Director, Platform Architecture

Job Description

Job Description

Description:

POSITION SUMMARY:

• The Director of Platform Architecture owns the technical design of the shared platform that Briefly's member firms — Rimon, Scale, Caravel and OGC — are consolidating onto. Day to day, the role defines the target-state architecture across identity, integration, security and shared services; sets the standards every application must meet before it goes live at a firm; and leads the technical side of each firm migration.
• The position sits within the Transformation Management Office, reports to the VP of Transformation, and works most closely with the Director of Platform Data Operations, the Director of Finance Integration, and IT leadership at each firm. The ideal candidate has built shared infrastructure serving multiple brands or operating companies, is equally comfortable in an architecture review and in a room of partners and can hold a technical standard without alienating the firms who have to live with it.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design the multi-tenant Azure architecture — subscription model, management group hierarchy, tenant isolation boundaries, shared services layer and network topology — sized to serve the current firms and to onboard additional firms without rearchitecting.
• Define the Entra ID identity architecture, including tenant topology (single tenant, multi-tenant federation or B2B), single sign-on across all firms and applications, cross-tenant access policies, conditional access, MFA enforcement, and the separation between platform-level and firm-level identity administration.
• Design the data partitioning model — row-level security, database isolation, API-layer access controls and audit logging — so that attorney-client privilege boundaries are enforced at every layer of the stack.
• Design the matter-level data access control model, translating privilege boundaries into access control lists, data labels, API scopes and audit trails across Aderant, Clio, iManage and the Azure data layer.
• Specify the Azure Virtual Desktop architecture for BYOD firms, including pooled versus dedicated session host design, image management, application delivery, and the network path from personal device to managed workspace.
• Define the shared services layer — the administrative access pattern that allows a cross-firm support organization to operate across all firms without creating any pathway to cross-firm client data.
• Architect the outside counsel guideline compliance posture so that endpoint management, data governance and access logging satisfy the requirements of the firm’s largest corporate clients.
• Design the data residency and sovereignty model, covering where data is stored, how it is replicated, and what controls prevent unauthorized cross-border or cross-firm data movement.
• Define the audit and monitoring architecture — the logging, alerting and reporting framework that gives firm leadership and the compliance function visibility into who accessed what, when and from where.
• Architect the privileged identity management model, granting platform administrators, firm IT administrators and support staff minimum necessary access with just-in-time elevation for sensitive operations.
• Define the application registration model governing how Aderant, Clio, iManage, Paylocity, HubSpot and other platform applications integrate with the single sign-on environment across firm boundaries, and the device compliance framework enforced through conditional access.
• Produce the migration sequencing plan — which firm migrates in which order, the technical dependencies between migrations, and the parallel-run architecture for each transition.
• Design the data migration architecture, covering extraction, transformation and loading patterns for matter data, client records, billing history, trust accounting and document libraries from four separate source systems.
• Define the cutover architecture for each firm, including rollback trigger conditions, the hybrid connectivity model that lets users work across legacy and new environments during transition, and the controls that prevent data loss or corruption.
• Design the validation framework — the technical tests that must pass before a firm migration is declared complete and legacy systems are decommissioned.
• Produce architecture decision records for every significant design choice, documenting the alternatives considered and the rationale for the decision.
• Establish architecture governance standards, including the review and approval process for decisions affecting multi-tenancy or data partitioning, and maintain the architecture documentation library and firm-onboarding template.
• Serve as the technical reviewer within intake and prioritization, conduct architecture review on vendor selections and major builds, and present architecture decisions, migration progress and platform risk posture to executive leadership on a regular cadence.

MINIMUM EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, engineering or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum ten years of enterprise architecture experience, including at least three years designing Azure-native multi-tenant solutions.
• Demonstrated experience supporting multiple brands, entities or operating companies from a single shared platform.
• Deep hands-on expertise with Microsoft Azure, including Entra ID, Azure AD B2C, Azure Virtual Desktop, App Service, API Management, Azure SQL with row-level security, and Azure Monitor.
• Demonstrated experience designing single sign-on architectures across multiple organizations using Entra ID, including federated identity, conditional access and cross-tenant access policies.
• Proven experience designing data partitioning in multi-tenant environments where tenant isolation is a compliance or regulatory requirement rather than a preference.
• Experience architecting migrations from on-premises or heterogeneous cloud environments onto a unified Azure platform, including parallel-run design and staged cutover planning.
• Preferred: legal industry experience with attorney-client privilege, matter-level access controls and outside counsel guideline compliance; legal technology platforms such as Aderant, Clio and iManage, including their data models and Azure connectivity; Azure Virtual Desktop as a BYOD access control mechanism; cross-tenant administrative access patterns satisfying zero-trust principles; Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert or equivalent; private-equity-backed or multi-entity professional services environments.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES REQUIREMENTS:

• Ability to produce architecture decision records, reference architecture diagrams and migration sequencing plans that non-technical stakeholders can act on.
• Ability to translate complex technical decisions into business terms for firm leadership and legal professionals.
• Working knowledge of data architecture concepts, including warehouse and lakehouse patterns, master data and reporting layers.
• Design judgment under real constraints rather than reliance on vendor reference architectures.
• Ability to hold a technical standard under stakeholder pressure and explain the reasoning constructively.
• Sound judgment in balancing platform consistency against legitimate firm-specific requirements.
• Ability to influence without direct authority across independent business units with their own leadership and budgets.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage concurrent workstreams across multiple firms.

COMPENSATION:

The base salary range for this position is $180,000 to $220,000 annually. Placement within the range depends on qualifications and relevant experience. The position is also eligible for an annual incentive of 10 to 15 percent of base salary, tied to program delivery milestones and individual performance.

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY

We are committed to supporting forward thinking law firms through their next stage of growth by streamlining back-office operations and enabling access to world-class functional talent

Founded in 2021, we established the Company on the belief that the modern lawyer is asked to do too much. Between marketing, business development, financial planning and more, there are too many priorities in the day and not enough time. By streamlining back-office functions under highly experienced functional leadership trained to deploy proven growth levers, we accelerate our partners growth.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT

The Company is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant, or an employee based on race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, physical or mental disability, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or any other legally recognized protected class under federal, state, or local law. 

The information that you provide in this application will be used solely to determine suitability for employment, verify identity, and maintain statistics on applicants. 

ACCOMMODATION FOR APPLICANTS WITH DISABILITIES

Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship to the company. ?If you have a disability or special need and need assistance participating in the application process, please let us know.

E-VERIFY

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your form I-9 information to confirm you are authorized to work in the U.S.

Requirements: