Solutions Architect

Status:

Exempt Location:

Hybrid work model, two days a week in office at headquarters

Salary:

$140,000

• $160,000 As the Solution Architect , you will be a senior technical leader and hands-on practitioner who shapes how our engineering team designs, builds, and shapes software. You will work closely with a collaborative team of internal engineers and offshore contractors to set the technical direction for cloud, AI, and security across our product and platform
• without the overhead of large-organization governance structures.

As the Solution Architect, you should be equally comfortable with whiteboarding a solution with a developer and presenting a technical recommendation to leadership. The ideal candidate brings strong cloud-native and AWS experience, a practical understanding of how to responsibly integrate AI into software products, and a security-first approach that keeps our systems and data protected

• all while staying grounded in the realities of a lean, fast-moving team.

Job Description Solution Design & Architecture Owns the technical design of new and evolving product features from initial whiteboard to documented solution ensuring they are scalable, maintainable, and secure. Establishes and communicates practical coding standards, design patterns, and architectural guardrails that the team can apply consistently day-to-day. Leads design sessions and code/architecture reviews with internal and offshore engineers, providing clear and constructive guidance. Evaluates new tools, frameworks, and vendors and makes grounded recommendations that fit our team size and delivery cadence. Cloud & AI Delivery Designs and guides the implementation of cloud-native solutions on AWS, including migrations, modernization efforts, and new platform capabilities. Identifies practical opportunities to integrate AI and ML features such as intelligent automation, NLP-powered workflows, or LLM-based tools into our products. Runs hands-on working sessions with engineers to introduce and apply AI development techniques relevant to our stack and use cases.

Champions cloud operations best practices:

cost awareness, observability, resilience, and right-sized infrastructure for our scale. Security & Compliance Applies security-by-design thinking to every solution, conducting lightweight threat modeling, enforcing least-privilege access, and reviewing common vulnerabilities. Collaborates with GRC and Cloud Operations to ensure solutions meet our compliance obligations, including NIST 800 and SOC 2 requirements. Guides the team on secure coding practices, secrets management, API security, and data protection across cloud environments. Supports vulnerability management and incident response readiness by ensuring security considerations are built into the delivery process not bolted on. Team Enablement & Mentorship Acts as a go-to technical resource for internal engineers and offshore contractors by unblocking problems, answering design questions, and lifting team capability. Mentors mid-level and senior engineers through design challenges, code reviews, and career conversations. Drives adoption of Agile and DevSecOps practices and helps the team improve its delivery rhythm without introducing unnecessary processes. Partners with engineering leads to close skill gaps through targeted knowledge-sharing sessions, documentation, and tooling improvements. Job Requirements Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline required; Master's degree a plus.

Relevant certifications preferred:

AWS Certified Solutions Architect

• Associate or Professional. AWS Certified Security
• Specialty is a strong plus. CISSP or CISA
• is beneficial but not required. Experience 5
• 8 years of progressive experience in software architecture, cloud engineering, or full-stack development.

Hands-on experience designing and operating cloud-native solutions on AWS in a production environment. Demonstrated ability to lead technical design across cross-functional teams, including remote or offshore contributors. Practical experience applying AI or ML capabilities in software products at any scale. Solid working knowledge of security principles and at least one compliance framework such as

NIST 800, SOC

2, or similar. Track record of mentoring engineers and raising team-wide technical quality. Technical Experience Strong AWS experience across core services such asEC2, EKS, Lambda, RDS, S3, IAM, CloudWatch, or GuardDuty Other cloud platforms are a plus.

Cloud-native design:

microservices, serverless, event-driven architecture, API gateway, and container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes). Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or CloudFormation); CI/CD toolchains and DevSecOps pipeline design. Working knowledge of AI/ML tools and platforms such as SageMaker, Bedrock, OpenAI APIs, or LangChain-style frameworks. Familiarity with data integration patterns such as ETL/ELT pipelines, REST/event-based data flows, and basic data modeling. Practical awareness of responsible AI practices: knowing when and how to apply AI meaningfully without over-engineering. Security fundamentals such as IAM, secrets management, encryption, container security, and OWASP-aware API design. Working knowledge of

NIST 800, SOC

2, and secure SDLC practices; experience collaborating with GRC functions. Comfort with vulnerability scanning tools, secure code review, and incident response runbooks. Proficiency in one or more modern application stacks such as .NET/C#, Python, Node.js — with REST and/or GraphQL API experience. Solid understanding of SOA, domain-driven design, and API-first patterns, as well as database design across relational and NoSQL stores. Familiarity with Agile/Scrum delivery and collaborative development practices in mixed onshore/offshore team environments.

Pay:

$140,000.00

• $160,000.

00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) 401(k) matching Dental insurance Employee assistance program Health insurance Life insurance Paid time off Parental leave Professional development assistance Retirement plan Tuition reimbursement Vision insurance

Work Location:

Hybrid remote in Mount Prospect, IL 60056