Principal Architect

The Principal Architect role at ESW requires a robust skill set including experience in enterprise and solution architecture, particularly in e-commerce and retail domains. Candidates should be proficient in event-driven architecture, micro-services, domain-driven design, and data-driven architectures. Familiarity with cloud services like Azure, Kubernetes, and tools like Kafka for event streaming is crucial, alongside certifications such as TOGAF or Zachman.

As a Principal Architect at ESW, your responsibilities include defining technology roadmaps that align with business strategies, creating high-level designs that meet strategic goals, and collaborating closely with various teams to ensure the successful implementation of architecture practices. You’ll also mentor teams and ensure adherence to architectural processes, striving for innovation and excellence.

Preferred candidates for the Principal Architect position at ESW should have a minimum of 5 years of experience in architecture roles, particularly as a Senior Enterprise or Solution Architect. Experience in the retail industry and managing monolith to cloud migration projects is a significant advantage. Strong communication skills and the ability to lead architecture initiatives are also critical.

The Principal Architect at ESW plays a pivotal role in translating strategic business objectives into technological solutions. By creating effective architectural designs and ensuring they align with ESW's values of accountability and innovation, the Principal Architect helps the organization deliver seamless e-commerce experiences that connect consumers with the brands they love.

At ESW, the working environment for a Principal Architect is collaborative and dynamic, embracing a hybrid model that balances remote and in-office work. This allows for flexibility while ensuring that all team members can engage closely with peers across departments, fostering an innovative atmosphere where ideas can thrive and be implemented successfully.

When creating high-level designs, I focus on understanding the business requirements and capabilities first. I ensure that I collaborate with key stakeholders to clarify expectations and outline necessary features. My goal is to create designs that not only meet current needs but also accommodate future scalability and integration.

I've worked extensively with micro-services architecture, focusing on how it allows for scalability, flexibility, and continuous deployment. I design micro-services to be independent, with well-defined APIs, ensuring they can interact seamlessly within larger system architectures while managing data consistency and reliability.

I have significant experience in utilizing Azure for deploying scalable applications and services. I have managed native and non-native cloud services, effectively using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for container orchestration and Azure Functions for serverless computing, tailoring solutions to meet business needs.

To ensure my architectural decisions align with business goals, I regularly engage with stakeholders from product and business units. I prioritize open communication and align roadmaps and designs with strategic business objectives, making sure that technology choices address real-world problems faced by the organization.

I approach managing architectural debt by first identifying areas of technical shortcomings or risks. I advocate for prioritizing these issues in our sprint planning sessions, ensuring that we dedicate some resources to address them incrementally while also focusing on new features and enhancements.

Mentoring junior architects and engineers is crucial for fostering a strong technological team. I do this by providing guidance on best practices, involving them in architectural discussions, and encouraging them to take ownership of smaller design projects. Regular feedback and open discussions help them grow their skills and confidence.

In agile methodologies, I emphasize adaptability and responsiveness. My approach involves creating designs that allow for iterative improvements, working closely with product owners to refine requirements continuously, and ensuring that we adopt 'Just Enough Design' principles to balance speed and quality.

Handling communication with diverse stakeholders involves tailoring my approach based on their technical background and interests. I use visual aids, presentations, and clear concise language to ensure that complex architectural concepts are accessible and understandable, fostering alignment and support for initiatives.

My experience with event-driven architecture involves designing systems that react to events, thereby increasing responsiveness and decoupling components. I've implemented solutions using Kafka, ensuring that my architecture can handle high throughput and maintain performance across distributed systems while allowing for scalability.

I assess risks in architectural designs through thorough analysis and consideration of potential impacts. I involve team members in brainstorming sessions to identify possible risks, evaluate their likelihood and impact, and develop mitigation strategies that can be integrated into the design and execution phases.