Software Architect

Preferred Locations: North Carolina or Virginia

Compensation: Up to $185,000 base salary + stock options after one year

Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent

Level: Senior/Leadership

Position Overview

Our client is seeking a Software Architect to provide technical leadership and establish a cohesive architectural vision across its software development organization and enterprise mobility initiatives. This is a newly created, high-impact leadership position for an architect who can bring consistency, structure, and enterprise-level engineering practices to a growing technology organization. The Software Architect will establish architectural standards, development practices, coding guidelines, and technology direction across multiple development teams while helping modernize a diverse and evolving technology environment.

The ideal candidate will bring a combination of hands-on technical expertise, architectural leadership, people management, and enterprise software experience . This individual should be comfortable working with experienced developers, challenging established approaches constructively, and creating an environment focused on maintainability, security, scalability, and thoughtful modernization. While .NET and C# experience is required , the ideal candidate will not be limited to a .NET-only mindset and should be comfortable evaluating and incorporating a variety of technologies and programming languages based on business and technical needs.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and communicate the organization's overall software architecture vision and technical strategy.
• Establish consistent architectural patterns, coding standards, development practices, and engineering processes across multiple teams.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to software engineers and developers.
• Review and validate architectural decisions and provide guidance on complex technical challenges.
• Establish standards around programming languages, .NET versions, frameworks, development tools, and technology adoption.
• Guide the organization from fragmented, technology-specific approaches toward cohesive, industry-standard software engineering practices.
• Balance modernization efforts with the need to maintain and enhance existing applications.
• Promote clean, maintainable, scalable, and sustainable code across the development organization.
• Establish and reinforce secure software development practices, making security a fundamental part of the development lifecycle.
• Participate in code reviews and selective hands-on development to maintain technical credibility and stay closely connected to engineering teams.
• Partner with Scrum teams, QA, product management, and organizational leadership to align technical strategy with business objectives.
• Lead and mentor an initial team of approximately 5–6 software engineers, with potential oversight of QA responsibilities.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and determine where they can provide meaningful business or engineering value.
• Help establish thoughtful practices around AI-assisted software development, including tools such as Claude and Cursor.
• Guide developers in effectively using AI-generated code while maintaining appropriate standards for testing, validation, security, and code quality.
• Develop and utilize architecture exercises and technical assessments to evaluate engineering talent and architectural thinking.

Technology & Architecture Focus

The organization is evolving from a collection of independent development approaches toward a more standardized, enterprise-level software environment.

The Software Architect Will Help

• Establish consistency across multiple versions of .NET and C#.
• Define clear technology and framework standards.
• Introduce scalable architectural patterns and practices.
• Modernize legacy applications without unnecessary wholesale redevelopment.
• Improve code quality, maintainability, and testability.
• Strengthen application security and secure development practices.
• Encourage thoughtful adoption of emerging technologies.
• Establish a technology-agnostic, enterprise-focused approach to software architecture.

Leadership & Team Management

• This role combines architecture leadership with people leadership.
• The Software Architect will initially lead approximately 5–6 software engineers and will be responsible for creating a culture of technical excellence, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• The successful candidate will be comfortable working with highly experienced developers who have strong technical opinions and established approaches. The ability to build credibility, influence technical decisions, and introduce new standards without creating unnecessary friction will be critical.
• This is not a purely strategic architecture role. The successful candidate should be technically credible enough to participate in code reviews, engage deeply in architectural discussions, and contribute hands-on when appropriate.

AI & Emerging Technology

• AI-assisted development is an important component of the organization's technology strategy.
• The Software Architect will help establish thoughtful and practical approaches to incorporating AI into software development workflows.
• Experience with tools such as Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or similar AI development tools is highly valuable.
• The ideal candidate understands both the opportunities and limitations of AI — leveraging it to improve productivity, automated testing, unit testing, and development workflows while maintaining appropriate standards for code quality, security, testing, and human review.
• This is not an AI-only architecture position. The organization is looking for an experienced software architect who understands how AI can complement — rather than replace — sound software engineering practices.

What You'll Bring

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or related field preferred.
• Significant professional experience in software development and architecture.
• Strong working knowledge of .NET and C#.
• Previous experience in a Software Architect, Application Architect, Principal Engineer, or similar technical leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience leading and managing software engineering teams.
• Strong hands-on coding and code review capabilities.
• Experience establishing architectural patterns, engineering standards, and development practices.
• Experience working within mid-sized to enterprise-level organizations.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, design principles, scalability, maintainability, and enterprise development practices.
• Ability to lead technical change and influence experienced developers.
• Strong focus on code quality, maintainability, and long-term technical sustainability.
• Ability to work across multiple technologies rather than being limited to a single technology stack.
• Experience evaluating architectural decisions and providing clear technical direction.

Preferred

• Experience with Go and/or Python.
• Experience leading Scrum or Agile development teams.
• Experience with secure software development and application security.
• Experience in banking, financial services, or other highly regulated environments.
• Experience with AI-assisted software development tools and workflows.
• Experience modernizing legacy applications and technology stacks.

Why This Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to have a significant impact on the technical direction of an organization .

The Software Architect Will Have The Opportunity To

• Establish the architectural vision and technical standards for an entire software development organization.
• Lead and mentor a team of talented software engineers.
• Shape how software is designed, developed, tested, secured, and maintained.
• Modernize a diverse technology environment without unnecessarily disrupting existing applications.
• Introduce enterprise-level engineering practices and processes.
• Help define how AI-assisted development is responsibly incorporated into the engineering organization.
• Work in a highly visible leadership role with significant influence across technology and product teams.
• Build an architecture function and technical culture from the ground up.
• This is a hybrid East Coast opportunity, with a preference for candidates located in North Carolina or Virginia who can work onsite approximately 2–3 days per week.
• Exceptional candidates outside the preferred geographic area may be considered depending on experience and ability to align with the organization's onsite and collaboration requirements.

Interview Process

• The interview process is expected to include 2–3 rounds, beginning with a virtual conversation followed by technical discussions and, potentially, an onsite final interview.
• Rather than a traditional coding test, the technical evaluation will focus on an architecture exercise. Candidates will be presented with a hypothetical technical scenario and asked to explain how they would approach architecture, evaluate tradeoffs, establish patterns, and guide a development team through the solution.
• The goal is to understand how candidates think as architects and technical leaders, rather than simply evaluating their ability to solve a coding problem.