Enterprise Applications Architect - On-Prem / Cloud

CONTRACT TO HIRE - APPLICATIONS ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT

BILL RATE: Open/HOUR

END SALARY: $165K - $190K plus discretionary bonus

DURATION: SIX MONTHS CONTRACT TO HIRE

LOCATION: FIRST CHOICE: CHICAGO, IL SECOND CHOICE: WASHINGTON DC

HYBRID 2-3 DAYS ONSITE

SELLING POINTS: I need a true application enterprise architect that is hands on to help with digital transformation on prem on cloud. AWS/Azure linux and windows CICD DevOps, containerization terraform Kubernetes docker back office applications data science AI/ML data bricks R Python ML flows SAS create applications warehouse data governance java, jvm java ee spring .net applications server middleware message brokers NoSQL must be willing to get on the keyboards, hands on, is regulated by the government, non-profit

Seeking an Enterprise Architect with a strong foundation in application development, data governance, security, compliance, and platform integration. The successful candidate will define architecture frameworks and work alongside cross functional teams to design and modernize our application, data, and security architectures across hybrid on prem and multi cloud environments (AWS and Azure). This role will partner with data scientists, researchers, engineers, security, and business stakeholders to align technology decisions with research and business objectives, enable secure collaboration with external partners, and drive coherent application and data strategies. Candidates should have broad systems and architecture experience (7+ years minimum; 10+ years preferred), with proven expertise in application/workflow dependency mapping, data strategy and governance, data lineage, and implementing security frameworks for enterprise solutions.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Maintain holistic enterprise architectures: document current state and target state architectures for applications, data, and infrastructure across on-prem and multi-cloud environments.
2. Lead hands on application architecture and development work: design, build, optimize, and troubleshoot complex enterprise applications deployed on-prem; advise engineering teams on code, deployment patterns, integration, and best practices.
3. Inventory, dependency mapping & impact analysis: own an authoritative inventory of in-house and commercial applications (owners, interfaces, workflows, lifecycle) and produce/maintain dependency graphs to support change, migration, and incident impact analysis.
4. Middleware, platform & on-prem stack expertise: work closely with application teams on middleware, application servers, databases, message brokers, workflow engines, caching, and related platform components to ensure robustness, scalability, and maintainability.
5. Integration strategy & interoperability: develop and implement enterprise integration strategies (ESB/SOA, API gateways, microservices, event-driven architecture, file transfers, workflow orchestration); standardize APIs, contracts, versioning, and interface governance.
6. Application lifecycle management & operationalization: drive improvements in deployment automation, patching, upgrades, CI/CD for on-prem and hybrid deployments; define runbooks, SLOs/SLAs, monitoring/observability, and provisioning patterns for repeatable operations.
7. Performance tuning & diagnostics: lead root cause analysis and performance optimization for critical applications, including profiling, capacity planning, query tuning, JVM/.NET tuning, and resource optimization.
8. Technology guidance & modernization tradeoffs: provide architecture patterns and technology recommendations for legacy and modernized applications; advise on refactor vs. replatform decisions and interoperability with cloud services.
9. Hybrid cloud enablement: define and maintain repeatable reference patterns for hybrid connectivity, landing zones, multi account/subscription design, and secure connectivity (Direct Connect/ExpressRoute, transit); guide when to lift and shift, replatform, or integrate with cloud native services to complement on prem systems.
10. Security architecture & compliance: define and enforce security patterns (zero trust, IAM, network segmentation, encryption, key/secret management) and embed security controls into solution designs and the SDLC to meet regulatory/contractual requirements (HIPAA, FedRAMP, GDPR, client constraints).
11. Data strategy, governance & lineage: define data domains, canonical models and storage/processing patterns; establish or scale data governance, metadata/catalog processes, and end to end lineage for critical datasets aligned to research and analytics needs.

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Bachelor s degree or equivalent experience.
2. 7+ years combined experience in application development and enterprise architecture (10+ years preferred), including hands on development experience and proven experience designing enterprise scale applications, integration, and data architectures across hybrid on-prem and cloud environments.
3. Hands on application stack experience: Demonstrated deep, practical experience with enterprise application technologies (Java EE/Spring, .NET, application servers, middleware, message brokers, relational and NoSQL databases, caching, workflow engines).
4. Integration & middleware expertise: Proven experience designing and operating ESB/SOA, API gateway, message-oriented middleware, and complex ETL/integration topologies in on-prem or hybrid environments.
5. Application lifecycle & DevOps: Experience with release engineering, CI/CD (on-prem and cloud-hosted), deployment automation, monitoring/observability for multi-tier applications.
6. Practical cloud experience: Demonstrated experience with AWS and/or Azure architectures, including hybrid connectivity, landing zone and multi account/subscription design, and secure cloud controls.
7. Cloud operational skills: Hands on familiarity with cloud IaC and CI/CD tooling and operational patterns (Terraform/ARM/Bicep, GitOps, cloud monitoring), and experience advising on cloud cost optimization and data replication/DR strategies.
8. Troubleshooting & performance: Strong track record leading RCA, performance tuning, profiling, and capacity planning for enterprise systems.
9. Data & governance alignment: Familiarity with data modelling, lineage, and metadata practices to ensure integrations and applications support research and analytics needs Enterprise Architect.docx.
10. Security & compliance: Knowledge of embedding security patterns (IAM, encryption, network segmentation) into application and integration designs to satisfy regulatory and contractual obligations Enterprise Architect.docx.
11. Preferred certifications: Application platform certifications and/or architecture credentials (TOGAF, cloud certs optional, CISSP/CISM/CCSP desirable)
12. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; ability to translate technical architecture into actionable guidance for engineering, research, security, and leadership audiences.
13. Experience working with research or data science teams and designing secure, collaborative research environments is highly desirable.