Principal Software Architect

📋 Description

• • As a Principal Software Architect at Duck Creek Technologies, you will be a pivotal technical leader, steering architectural excellence across multiple domains and engineering teams. This role demands a profound blend of deep technical acumen and strategic leadership, focusing on modern technology paradigms including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), cloud-native platforms, comprehensive observability, and robust cloud security.
• • You will serve as a Domain Architect for a significant functional area, taking ownership of the architectural vision, strategy, and roadmap. This involves defining and continuously evolving cloud-native architectures, emphasizing microservices, containerization with Docker, and orchestration using Kubernetes to build scalable and resilient systems.
• • A key responsibility will be leading the integration of advanced AI/ML capabilities into our product suite. This includes leveraging cutting-edge generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, and GitHub Copilot, alongside frameworks like LangChain. You will be instrumental in deploying AI models using technologies like ONNX, Hugging Face, or custom APIs, and integrating vector databases such as Pinecone or Weaviate to power sophisticated semantic search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) functionalities.
• • Your expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) will be crucial in designing secure, scalable, and highly available systems. This involves implementing best practices in Identity and Access Management (IAM), Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) configurations, Key Management Service (KMS), and Secrets Management. You will champion Zero Trust Architecture principles and utilize cloud-native security tools like AWS GuardDuty and Azure Defender. Furthermore, you will drive DevSecOps practices, embedding automated security scanning and compliance checks throughout the development lifecycle.
• • You will be responsible for establishing and promoting observability best practices across our systems. This includes implementing solutions using Grafana for real-time dashboards and visualization, Prometheus for efficient metrics collection and alerting, OpenTelemetry for comprehensive distributed tracing, and ELK/EFK stacks for robust log aggregation and analysis. The goal is to ensure our systems are not only resilient and observable but also capable of self-healing.
• • Championing modern technology stacks is central to this role. You will advocate for and guide the adoption of best-in-class technologies across the stack, including backend languages like Go, Node.js, Java, and .NET Core; frontend frameworks such as React, Angular, and WebAssembly; data technologies including Kafka, Spark, Snowflake, and MongoDB; and AI/ML frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and OpenAI APIs.
• • You will drive the adoption and refinement of DevOps and GitOps practices, focusing on building and maintaining efficient CI/CD pipelines using tools like GitHub Actions and ArgoCD to streamline deployments and improve operational efficiency.
• • As a mentor, you will guide and develop architects and senior engineers across various teams, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning. You will collaborate closely with product management, security, and infrastructure teams to ensure architectural alignment with overarching business objectives and stringent compliance requirements.
• • This role also involves active participation in pre-sales activities and customer technical presentations, translating complex technical solutions into clear, compelling value propositions for clients.
• • You will lead technical engagements with strategic partners, including major cloud providers like Microsoft and AWS, and AI leaders like OpenAI. This includes evaluating and integrating third-party platforms and APIs to accelerate innovation and enhance our product offerings.
• • While a strategic leader, you will also contribute hands-on by designing, coding, and configuring solutions for high-impact initiatives. This includes performing critical architectural reviews, conducting threat modeling sessions, and optimizing system performance to ensure optimal efficiency and reliability.
• • You will leverage your expert knowledge of object-oriented design and enterprise application architecture patterns, coupled with deep expertise in C# and its associated frameworks. A strong understanding of distributed software patterns, full-stack technologies, and relational data storage, including database design, query optimization, and operational considerations, is essential. Your proficiency in cloud platforms and software security best practices, alongside skills in XML technologies (schema design, XPath, XSLT), will be vital. Familiarity with the insurance domain and at least one Duck Creek product is highly desirable. You must possess excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences, manage deadlines, and work independently.