Senior Architect - Adobe Experience Manager

Job Description

Job Description

Role Overview

We are looking for a seasoned Senior AEM Architect to lead the design, implementation, and governance of our Adobe Experience Manager-based digital platform. You will serve as the technical authority for content architecture across web, mobile, and headless channels — ensuring our experiences are scalable, performant, and compliant with SEO, GEO, and personalization best practices.

You will work closely with Product, Marketing, and Engineering teams to translate business objectives into robust AEM solutions, including multi-site management, content fragment models, headless APIs, and Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) integrations. 

Key Responsibilities

AEM Platform Architecture

• Design and own end-to-end AEM architecture across AEM Sites, Assets, and Forms for multi-brand, multi-region deployments.

• Architect and govern Multi-Site Manager (MSM) configurations — blueprints, live copies, rollout strategies, and inheritance models.

• Define component architecture (Core Components, SPA Editor, Universal Editor) aligned with composable DX principles.

• Lead AEM as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS) adoption, migration planning, and Cloud Manager pipeline strategy.

• Establish coding standards, OSGi configuration governance, Sling model patterns, and AEM DevOps best practices.

Headless CMS & Content Delivery

• Design headless and hybrid delivery architectures using Content Fragments, Experience Fragments, GraphQL Persisted Queries, and the Assets API.

• Define content fragment models and structured content schemas for omnichannel consumption (web, mobile, kiosk, third-party).

• Integrate AEM with CDN layers (Fastly, Akamai, CloudFront) and edge delivery services for optimal performance.

• Evaluate and guide adoption of Edge Delivery Services (EDS) / Franklin for document-based authoring at scale.

• Collaborate with front-end teams on decoupled SPA frameworks (React, Next.js, Angular) consuming AEM headless APIs.

Content Governance & Workflow

• Establish content governance frameworks: authoring standards, replication topologies, publish/preview environments, and rollback strategies.

• Design DAM taxonomy, metadata schemas, smart tagging, and asset lifecycle management for enterprise-scale libraries.

• Define user roles, permissions models, and workflow orchestration across author instances and MSM hierarchies.

• Lead content audit processes, archival policies, and version management strategies.

• Partner with legal, compliance, and brand teams to enforce content quality gates and approval workflows.

SEO & GEO Architecture

• Architect technical SEO foundations: URL structures, canonical tags, hreflang, structured data (schema.org), and XML sitemaps within AEM.

• Design and implement internationalisation (i18n) and localisation (l10n) frameworks, including language copies and live-copy inheritance in MSM.

• Define GEO-targeting strategies: geo-redirect logic, CDN geo-routing rules, and market-specific content variants.

• Ensure AEM page templates and components emit Core Web Vitals-optimised markup (LCP, INP, CLS).

• Integrate AEM with SEO analytics platforms (Google Search Console, Adobe Analytics, BrightEdge, Conductor) for performance monitoring.

• Stay current on Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) trends and guide content structures optimised for LLM discoverability and AI-generated answer inclusion.

Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) & Personalization

• Architect integration between AEM and Adobe Journey Optimizer for triggered, journey-based web and email personalization.

• Design offer decisioning models using AJO + Adobe Target / Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) for segment-driven content variations.

• Define event schemas, XDM data models, and audience segments in AEP that feed AJO personalization journeys.

• Implement web channel actions and code-based experiences in AJO surfaced through AEM-rendered pages.

• Govern consent, data privacy, and cookie compliance (GDPR, CCPA) across the personalization stack.

Stakeholder Leadership & Governance

• Act as the primary technical liaison between business stakeholders, product owners, and engineering squads.

• Produce and maintain Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), solution design documents, and platform roadmaps.

• Lead proof-of-concept engagements with Adobe.

• Mentor senior developers, conduct architecture reviews, and establish centre-of-excellence (CoE) practices.

Represent the platform in steering committee and executive briefings.

Experience
10+ years in enterprise web / digital platforms engineering
7+ years hands-on AEM development and architecture
Proven delivery of multi-site, multi-region AEM implementations
Experience with AEM as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS)
Deep MSM design and rollout governance experience
Headless CMS implementation experience (AEM or comparable)
AJO or Adobe Target personalization implementations
Experience in regulated or large-scale enterprise environments

Technical Skills
AEM Sites & Assets

AEM as a Cloud Service

Multi-Site Manager (MSM)

Content Fragments / GraphQL

Edge Delivery Services

AJO (Adobe Journey Optimizer)

Adobe Experience Platform

Adobe Target / Offer Decisioning

Apache Sling / OSGi / Felix

Java / HTL / Sling Models

React / Next.js / Angular

GraphQL & REST APIs

Cloud Manager / CI-CD

CDN Architecture (Fastly/Akamai)

SEO Technical Architecture

Hreflang / i18n / l10n 

Core Web Vitals Optimisation

GEO / AI Search Optimisation

Adobe Analytics / Launch

GDPR / CCPA Compliance

DAM Taxonomy & Metadata

Git / GitHub Actions / Jenkins

Kubernetes / Docker (AEMaaCS)

Adobe IMS / OAuth / SAML

Certifications (Preferred)

• Adobe Certified Expert – AEM Sites Developer or Architect

• Adobe Certified Master – AEM Architect

• AWS / Azure / GCP Professional Cloud Architect

• Google Professional Data Engineer (for AEP/data modelling advantage)

Nice to have:

• Experience with Adobe Commerce (Magento) and AEM-Commerce integration (CIF)

• Familiarity with Adobe Workfront for creative ops and DAM workflow automation.

• Exposure to headless commerce or DXP composable architectures (MACH Alliance principles).

• Knowledge of AI/ML-assisted content tagging, smart crop, or auto-translation pipelines within AEM Assets.

• Experience with travel, hospitality, or rental industry digital platforms.