Senior Application Architect

At ERCOT, our diverse and dynamic work environment provides a platform on which employees can work together to build the future of the Texas power grid and wholesale market utilizing the latest technologies and resources. We encourage you to join our talented, dedicated workforce to develop world-class solutions for today and tomorrow’s energy challenges while learning new skills and growing your career. ERCOT is committed to fostering inclusion at all levels of our company. It is the cornerstone of our corporate values of accountability, leadership, innovation, trust, and expertise. We know that individuals with a wide variety of talents, ideas, and experiences propel the innovation that drives our success. An inclusive and diverse workforce strengthens us and allows for a collaborative environment to solve the challenges that face our industry today and in the future.

Key Job Duties

Define and maintain application architectures across on-prem and cloud-native, microservices, and API-driven systems. Partner with development teams to guide solution design, code quality, and engineering best practices throughout the SDLC. Use AI-assisted tooling (such as Claude, OpenAI, or GitHub Copilot) as part of everyday engineering and architecture work—accelerating design, prototyping, code review, and documentation—and help teams adopt these tools effectively and responsibly. Guide cloud strategy and modernization—including workload assessments, migration and modernization approaches, and foundational design—across cloud environments. Design identity and access management approaches—authentication, authorization, single sign-on, and role- or attribute-based access—and partner with security teams on identity governance and least-privilege access. Establish observability practices—logging, metrics, distributed tracing, profiling, and meaningful alerting—so teams can understand system health and diagnose issues quickly. Promote Infrastructure-as-Code and environment automation to support consistent, repeatable provisioning and environment parity. Help shape CI/CD practices and pipelines, integrating automated testing, security scanning, static analysis, and staged deployments. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define technical roadmaps, architectural standards, and reusable patterns. Provide support for development teams, including API design, performance tuning, and troubleshooting complex issues. Ensure solutions meet enterprise security, compliance, and governance requirements. Mentor engineers across application, cloud, identity, and platform disciplines to elevate team capability and technical maturity.

Required Professional Skills & Experience

Technical Expertise

• Minimum 5 years of related experience in an architecture or senior engineering capacity.
• Strong foundation in application architecture, distributed systems, integration, and API design.
• Hands‑on experience designing and operating cloud services in a major public cloud, with the adaptability to work across more than one cloud platform.
• Working knowledge of identity and access management—authentication and authorization protocols (such as OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, or SAML), single sign‑on, role‑based access, and enterprise identity providers.
• Familiarity with observability and monitoring practices—instrumentation, logging, metrics, profiling, and tracing—and one or more supporting tools (e.g., Log Analytics, Dynatrace, Splunk, Prometheus, or Grafana).
• Experience with DevOps tooling and CI/CD (such as GitHub Actions or Jenkins).
• Operational knowledge of Infrastructure-as-Code and environment automation (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
• Backend development experience in one or more common languages (such as C++, Java, or Python).
• Comfort using AI‑assisted development and productivity tools (such as Claude or OpenAI) in daily work, with sound judgment about where they add value.
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration concepts (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).
• Working understanding of security, networking, and governance frameworks.
• Comfort leading proof‑of‑concepts and early technical validation—evaluating options, testing key assumptions, and turning findings into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Ability to design and govern application data models and integration schemas with attention to consistency, data quality, and alignment with enterprise data governance standards.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Ability to influence engineering teams and drive adoption of architectural standards.
• Strong communication skills for translating complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• Clear documentation of technical architecture, decisions, and strategies.
• Experience guiding teams through SDLC processes, release management, and quality practices.
• Proven ability to lead modernization and cloud migration initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Azure certifications (AZ-305, AZ-400, AZ-104) or comparable AWS certifications (e.g., Solutions Architect, DevOps Engineer, or SysOps Administrator).
• Relevant identity or security certifications, or hands‑on experience with identity governance and access management platforms.
• Experience with event‑driven architectures, messaging systems, or domain‑driven design.
• Exposure to multiple cloud or hybrid environments.
• Background in enterprise‑scale transformation or platform engineering.

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Computer Science, MIS or related field (Required)
• Master's Degree: Computer Science, MIS or related field (Preferred) or a combination of education and experience that provides equivalent knowledge to a major in such fields is required.

Work Location – Taylor, TX

Employees will be required to be on‑site in Taylor, TX at a minimum of 2 days per week, or more, as needed based on the business needs as determined by management. On‑site schedules are flexible or may be rotated based on business needs as determined by the Manager. Remote work is required to be performed from your Texas residence. Employees may opt to work on‑site more than required or 100% of the time.

ERCOT is firmly committed to equal employment for all qualified persons without regard to race, sex, medical condition, religion, age, creed, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, ancestry, veteran status, genetic information or any other protected category under federal, state or local law.

Expected Salary Range: $135,000 - $185,000

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power to 27 million Texas customers - representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 54,100 miles of transmission lines and 1,250 generating units. ERCOT also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk‑power market and administers retail switching for 8 million premises in competitive choice areas. ERCOT is a membership‑based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature. ERCOT’s members include consumers, cooperatives, generators, power marketers, retail electric providers, investor‑owned electric utilities (transmission and distribution providers), and municipal‑owned electric utilities.

ERCOT offers an excellent benefits package, which includes health, dental, vision, life insurance, long/short‑term disability insurance, long‑term care insurance, Section 125 Flexible Spending Account, and a Retirement Savings Plan. The medical, dental, vision, and quality‑of‑life benefits offered by ERCOT are second to none. Full‑time employees are eligible to enroll in benefits on the first of the month following the date of hire. Additionally, 401(k) plans are available to help employees plan for the future.

ERCOT Internship Program

Provides college students the opportunity to develop their skills in a professional work environment. Each intern will receive unique projects and assignments that aim to solve real challenges facing the electric industry. ERCOT internships provide professional learning experiences that offer meaningful, practical work related to each student’s desired career path. Eligible candidates should be enrolled in an academic bachelors or post graduate degree program maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

ERCOT Engineer Development Program (EDP)

Is a 12- to 16‑month, self‑paced program geared toward entry‑level engineers looking to start a career in the power industry. Through the program, an EDP Engineer receives one‑on‑one mentoring, specialized training, and exposure to the work performed by each of the engineering groups at ERCOT. The program allows engineers to develop the fundamental skills necessary to reach their full potential while gaining an understanding of the types of engineering work ERCOT has to offer. EDP management supports participants each step of the way as they progress through the program. Upon completion, graduates are placed as full‑time engineers within one of ERCOT’s engineering groups.

GMS Development Program (GDP)

Is designed to provide entry‑level and early career professionals with the skills necessary to become successful Power System and Computer Engineers. The program, which is based in ERCOT’s Grid and Market Solutions (GMS) Department, will provide experience in day‑to‑day work and instruction in the fundamentals of electric power systems engineering, grid and market applications, software programming, and IT service and operations management. The GDP offers one‑on‑one mentoring, training, field trips, and special assignments. These assignments allow GDP engineers to become knowledgeable and familiar with the various business areas at ERCOT. The GMS leadership team prepares GDP engineers for a future career at ERCOT in power systems and computer engineering.

System Operator Development Program (ODP)

Is intended to combine real‑time daily operations in an exciting work setting to prepare participants with the vital skills necessary to be successful in such a critical position — providing 24x7x365 on‑demand support to manage the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers. If you are new to the industry, this program introduces you to the Bulk Electric System by combining introductory courses with the NERC Certification Exam Preparation Program in preparation to pass the NERC Certification Exam.