Solution Architect
Nice to have's
Job description
About the Position
Solution Architect
Build products from scratch into production. Stay close enough to the codebase to understand what's actually happening. Make architecture decisions that actually ship.
We're looking for someone who can take technical ownership from the very first conversation with a client through to a working product and what comes after. This role combines architecture, product thinking, and client collaboration.
The accounts you work on are not typical staff augmentation setups. S&F operates as an embedded strategic partner. The work is technically non-trivial, the stakeholders are engaged, and the room you have to create impact is real.
Responsibilities
Early Stage (Pre-Sale and Discovery)
- Joining initial conversations with prospects to understand what they're trying to build
- Contributing to early-stage solution discovery and technical planning by helping frame problems, evaluating possible approaches and trade-offs, and shaping initial architectural direction and system boundaries
- Selecting technologies based on the problem and constraints
From Idea to Build
- Working with a Project Manager or Product Manager to shape the roadmap and initial backlog, or shaping the backlog and making product decisions yourself if there's no dedicated Product Manager on the project
- Bringing structure to early-stage products where not everything is defined yet
- Defining the initial architecture and validating the technical feasibility of backlog items
During Execution
- Guiding the engineering team through key technical and architectural decisions
- Maintaining consistency of the architecture as the system evolves
- Staying close enough to the codebase to understand what's actually happening
- Helping the team with hands-on work whenever needed, not afraid to take on the execution for the part of the system if the team needs additional hands on keyboard
- Participating in client conversations: demos, discussions, and decision-making
After Release / Ongoing Work
- Helping define how the product is supported and evolves over time
- Contributing to discussions around further improvements or new initiatives
- Supporting conversations about scope, priorities, and next steps
Requirements
- Several years of hands-on engineering experience, including time spent making or supporting architectural decisions in real projects
- Experience building products from scratch and bringing them into production
- Solid understanding of backend architectures (APIs, distributed systems, data flows)
- Experience with all of the following:
- at least one of the popular cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
- backend frameworks (Node.js, Python, Java, or similar)
- frontend frameworks (vue, react, etc.)
- relational and non-relational databases
- Ability to work across different stacks and learn new ones when needed
- Habit of exploring unfamiliar technologies and approaches before committing to a solution
Familiarity with machine learning and AI concepts is important - including a general understanding of how these systems work and where they are applicable.
What Tends to Work Well in This Role
- Ability to choose and combine technologies based on context
- Understanding of how technical decisions connect to product and business outcomes
- Clear communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Curiosity about how things work beyond the immediate technical scope
- Openness to learning and rethinking earlier decisions as new information appears
- Comfort working without relying on a single preferred stack or set of tools
What Success Often Looks Like
- Clients rely on this role when making important technical decisions
- Systems hold up in practice and evolve without constant rework
- Teams have clarity on direction, even in ambiguous situations
- Clients continue to involve this role as the product evolves and return to work with the same person again
Why This Role Is Interesting
It offers a full view of how products come together - from early ideas to real systems in use. There's room to influence decisions at different levels and to stay connected to both technical depth and product direction.
Projects vary a lot - different domains, different levels of structure, different constraints. Some parts of the work are well-defined, others require figuring things out along the way.
Hiring Process
- Recruiting interview - initial conversation about background, motivation, fit
- Live coding session - 45–60 min, hands-on engineering exercise
- System design interview - 45–60 min, architectural reasoning and trade-offs
- Interview with Head of the Department - 60 min
Apply Now
© Speed & Function. This job description was sourced from the employer's public career page. TheJob is not the employer — we index the posting and route candidates to the source. All content rights and hiring decisions belong to the employer.
— In business since 2006— 300+ products successfully taken to market— 75+ extra-mile-going employees— 500k+ hours worked— 5+ locations in the US and in Europe— 40% women staff— Software development so collaborative, it’s virtually built in-house.— We’re not contractors, we’re collaborators. A steadfast extension of your team, grounded in developmental processes and rock-solid engineering, ready to tackle the most complex of technical challenges— We help take product ideas to market through best practices in UX and engineering, led by product strategy and management.— Delivering a full range of refinement, from prototype to MVP to enterprise-grade applications, having released over 300 products in over 15 years.— We bring software and collaboration best practices enjoyed by large organizations to the open market at below-enterprise rates. Speed & Function has built and operated several SaaS platforms.— Our advanced expertise is in UI engineering/front-end: we build high-performance, secure and accessible interfaces that are easy to use across all mainstream devices.“Speed” in our name stands for performance.— Risk management is an integral component of each product we work on, which helps us deliver significantly above average success rates to our clients.— Our flexible, transparent, and proactive approach to communication, sets us apart from others in our field. Over the past 14 years, we’ve continued to refine and master this practice, earning us our reputation as one of the strongest software engineering shops in the Philadelphia area.— Our mission is to finalize a unique collaboration framework that’s relevant to 21st-century challenges and allows delivering both state-of-the-art technology solutions and amazing collaboration experience.— We run the gamut in geography, lifestyle, and interest, but we’re united by a common set of values and goals: do exceptional work, build the best products in our clients’ businesses, experiment, pay attention to the details, treat people right, tell the truth, have a positive impact on the world around us and keep learning.— We look for individuals who dream big, work hard and above all stay humble.— Collaboration is at the heart of what we do and through our work together we hope to create a supportive, welcoming, and innovative environment. We strive to play as a team to win the world and create a better version of ourselves every day. If this sounds like something that excites you, we want to hear from you!— We are striving to become a Teal or DDO (deliberately developmental) organization.