Solutions Architect

Solutions Architect

Location: Des Moines, IA (Remote)

Duration: Long Term

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Division of Information Technology (DoIT), provides adaptable, secure, and cost-effective technology services and solutions across HHS Divisions, partners, and citizens. DoIT manages all HHS IT assets, projects, and resources, and delivers technology and expertise to support the Citizens of Iowa and their families every day. This includes consistently delivering top-tier performance and value to citizens as a trusted partner and services provider.

HHS DoIT is seeking a Solutions Architect to further advance the replacement of the Family and Children’s Services (FACS)/Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) Solution.

The purpose of this project is to modernize the IOWA Child Welfare system to meet the new CCWIS guidelines and better serve HHS clients. The new application is being developed with an Agile Product Delivery approach. It will track child welfare cases from initiation to completion, support identified data requirements Such as the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD), National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), and other data requests as well as issue and allocate funding/payments (Title IV-E, Title IV-B, and Supplemental Security Income) to the state and federal government. The application will be primarily used by social workers; however, it may interface with third parties (court, provider, foster care family/home, medicals, education, and others that may be identified later). It may also be integrated into third-party applications. The new application will be built in modules as stipulated by the CCWIS guidelines. The objective for the application is to be seamless, prevent data duplication, and to be able to be integrated into other similar business application modules as needed.

The Solutions Architect will step into an effort that is already in progress and will be responsible for the application architecture, design, and documentation of the new custom-built software solution, including internal/external components and interfaces for systems integration and data sharing.

This position will be a technology strategist, change agent, and innovator. This role establishes and owns solutions architecture and the technology roadmap for the product team. The Solutions Architect will work in close collaboration with product owners, other architects, team leads, and subject matter experts to design and deliver a robust architectural runway that can support future business requirements throughout the product lifecycle.

This role will collaborate with internal and external partners to ensure that technology decisions and blueprints align with the overall Enterprise Architecture Framework, based on The TOGAF Standard, and support a standard, reusable, and consistent approach to enterprise IT processes.

Responsibilities:

• Continue development of a transition strategy from the FACS mainframe system (COBOL, IDMS) to a custom developed Azure Cloud based solution, including user experience, authoring, information, application, mobility, analytics, and other capabilities within an Azure tenant.
• Work closely with the Product Owners, Product Architect, and Business Analyst team to understand and document business drivers, capabilities, and processes (future and current state).
• Articulate the art of the possible to product owners and technology stakeholders, in the language and terms most suitable for the given audience.
• Evaluate and consult on a broad range of technologies, platforms, and vendor offerings to drive targeted business value and outcomes.
• Develop and extend the Architecture Runway to sustain delivery velocity towards MVP release.
• Drive technology maturation/readiness and leverage into IT investments
• Partner with Core IT application/platform/service owners, Vendor Management, Regulatory and Security, Compliance, and other external State and Federal partners.
• Partner with IT Leaders on approaches to data integration, infrastructure, technical debt, and operational readiness.
• Introduce reusable design components, architecture patterns, and recommend fit.
• Create and maintain a standard set of solutions architecture artifacts, utilizing these for collaboration and analysis.
• Document architecture decisions and collaborate on strategies, policies, standards, and guidelines necessary to support business goals and alignment with Enterprise Architecture
• Work closely with the Product/Data/Security architects on their delivery of Product Roadmaps, Data Models, and Security Reference Architecture.
• Lead and present during Architecture Review Board checkpoints.
• Consult on proof-of-concepts.

A successful candidate for this role is expected to possess the following skills and experience:

• Proven strategic planning experience dealing with large systems – maintain a real perspective on what a multi-billion-dollar organization requires to support operational readiness and continuous change.
• Exposure to multiple, diverse technologies, platforms, and processing environments (on-premises, cloud, hybrid).
• A current-day future-focused IT thinker who can drill down to identify and define problems and issues, with the leadership experience to charter a course to meet current and future demands.
• Demonstrated architectural experience with multiple technical disciplines, including storage, network, compute, voice, video, artificial intelligence, and application development, across lines of business or entire enterprise domains.
• Ability to understand business needs, negotiate complex issues, and translate future-state business capabilities and requirements into solution architecture requirements.
• Ability to articulate new ideas and concepts to technical and nontechnical audiences.
• Experience building core platforms utilizing common architectural patterns and reusable building blocks that meet a wide range of customer-facing solutions.
• Experience using industry standard modeling languages and notations such as ArchiMate, BPMN 2.0
• Experience using Enterprise Architecture tools, such as Bizzdesign, for modeling solutions architecture.
• Experience using Lucid Chart, or similar tools, to collaboratively diagram, visualize, and communicate complex information.
• Experience delivering in an iterative, Agile product delivery environment, including a working knowledge of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
• Demonstrated ability to quickly build trust, inspire innovation, and uplift team members.
• Experience using Mainframe Modernization Patterns (such as Strangler Fig)

Desired:

• 5 Years Experience architecting modern applications utilizing Azure Cloud Services (or other major cloud providers such as AWS, Google)
• 3 Years Experience working as a Development Lead or Application Architect
• 2 Years Experience using Lucid Chart, or similar collaborative drawing/diagraming tool
• 2 Years Exp design application architectures for large IT Systems using common architecture patterns (such as Event-driven, Microservices, Web-queue-worker

Required:

• 5 Years Experience working in State Government
• 5 Years Experience working in Agile Product Development Teams
• 5 Years Experience modeling business, application, and technology layers using standard modeling languages/notations (such as ArchiMate, UML, BPMN 2.0)
• 5 Years Understanding of EA frameworks (such as TOGAF)
• 5 Years Experience using Enterprise Architecture tools (such as Bizzdesign)
• 10 Years Experience designing systems architectures utilizing SOA-based technologies (SOAP, REST, etc.), including component and web service design
• 10 Years Experience designing IT solutions that adhere to multiple industry standards, technology standards, and compliance/regulatory requirements
• 10 Years Excellent task management skills, w/ the ability to multitask and manage multiple tasks with changing priorities in a cross-functional environment
• 10 Years Demonstrated experience working with business and technical users to gather and document technical requirements
• 10 Years Demonstrated ability to gain situational and contextual intelligence of the political climate to successfully navigate obstacles and politics
• 4 Years Demonstrated experience managing client expectations and implementing change management initiatives