Principal solution architect - cx & martech

job summary:
Randstad is seeking a Principal Solution Architect to join a high-profile Enterprise Architecture team for a major travel and transportation leader based in Washington, DC. In this critical, short-term tactical sprint, you will serve as the core architect translating complex marketing and loyalty business needs into high-performance backend solution designs. This role requires a T-shaped technical leader who can immediately diagnose system bottlenecks, optimize real-time data pipelines, and orchestrate integrations across a complex Customer Data Platform (CDP) and MarTech ecosystem. You will act as a key collaborator between engineering teams and non-technical business stakeholders, ensuring all solutions align with strict enterprise governance, scalability, and PII compliance standards.

location: Washington, Washington, D.C.
job type: Contract
salary: $75 - 85 per hour
work hours: 9am to 5pm
education: Bachelors


responsibilities:

System Diagnostics & Optimization: Review the current \"as-is\" customer experience and marketing data ecosystem to identify critical bottlenecks where systems are overloaded or lagging.

Solution & Data Flow Design: Author high-level solution architecture diagrams, detailed data lineage maps (source $\ightarrow$ transformation $\ightarrow$ destination), and high-level API/interface definitions.

Tradeoff Analysis: Evaluate 2-3 technical approaches for complex integration challenges and articulate the clear pros, cons, and business implications to leadership.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Facilitate requirements discussions with marketing teams, product owners, and engineering squads, translating highly technical constraints into simple, business-friendly language.

Governance Alignment: Align all designs with established enterprise standards (including TOGAF concepts) and enforce strict compliance regarding PII handling, consent, and data privacy (GDPR/CCPA).

qualifications:
Customer Domain Expertise: Deep, practical experience designing architectures for complex loyalty program structures (points, tiers, accrual/redemption), member profiles, and omni-channel marketing campaigns (segmentation, targeting, personalization).Advanced Integration & Messaging: Mastery of integration patterns, including real-time event-driven architecture, asynchronous messaging (Kafka/MSK), and robust ETL/data pipelines (Airflow or NiFi preferred).CDP & Data Fundamentals: Strong conceptual and practical knowledge of Customer Data Platforms (CDP), identity resolution, and core data modeling tradeoffs (normalization vs. denormalization).Cloud Architecture: Foundational proficiency in the AWS ecosystem, specifically covering compute (EC2, containers, serverless), storage (S3, RDS, DynamoDB), and core networking/security (VPC, subnets).T-Shaped Technical Breadth: Broad, conceptual familiarity across the full stack-including how web/mobile front-ends consume APIs, microservices vs. monolith tradeoffs, CRM platforms (Salesforce), and modern MarTech engines (Adobe, Braze).Industry Experience (Plus): Prior architecture experience within the travel, hospitality, or aviation sectors-specifically regarding booking lifecycles (Search $\ightarrow$ Offer $\ightarrow$ Order $\ightarrow$ Fulfillment) or Passenger Service Systems (PSS)-is highly valued.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Race, Color, Religion, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, National Origin, Age, Genetic Information, Disability, Protected Veteran Status, or any other legally protected group status.

At Randstad Digital, we welcome people of all abilities and want to ensure that our hiring and interview process meets the needs of all applicants. If you require a reasonable accommodation to make your application or interview experience a great one, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io.


Pay offered to a successful candidate will be based on several factors including the candidate's education, work experience, work location, specific job duties, certifications, etc. In addition, Randstad Digital offers a comprehensive benefits package, including: medical, prescription, dental, vision, AD&D, and life insurance offerings, short-term disability, and a 401K plan (all benefits are based on eligibility).


This posting is open for thirty (30) days.