Solutions Architect

Job Description

I am hiring a Solutions Architect for a permanent position on behalf of a well-established and well-known brand with offices in Toronto, Calgary and Nova Scotia.

In your new role as a Solutions Architect, you will be involved in following:

Architecture: Design & Implementation

• Maintain and evolve solution architecture for loyalty and personalization platforms, ensuring alignment with enterprise and domain standards.
• Translate business requirements into scalable, secure, and cloud-native technical designs using Azure services, event-driven patterns, and API-first principles.
• Define and document integration patterns, system interactions, and data flow diagrams for core capabilities.
• Develop and review architectural deliverables, including solution blueprints and high-level design documents (HLFDs).
• Ensure code quality through design reviews, reusable patterns, and performance optimization.
• Assess trade-offs between architecture options considering scalability, performance, cost, and maintainability.
• Contribute to discovery phases, proposals, and project charters by providing architectural input.
• Support estimation, dependency mapping, and technical feasibility assessments across related initiatives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with product owners, delivery leads, developers, DevOps, data, and security teams to ensure a shared architectural vision.
• Partner with internal and external architects to align integration and governance strategies.
• Act as a technical authority in stakeholder discussions, translating business needs into solution architectures.
• Advise on process improvements and support change management efforts as needed.

Innovation & Strategic Influence

• Evaluate vendor platforms and define transition strategies toward in-house, cloud-native capabilities.
• Lead or participate in vendor evaluations and proof-of-concepts (POCs) for modernization opportunities.
• Research and assess emerging technologies (AI, personalization engines, headless loyalty solutions) to support future platform evolution.

Governance & Standards

• Coach and mentor technical leads and developers on architectural principles and best practices.
• Drive governance around reusability, scalability, observability, and technical debt management.
• Define and enforce standards for API design, data contracts, security, identity, and deployment.
• Ensure non-functional requirements (NFRs) such as high availability, performance, and compliance are incorporated into all designs.

Must-Have Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in backend application development (Node.js, JavaScript), systems integration, and solution architecture in cloud-native environments.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure services (Cosmos DB, Service Bus, Blob Storage, Event Grid, Application Gateway, App Services, Azure Functions, API Management, ACR, Key Vault).
• 3+ years of experience designing and optimizing non-relational databases (preferably Cosmos DB).
• 5+ years of experience with microservices, REST APIs, and event-driven architecture.
• Strong knowledge of security best practices in cloud and application design.
• Experience with Docker, containerization, and Kubernetes.
• 4+ years of experience in frontend development (Next.js, JavaScript).
• Proven ability to architect for scalability, resilience, and flexibility in ambiguous environments.

Good to Have

• Experience influencing multiple delivery teams without direct authority.
• Ability to simplify complex technical concepts and balance short-term needs with long-term scalability.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum and SAFe environments.
• Familiarity with loyalty platforms and personalized offer systems is a strong plus.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (Bicep, ARM, Terraform), and container orchestration (Kubernetes, ARO).

Preferred Qualifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (strongly preferred).
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• TOGAF or equivalent enterprise architecture certification.