How To Become An Architect & Project Lead: What It Is and Career Path

What is an architect & project lead and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Craig Tidwell Ph.D.,

John Russo

The average architect & project lead salary is $111,895. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an computer science major. It usually takes 2-4 years of experience to become an architect & project lead. Architects & project lead with a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to an architect & project lead?

Craig Tidwell Ph.D.

Professor/Program Manager, Seminole State College of Florida

Students who are graduating with a degree in computer and information systems should focus on being lifelong learners. The most challenging, and sometimes frustrating, aspect of a career in information technology is that it is always changing. Employers are also looking for employees that can work well with others, especially in teams. Having a good understanding of the development and design process, and project management (DevOps) is a plus. Currently, there is a high demand for graduates with cloud and information security knowledge and skills.

ScoreArchitect & Project LeadUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $111,895

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.0

Growth rate 21%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 32.50%

Black or African American 4.37%

Hispanic or Latino 8.10%

Unknown 4.78%

White 50.09%

Gender

female 12.93%

male 87.07%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

4.0

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an architect & project lead

Explore architect & project lead education requirements

Most common architect & project lead degrees

Bachelor's

66.3 %

Master's

26.1 %

Diploma

3.2 %

Start to develop specific architect & project lead skills

Skills	Percentages
Architecture	11.34%
Web Services	5.99%
SQL Server	5.07%
C++	4.44%
Data Warehouse	4.38%

Complete relevant architect & project lead training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New architects & project lead learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an architect & project lead based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real architect & project lead resumes.

Research architect & project lead duties and responsibilities

Work with the Comcast QA team to coordinate releases and manage defect resolutions.
Configure and manage JGroup multicasting communication for apache tomcat web servers.
Involve in OBIEE design, implementation and support from UNIX and Microsoft platforms.
Utilize page scripting for asynchronous data updates using AJAX, JSON, and JavaScript.

Get architect & project lead experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become an architect & project lead. The most common roles before becoming an architect & project lead include senior software engineer, project leader team lead and software engineer.

Prepare your architect & project lead resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your architect & project lead resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an architect & project lead resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable architect & project lead resume templates

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