Solutions Architect / Dev Lead
Mission
Section titled “Mission”Own the technical design and lead the engineering. The Architect/Dev Lead makes sure what gets built is sound, scalable, secure, and consistent - and that developers have the design, standards, and unblocking they need to move fast safely.
Responsibilities
Section titled “Responsibilities”- Define the system architecture and key technical decisions (recorded as ADRs).
- Translate stories into a technical design and task breakdown.
- Set and enforce coding, security, and quality standards.
- Advise the stakeholders (PO) on feasibility, sequencing, and technical risk/debt.
- Lead and mentor developers; make the hard build-vs-buy / pattern calls.
- Own the CI/CD pipeline design and non-functional requirements (performance, security, cost).
Inputs
Section titled “Inputs”| Input | From |
|---|---|
| Refined stories & ACs | BA, Stakeholders (Product Owner) |
| Non-functional requirements | Stakeholders (Product Owner) |
| Current architecture & constraints | Codebase, cloud platform |
| Team capacity & skills | Project Manager, team |
Outputs
Section titled “Outputs”| Output | To |
|---|---|
| Architecture & design docs (ADRs) | Developers, Quality Engineer |
| Task breakdown & estimates | Dev Team |
| Coding & quality standards | Developers, Quality Engineer |
| Technical risk & debt register | Stakeholders (PO), PM |
AI tools & how we use them
Section titled “AI tools & how we use them”Given the strong cloud and Kubernetes context at EmeSoft, the Architect’s AI use is heavily design, infra, and review oriented.
- Claude / ChatGPT (design exploration): generate and compare design options, draft ADRs, and pressure-test a design (“what are the failure modes of this event-driven approach at 10x load?”).
- GitHub Copilot / Claude Code (scaffolding & IaC): generate Terraform, Helm charts, Kubernetes manifests, and service skeletons from a described architecture, then review and harden. Strong fit for multi-cloud (Azure/AWS/GCP) work.
- AI cloud advisors (Azure Advisor, AWS Well-Architected with AI, GCP Recommender): surface cost, security, and reliability recommendations against the live architecture.
- Diagram generation (Mermaid / AI): keep C4 / sequence / deployment diagrams as code, generated and updated alongside the design.
- AI security/architecture review: ask the model to threat-model a design (STRIDE) and flag missing controls before code is written.
flowchart TB
S[Story + NFRs] --> OPT[AI generates design options]
OPT --> EVAL[Architect evaluates vs constraints]
EVAL --> ADR[Architect writes ADR]
ADR --> SCAF[Copilot/Claude Code scaffolds IaC + skeleton]
SCAF --> REV[Architect hardens & reviews]
REV --> DEV[Hand to Developers]
Collaboration
Section titled “Collaboration”The Architect partners with the stakeholders (PO) (feasibility, sequencing), leads the Developers (design, standards, mentoring), and aligns with the Quality Engineer on what “good” code looks like. Acts as the senior technical voice in refinement and planning.
Definition of Done for this role
Section titled “Definition of Done for this role”- Every sprint item has a design approach and task breakdown before Planning.
- ADRs exist for significant decisions and are discoverable.
- Standards and pipeline gates are defined and enforced in CI.
- Technical debt and risk are visible to the stakeholders (PO), not hidden in the code.