How To Become A Chief Architect: What It Is and Career Path

What is a chief architect and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Robin Puttock

Architecture is a decent career for anybody keen on making genuine constructions out of their creative mind. Chief Architects are C-level heads in data innovation (IT) who oversee IT works that might be concentrated for a consistent, coordinated effort. They are also called venture planners who plan and deal with the product discharge group based on the scrum/lithe improvement systems.

Additionally, they offer a calamity recuperation answer for a virtual or actual work to a server farm in the cloud. For Chief Architect, the most regularly required education level is a Bachelor's degree. 1,511 Chief Architects resumes were scanned, and it was fascinating that chief Architects most generally study software engineering, design, or electrical design. 43% of Chief Architects hold four-year college educations, 38% hold graduate degrees, and 10% hold doctoral certificates.

Did you realize that the normal Chief Architect makes $146,207 each year? That is esteemed at $70.29 each hour. The reach encompassing that normal annual salary can shift somewhere in the range of $103,000 and $206,000, which means Chief Architects have the chance to procure all the more once they move past section-level jobs.

What general advice would you give to a chief architect?

Robin Puttock

Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Visiting Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America

In addition to all of the above, I recommend students stay connected with their professors. Most of us have a vast network that we would love to invite you into. Often, an introduction is the pivotal component to a new opportunity. Relationships are key, especially when a recent graduate does not have significant professional experience. In addition, recent graduates should be sure to spend time on crafting their cover letters, their resumes, their work samples, and their portfolios. Make sure you are putting your best foot forward when an opportunity does arise.

ScoreChief ArchitectUS Average

Salary

9.4

Avg. Salary $168,836

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.9

Growth rate 21%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 11.99%

Black or African American 6.24%

Hispanic or Latino 8.82%

Unknown 4.70%

White 67.73%

Gender

female 7.34%

male 92.66%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.3

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a chief architect

Explore chief architect education requirements

Most common chief architect degrees

Bachelor's

65.7 %

Master's

22.6 %

Doctorate

4.7 %

Start to develop specific chief architect skills

Skills	Percentages
Cloud	7.75%
Infrastructure	6.10%
Digital Transformation	5.61%
AWS	5.16%
Java	5.13%

Complete relevant chief architect training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New chief architects 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 a chief architect based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real chief architect resumes.

Research chief architect duties and responsibilities

Manage cross-functional product team in creation of cloud application product that including office productivity software.
Develop and implement risk strategy, risk governance, risk management, risk quantification and inter-dependencies to achieve desire company strategy.
Leverage AWS and Linux virtual machines for an active-active network of cloud-base and on-premise data centers.
Work with external resources for xml base integration.

Get chief architect experience

Prepare your chief architect resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your chief architect 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 a chief architect resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable chief architect resume templates

Build a professional chief architect resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your chief architect resume.