust, and driving growth for a digitally evolving world