The Opportunity
Cordova is seeking a high-level Principal Systems Architect to lead the creation and maintenance of the foundational tools and processes that power our client's technology ecosystem. This is a "big picture" role focused on creating a seamless environment for building, deploying, operating, and managing enterprise applications.
You will act as a technology-neutral thought leader, balancing long-term business outcomes with immediate technical needs. Because this role involves intricate factors with little precedent, we are looking for a professional who thrives on solving "constantly changing" problems and can influence both business and IT stakeholders without bias.
Key Responsibilities
Architectural Leadership & Strategy
Foundational Frameworks: Proactively lead the design of infrastructure and deployment tools that improve the organization's delivery speed and reliability.
Technology Neutrality: Remain unbiased toward specific vendors or technologies, focusing strictly on results, scalability, and long-term business value.
Thought Leadership: Influence and persuade business and IT leaders on architectural direction, effectively communicating the impact and risks of technical debt.
Strategic Roadmap: Balance "big picture" enterprise goals with the short-term implications of individual technical decisions.
Operational Excellence & DevOps
Seamless Delivery: Create and maintain tools that enable smoother application management across the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
Agile Support: Provide expert guidance to Agile teams regarding technical opportunities, risks, and performance monitoring.
Observability: Implement and oversee application performance monitoring and observability tools to ensure system health.
CI/CD Integration: Drive the adoption of CI/CD principles and automated practices across diverse technical configurations.
Governance & Collaboration
Intricate Problem Solving: Handle highly technical work involving factors that are not easily evaluated, often creating solutions where no precedent exists.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Lead multidisciplinary teams through complex negotiations, facilitation, and planning sessions.
Risk Management: Mitigate the potential for large-scale disruptions or expenditures by ensuring robust IT standards and controls are in place.
The Ideal Candidate
Experience & Education
Tenure: Minimum of 5 years of high-level design and implementation experience in IT.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, System Analysis, or a related field.
Technical Breadth: Deep knowledge in at least two of the following: Infrastructure/Network Design, Application Development, APIs, Middleware, Servers/Storage, Database Operations, Virtualization, or Cloud Technologies.
Preferred Technical Skills
Agile & DevOps: Strong experience with Agile methodologies and planning tools like Azure DevOps.
Modern Tooling: Familiarity with Active Directory, protocols, clustering technologies, and cloud-native environments.
Industry Context: Background in the Insurance Industry is preferred but not required.
Core Competencies
Analytical Prowess: Excellent technical and analytical skills with a focus on intellectual curiosity and integrity.
Communication: Ability to handle communication with considerable tact, especially when discussing complex problem-solving and organizational policy.
Influence: A trusted leader who can lead cross-functional teams and achieve long-term outcomes through persuasion and negotiation.