Principal Architect - Distributed Systems

Distributed Systems Architect

We're building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you'll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.

The Distributed Systems Architect is responsible for defining, evolving, and owning the technical architecture of the Vulnerability Services Engine (VSE) platform, the enterprise‑wide vulnerability and exposure management platform at CVS Health.

This role provides hands‑on architectural and engineering leadership across distributed systems, big‑data platforms, and application architecture, and serves as a technical owner of a mission‑critical, enterprise‑scale system that ingests, processes, and analyzes vulnerability telemetry across the entire technology landscape.

This is not an advisory role. The successful candidate will operate as an architect‑engineer, contributing directly to design, implementation, performance optimization, and operational excellence as an integrated member of the delivery team.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical ownership and architectural leadership for the Vulnerability Services Engine (VSE) platform, including data ingestion, analytics, distributed processing, and application layers
• Own the technical specifications, data architecture, and evolution of vulnerability and exposure data products
• Design, document, and enforce: system and solution architectures, component and framework selection, implementation and integration standards
• Lead distributed systems and big‑data design for large‑scale telemetry ingestion, processing, and analytics using platforms such as Apache Spark, Databricks, and Apache Kafka.
• Define and implement integration strategies for internal CVS Health platforms and external vendor systems across multi‑cloud environments (Azure, GCP, AWS)
• Provide hands‑on engineering leadership through code contributions, design reviews, and deep technical troubleshooting
• Establish and lead performance engineering and observability practices, including throughput optimization, scalability testing, and system tuning
• Serve as technical lead for vendor evaluations and proofs‑of‑concept, assessing architectural fit, performance, and scalability
• Act as a senior technical advisor to Exposure Management and broader ISTS teams, influencing standards and platform direction through example and implementation

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience designing and implementing large‑scale distributed systems
• 5+ years of experience with big‑data platforms and high‑volume data integration
• 5+ years of experience building web and service‑based applications
• Hands-on coding proficiency in at least one of Java, Python, Javascript
• 5+ years in senior technical leadership roles such as Architect, Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, or equivalent, with demonstrated hands‑on ownership
• Proven ability to operate in enterprise‑scale, mission‑critical environments with strong performance and reliability requirements

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep, hands‑on experience with Apache Spark, Databricks and modern data‑processing frameworks
• Experience with high‑throughput telemetry, logging, or analytics platforms
• Strong background in distributed systems performance engineering and observability
• Experience operating in security, vulnerability management, risk, or compliance domains
• Knowledge of Apache Arrow or similar data interchange frameworks
• Hands‑on familiarity with contemporary AI/ML concepts and supporting tooling
• Expert‑level proficiency in Java, Python and ReactJs
• Advanced degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related field

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related field or equivalent experience

The typical pay range for this role is: $144,200.00 - $288,400.00. This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors. This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company's equity award program.

Our people fuel our future. Our teams reflect the customers, patients, members and communities we serve and we are committed to fostering a workplace where every colleague feels valued and that they belong.

Great benefits for great people. We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families. The benefits for this position include medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, wellness programs, and other resources, based on eligibility.