Lead Solutions Architect

About The Role

Merkle is seeking an accomplished Solution Architect to own the end-to-end technical vision and delivery quality for enterprise-grade digital platforms. This role sits over the top of all technology on an engagement, defining a unified architecture across every domain while serving as the primary client-facing technical leader on the engagements you lead. You operate with full project autonomy and are accountable for end-to-end technical excellence, supported by domain architects (such as frontend and backend) whom you direct and consult with.

Key Responsibilities

• Solution Ownership & Technical Vision
• Own overall project technical quality and delivery across all technology domains, operating with full project autonomy and accountability for end-to-end technical excellence.
• Define and own the unified technical vision across every domain on the engagement, collaborating with and directing domain architects (frontend, backend, and others) to ensure alignment.
• Lead architecture solution design across applications and all architecture domains to ensure high performance, scalability, and adherence to defined standards and policies.
• Provide architectural oversight across all domains, including platform, CMS, integration, and middleware, partnering with the relevant domain architects on detailed design.
• Define overall technical standards and enforce them through the architect team, remaining hands-on where the work demands it.
• Make final technical decisions and resolve cross-domain conflicts, acting as the project's ultimate technical decision maker.
• Identify and own proof of concepts to de-risk architectural direction and validate technical decisions, partnering with relevant domain architects as needed.
• Client & Stakeholder Leadership
• Act as the primary client technical point of contact, building strategic and technical rapport with stakeholders to influence decision making.
• Prepare and present architecture and solution recommendations to obtain stakeholder buy-in, translating complex technical decisions for non-technical audiences.
• Lead solution architecture pitches and client work, partnering with strategy, design, engineering, and business analysis teams.
• Partner with business analysts to understand the requirements they define, and with development teams to ensure solutions are built to support those requirements and optimal performance.
• Identify and communicate cross-area and cross-release issues that affect other project areas.
• Governance, Delivery & Risk
• Establish and enforce architecture governance and practices to ensure architectural integrity and consistency across the software development lifecycle.
• Define, create, and maintain comprehensive architectural documentation and decision records across all domains.
• Own the technical risk register, managing high-impact technical risks and resolving cross-domain conflicts throughout the project lifecycle.
• Lead go-live planning and feature sequencing during project planning, and own order-of-magnitude feature sizing and estimates.
• Participate in project planning and estimation activities and consult on sprint ceremonies and showcase demos.
• Mentorship & Continuous Improvement
• Mentor and coach domain architects, and technical teams within your project.
• Drive continuous improvement within your project’s technical teams, staying current with industry trends and emerging technologies.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of extensive software engineering and solution architecture experience, with a sustained track record in architect-level roles across multiple technology domains.
• Proven experience designing architecture across multiple applications and architecture domains for high performance and scalability.
• Proven experience with headless and composable architecture.
• Breadth across the technology stack, with the ability to direct and consult with specialist domain architects (such as frontend and backend) rather than owning a single discipline.
• Expertise in API design and consumption across REST and GraphQL, including cross-domain integration and middleware strategy.
• Experience with cloud deployment (Vercel, AWS, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages), CI/CD pipelines, and branching strategy.
• Excellent communication skills, especially in translating complex technical decisions and architecture for non-technical and client audiences.
• A willing and capable technical leader and mentor, able to establish and enforce governance across teams.
• Strong partnership skills, including working alongside business analysts who own requirements definition.
• Knowledge of and experience working within agile teams, with the ability to estimate and deliver in a deadline-driven environment.
• Ability to work independently with a high level of accountability and full project autonomy.

Paid Benefits

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance
• Life insurance
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 401k
• Flexible paid time off
• At least 15 paid holidays per year
• Paid sick and safe leave
• Paid parental leave

Location

New York