The Opportunity
Join FICO as Vice President of Technical Architecture, where you'll play a pivotal role in shaping and evolving the technical foundation of the FICO Platform. This is a unique opportunity for a hands-on architecture leader who combines deep platform architecture expertise with a strong bias for execution, working in close partnership with our engineering organization to bring architectural vision to life.
As a senior architecture leader, you'll bridge the critical gap between architectural strategy and engineering execution, ensuring our platform architecture evolves in a way that is practical, scalable, and aligned with business objectives. You'll work closely with engineering teams to translate architectural principles into tangible outcomes, driving consistency and technical excellence across the platform. This role is ideal for an experienced architect who is equally comfortable defining architectural direction and rolling up their sleeves to ensure successful implementation.
What You'll Contribute
Platform Architecture Leadership
- Refine and evolve the technical architecture strategy for the FICO Platform, ensuring it meets current and future scalability, reliability, and performance requirements
- Define and maintain architectural principles, standards, and patterns that guide engineering teams in building robust platform solutions
- Lead architectural reviews and ensure consistency of technical decisions across platform domains
Architecture Execution & Engineering Partnership
- Work in close partnership with engineering leaders to ensure architectural designs are translated into successful implementations
- Drive execution of architectural initiatives by actively engaging with engineering teams throughout the delivery lifecycle
- Bridge the gap between architectural vision and engineering reality, ensuring pragmatic and achievable technical solutions
Platform Modernization
- Lead platform modernization initiatives including cloud-native transformation, API strategy, and microservices evolution
- Identify and drive resolution of technical debt that impacts platform scalability and performance
- Champion innovative architectural approaches that leverage emerging technologies to maintain competitive advantage
Technical Governance
- Establish and maintain architectural governance frameworks that ensure technical consistency across the platform
- Lead architecture review boards and technical design discussions that drive alignment across engineering teams
- Define and track architectural KPIs that measure platform health, scalability, and technical debt
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with product management to ensure platform architecture supports current and future product roadmaps
- Collaborate with cloud operations teams to ensure architectural decisions align with infrastructure capabilities
- Work with security teams to embed security and compliance principles into platform architecture
Technical Thought Leadership
- Serve as a senior technical voice within the engineering organization, elevating architectural thinking and practices
- Mentor and develop architects and senior engineers, building a strong community of technical excellence
- Stay ahead of industry trends and bring relevant innovations and best practices into the organization
What We're Seeking
Platform Architecture Expertise
- Extensive experience as a senior architect with deep expertise in designing and evolving large-scale enterprise platform architectures
- Proven track record of successfully defining and implementing platform architecture strategies in complex SaaS or PaaS environments
Execution Focus
- Demonstrated ability to drive architectural initiatives through to successful implementation in close partnership with engineering organizations
- Strong track record of bridging architecture and engineering, ensuring designs are practical, achievable, and delivered with excellence
Technical Breadth & Depth
- Deep expertise in cloud-native architectures, microservices, distributed systems, and API design
- Strong background in AWS cloud services, containerization, and modern platform technologies
Engineering Collaboration
- Proven ability to work in close partnership with engineering teams, influencing technical direction without direct authority
- Experience embedding within engineering organizations to drive architectural adoption and execution
Technical Governance
- Expertise in establishing and maintaining architectural governance frameworks that balance consistency with engineering autonomy
- Experience leading architecture review processes that drive technical alignment across large engineering organizations
Strategic Thinking
- Ability to balance long-term architectural vision with pragmatic near-term execution needs
- Proven experience making strategic architectural decisions that have significant and lasting impact on platform capabilities
Stakeholder Communication
- Exceptional ability to communicate complex architectural concepts to diverse audiences from engineers to executives
- Proven track record of building consensus around architectural decisions among diverse technical and business stakeholders
Mentorship & Leadership
- Strong passion for developing architectural talent and elevating technical capabilities across engineering organizations
- Experience building and nurturing communities of practice around architecture and technical excellence
Strategic Business Acumen
- Ability to align cloud operations strategy with business objectives and demonstrate ROI on infrastructure investments
- Experience managing large operational budgets and driving cost optimization without compromising quality
Leadership & Team Building
- Exceptional leadership skills with proven ability to build, mentor, and retain high-performing technical teams
- Experience leading geographically distributed teams and fostering collaboration across time zones
Stakeholder Management
- Strong ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and influence executive decision-making
- Proven track record of partnering with engineering, product, and business teams to deliver integrated solutions
