Azure Solutions Architect

Job Title: Azure Solutions Architect Job Location: New York, NY (Hybrid; 3 days remote, 2 days onsite) Duration: 12+ months (likely extension) Interview Mode: 1st round remote via MS Teams, 2nd round onsite in New York, NY Position Overview Our Fortune 500 client located in New York, NY is seeking an experienced Senior Solutions Architect to lead the architecture, design, and technical governance of a modern, AI-enabled enterprise application platform built using C#, .NET 8+, Angular 17+, Microsoft Azure, and Azure OpenAI, with integrations to ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, and other enterprise systems. This senior technical leadership role requires 12+ years of software development experience, including at least 5 years serving as a Technical Solutions Architect responsible for designing and delivering complex, multi-system enterprise applications. The successful candidate will define end-to-end solution architecture, establish enterprise engineering standards, guide cloud and application design decisions, and oversee the integration of advanced AI capabilities, including Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and Agentic AI workflows. This is a hands-on architecture leadership position, involving approximately 30% hands-on technical responsibilities, including proofs of concept, reference implementations, architecture validation, and code reviews. The ideal candidate combines deep expertise in the Microsoft development ecosystem with proven experience architecting production AI solutions, designing secure cloud-native applications, and establishing technical governance standards across enterprise engineering teams. Key Responsibilities Enterprise Application & Cloud Architecture Lead the end-to-end architecture and technical design of enterprise applications using Microsoft Azure, C#, .NET 8+, ASP.NET Core Web API, Angular 17+, and TypeScript. Define scalable, secure, and maintainable application architectures using microservices, event-driven architecture, REST APIs, SOLID principles, and Clean Architecture patterns. Evaluate and select appropriate Azure services, including Azure App Service, Azure Functions, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Container Apps, API Management, Service Bus, Event Hubs, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Key Vault, and Azure OpenAI. Establish architecture standards addressing application performance, scalability, high availability, disaster recovery, resilience, security, and cloud cost optimization. Design enterprise data architectures covering relational and NoSQL databases, data modeling, caching, storage, and integration patterns. Develop proofs of concept, technical prototypes, and reference implementations to validate architectural decisions. Evaluate technology platforms, tools, and vendor solutions, recommending appropriate approaches based on business requirements and enterprise standards. Produce and maintain architecture diagrams, solution design documents, technical specifications, architecture decision records, and reference implementations. AI Architecture & Responsible AI Governance Architect enterprise AI solutions using Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Services, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and AI agents. Design Agentic AI workflows, prompt orchestration, model integrations, and supporting application services. Establish standards for AI observability, model evaluation, model lifecycle management, and Human-in-the-Loop controls. Define and enforce Responsible AI principles, security controls, governance requirements, and quality standards for AI-enabled enterprise applications. Evaluate AI technologies, frameworks, and development approaches to ensure reliability, scalability, maintainability, and appropriate enterprise use. Establish guidelines for the responsible use of AI-assisted coding tools, including the review, validation, and security assessment of AI-generated code. Collaborate with development, security, infrastructure, and business teams to integrate AI capabilities into enterprise applications. Enterprise Integrations & Security Architecture Design secure, reliable integrations between enterprise applications, ServiceNow, Azure DevOps, and other business and technology platforms. Define integration patterns using REST APIs, webhooks, messaging technologies, API gateways, and event-driven services. Establish standards for API authentication, authorization, error handling, data exchange, and service-to-service communication. Design API management solutions using Azure API Management and enterprise identity platforms such as Microsoft Entra ID or Okta. Implement architectural approaches supporting OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, and enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO). Apply security-by-design principles, threat modeling, OWASP Top 10 guidance, and secure coding practices throughout the application lifecycle. Ensure solutions align with enterprise security, accessibility, compliance, and operational requirements. Engineering Standards, Code Quality & DevOps Define and maintain enterprise coding standards, approved architecture patterns, and development best practices for C#, .NET, Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, SQL, PowerShell, and YAML. Establish front-end architecture standards covering Angular component design, state management, responsive design, UI performance, and WCAG accessibility requirements. Conduct architecture reviews, pull-request reviews, and code quality assessments to ensure adherence to approved technical standards. Design and govern Azure DevOps development and deployment processes, including Repos, Boards, build pipelines, release pipelines, and CI/CD automation. Establish automated quality gates incorporating static code analysis, unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, security scanning, and code coverage. Define Infrastructure as Code standards using Terraform or Bicep. Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure automated regression validation and quality checks are consistently applied throughout the release lifecycle. Identify architectural weaknesses and technical debt, develop remediation recommendations, and establish improvement roadmaps. Technical Leadership & Cross-Functional Collaboration Serve as the senior technical authority for solution architecture, application design, and engineering standards. Collaborate with technical managers, software developers, DevOps engineers, QA teams, infrastructure teams, cybersecurity professionals, and business stakeholders. Translate complex business and technical requirements into scalable enterprise architecture solutions. Present architecture decisions, design alternatives, technical trade-offs, risks, and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences. Provide hands-on technical guidance through proofs of concept, code reviews, troubleshooting, and reference implementations. Lead design-related root-cause analysis and recommend corrective actions for recurring application or integration issues. Mentor software developers and technical team members on architecture principles, secure development, and engineering best practices. Participate in technical interviews, candidate evaluations, and knowledge-sharing activities. Support production readiness and ensure architectural integrity is maintained from requirements through deployment. Required Qualifications 12+ years of professional software development experience, including 5+ years as a Technical Solutions Architect designing and delivering complex, multi-system enterprise applications. Proven experience architecting and delivering AI-enabled enterprise applications incorporating LLMs, RAG, AI agents, Azure OpenAI, and Azure AI Services. Strong hands-on development experience with C#, .NET 8 or later, ASP.NET Core Web API, and Entity Framework Core. Experience with Angular 17 or later and TypeScript, including component architecture, state management, and front-end design patterns. Strong experience with relational databases, including Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. Extensive experience designing, deploying, and operating enterprise applications on Microsoft Azure. Hands-on experience with containerized application architectures using Docker and Kubernetes (AKS). Strong understanding of microservices architecture, REST APIs, event-driven architecture, SOLID principles, and Clean Architecture. Proven experience designing enterprise integrations using REST APIs, webhooks, messaging platforms, API gateways, and service-to-service authentication. Experience with Azure API Management, Microsoft Entra ID or Okta, and enterprise authentication protocols including SAML, OAuth 2.0, and OpenID Connect. Strong experience with Azure DevOps Repos, Boards, build and release pipelines, CI/CD automation, and automated regression testing. Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code using Terraform or Bicep. Strong knowledge of application security, OWASP Top 10, threat modeling, secure coding practices, and security-by-design principles. Demonstrated ability to establish and enforce architecture standards, coding guidelines, technical quality gates, and engineering best practices. Proven experience guiding enterprise solutions from requirements and architecture design through production implementation. Excellent communication, analytical, problem-solving, and technical leadership skills. Ability to communicate complex architectural concepts, design trade-offs, and technical recommendations to business stakeholders and engineering teams. Preferred Qualifications Experience with AI-assisted software development tools such as GitHub Copilot or Claude Code. Experience integrating enterprise applications with ServiceNow REST APIs, incident management, change requests, and workflow automation. Familiarity with Azure Application Insights, Azure Monitor, and enterprise application observability. Experience with automated testing frameworks such as Playwright, Selenium, xUnit, Jasmine, or Jest. Working knowledge of Python, JavaScript, PowerShell, Bash, and enterprise secrets management using Azure Key Vault or HashiCorp Vault. Experience modernizing legacy .NET Framework applications and migrating enterprise systems to Microsoft Azure. Experience supporting utility, energy, or other highly regulated enterprise environments. Familiarity with NERC CIP, SOX, or comparable security and regulatory compliance requirements. Advanced certifications in Microsoft Azure, cloud architecture, application security, or enterprise solution architecture. Education Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.