Chief Architect

Specific-Group Software Solutions develops custom software solutions for corporate clients in Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia and USA. For doing this we have sales and service divisions in the local markets and development centers in Belarus (Minsk and Grodno).

Currently we are searching for Chief Architect/Solution Architect to join our team.

Responsibilities:

• Improve overall quality of SPG services by applying technical & architecture governance, developing standards & processes, implementing the best engineering practices, technologies and tools for effective use on projects;
• Optimize company efforts by defining reusable/standard solutions to be applied across all projects;

• Increase effectiveness of subordinates by encouraging continuous skills improvement. Organize individual 1to1 sessions in parallel to driving regular team meetings;
• Support SPG pre-sales and projects estimations process by selecting technology stack, creating solution design, system-level architecture diagrams, WBS document, defining delivery phases, solution requirements, providing estimations, tracking risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies;
• Support SPG HR team in staffing process in cooperation with PMs & COO – identifying project demands, defining required competencies, driving interviews, evaluating know-how and seniority level of candidates, providing actionable feedback;
• Align engineering standards across all SPG locations, provide comprehensive information and instructions to all departments;
• Analyze technology, industry, market trends and keep current with those trends;

• Contribute to all delivery phases (from vision to warranty phase) incl. presales (estimations, architecture reviews and POCs);
• Supporting teams to deliver the product on time, on budget, and ensures that it solves business problem it was designed to solve;
• Control and coordinate Team/Tech Leads on projects technology environment, toolkits, methodologies, artifacts, libraries and recommend improvements for solutions;
• Ensure deliverables are in compliance with architecture and specifications by driving regular Architecture review, provide architectural recommendations and guidance for TLs, developers;
• Organize efficient communication channels and collaboration with Quality Assurance, Business Analysis, Project Management and other teams involved in delivery pipeline;

• Manage possible project challenges on constraints including, risks, time, resources and scope;
• Take responsibility for estimation process using different techniques to guarantee preciseness, create work/feature-breakdown structure documents and other technical artifacts incl. tracking tool for risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies;
• Take responsibility for implementation & tracking delivery KPIs on project, participates in setup of KPIs, react to responsible stakeholders in case of problems;
• Act as communication channel who translates technical project details into a language that technical and non-technical stakeholders can understand;
• Act as single contact point and responsible for communications: handling of complaints & escalations; risks and issues; managing resolutions; corrective actions and lessons learned;

• Responsible for developing and improving customer relationships

Requirements:

• About 10 years of professional experience in Information Technologies incl. 3+ years in Team Leader/Development Manager/Solution Architect roles;
• 8+ years of relevant development experience with Java and .NET (will be a good plus), incl. Software Design & Architecture skills;

• Strong leadership skills are essential;
• Deep understanding & structural knowledge of the best engineering practices, design patterns, architecture principles and the ability to apply them on the daily basis;
• Proven experience of managing delivery teams of 10+ FTEs;
• Expert knowledge of Agile Software Development Process and SDLC, ability to organize and control all technical aspects of development processes within the development team;
• Strong experience in project management practices incl. scope management, risk management, quality management, estimation and change management;

• Outstanding communication skills incl. ability to drive the discussion to particular decisions & action items, identify stakeholders and adopt communication style to particular role, effectively communicate with customer business, technicians & architects and management (incl. C-level);
• Advanced art-of-speaking and presentation skills;
• Able to build trust in team and motivate colleagues to achieve company interests;
• Proactive position & positive outlook in meeting challenges and working to a high level (incl. C-level stakeholders) are must;
• Expertise in databases (RDBMS, NoSQL), knowledge of SQL;

• Experience with containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes);
• Experience of work with public cloud provides (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc.), as well as other approaches (co-location, private clouds);
• Experience in design and implementation of continuous integration (CI)/ delivery (CD) setups;
• Good overview of theoretical foundations in Computer Science;
• Language skills: German – would be a great +;

• Professional commitment to quality, detail-oriented and outstanding problem-solving skills;
• Stress-tolerance despite any working conditions is must;
• Willing to make extra-mile to deliver commitments

Competitive salary

Long-term Austrian, German and US projects

Professional growth (professional trainings, knowledge sharing meet-ups and etc )

Career perspectives

Business trips to Austria

Annual assessment and salary review

Transparent and clear management

Friendly colleagues and atmosphere

Extensive benefit package:

- medical insurance,

- fully covered sick leave for 14 calendar days in a year,

- compensation of external professional courses and trainings,

- English courses,

- additional holidays,

- financial bonuses,

- corporate gifts on special events,

- free parking spots,

- massage,

- fruity days and etc.

Company parties and team buildings;

Flexible working hours (you can start till 11am, duration of working week is 40h);

Nice corporate equipment (incl. second monitor);

Comfortable well-equipped office in the city center (with kitchen, meeting rooms and event space).