What does a senior architect do?
A Senior Architect performs design drafting and evaluates architectural or engineering plans regarding building construction or improvement projects. They review building plans and site design for aesthetics, environmental acceptability, and compliance with quality standards.
Senior architect responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior architect resumes:
- Manage software integration using middle-ware and other enterprise software such as CTI systems, workforce management systems, and ERP systems.
- Develop several custom Java and Perl systems used to manage operations of critical systems.
- Manage the development infrastructure, change control, configuration items and application security utilizing knowledge of information resource management.
- Coordinate project management, solutions configuration, integration capabilities, and cloud computing functionality.
- Design end to end CI/CD pipeline using Jenkins.
- Develop apex triggers, classes and visualforce pages.
- Implement API allowing various systems to determine mapping of values when exchanging data.
- Deploy and maintain Linux systems and application software in multiple clusters and environments.
- Create ITIL project plan and roadmap for current and future ITIL processes being implement.
- Work closely with software team porting Linux as well as host level debug tools for this processor.
- Create best azure programming practice manuals to improve the performance of applications using azure service bus technology.
- Work on Ansible modules to deploy docker services on the swarm cluster for the entire microservices stack.
- Assist developers including offshore resources with technical problems, development and debugging skills, technical coaching and mentoring.
- Perform duties such as sweeping, mopping, washing walls and windows, dusts and performs other cleaning duties.
- Design and develop HTTP base API to support e-commerce transactions of domains and services using Register.com's back end systems.
Senior architect skills and personality traits
We calculated that 8% of Senior Architects are proficient in Cloud, Java, and Infrastructure. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Senior Architects that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Cloud, 8%
Worked strategically and technically on migrations within manufacturing, mobile and telecommunications industry in the cloud environment.
- Java, 6%
Developed several custom Java and Perl systems used to manage operations of critical systems.
- Infrastructure, 5%
Provided customers with thought leadership for RFID technologies and guidance on implementation and integration of RFID solutions into existing infrastructure.
- Emerging Technologies, 5%
Used extensive experience in this area to evaluate new and emerging technologies to solve technical and business oriented requirements.
- AWS, 5%
Created instances in AWS as well as migrated data to AWS from data Center using snowball and AWS migration service.
- Digital Transformation, 5%
Envisioned and championed long-term IT strategy for Annuity Management platform, a key Digital Transformation initiative.
Common skills that a senior architect uses to do their job include "cloud," "java," and "infrastructure." You can find details on the most important senior architect responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior architect to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "architects must understand the content of designs and the context in which they were created." Senior architects often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "delivered solution to integrate external system performance data into existing products using java pump service resulting in expanded customer reporting. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform senior architect duties is communication skills. Senior architects responsibilities require that "architects share their ideas, both in oral presentations and in writing, with clients, other architects, and workers who help prepare drawings." Senior architects also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "worked with marketing and communications to re-architect the global web and e-commerce infrastructure. "
Creativity. senior architects are also known for creativity, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to senior architect responsibilities, because "architects design the overall look of houses, buildings, and other structures." A senior architect resume example shows how creativity is used in the workplace: "design incorporated use of core graphics for signature capture, uicollectionview for inventory presentation, https requests and parsing json responses. "
Organizational skills. For certain senior architect responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "organizational skills." The day-to-day duties of a senior architect rely on this skill, as "architects often manage contracts." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what senior architects do: "intern worked with the windows command systems finding devices' ip addresses for many types of inter-organizational systems. "
Technical skills. A commonly-found skill in senior architect job descriptions, "technical skills" is essential to what senior architects do. Senior architect responsibilities rely on this skill because "architects need to use cadd technology to create plans as part of building information modeling (bim)." You can also see how senior architect duties rely on technical skills in this resume example: "lead a team of 6-8 java developers and monitored day to day tasks and technical aspects. "
Visualization skills. While "visualization skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to senior architect responsibilities. Much of what a senior architect does relies on this skill, seeing as "architects must be able to envision how the parts of a structure relate to each other." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of senior architects: "designed data visualization ui layer capable of producing different svg and html-based charts and graphs from arbitrary data sets. "
The three companies that hire the most senior architects are:
- The Independent Traveler434 senior architects jobs
- Oracle306 senior architects jobs
- Pegasystems202 senior architects jobs
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Compare different senior architects
Senior architect vs. Job captain
A Job Captain is responsible for overseeing the drafting process of a project and completing outstanding items or tasks that remain to be accomplished. They take direction from the Project Manager, the Project Architect, and/or the Architect of Record.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior architect are more likely to require skills like "cloud," "java," "infrastructure," and "emerging technologies." On the other hand, a job as a job captain requires skills like "revit," "cad," "bim," and "project design." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, job captains reach lower levels of education than senior architects. Job captains are 8.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior architect vs. Team lead and developer
A team lead and developer is a person who handles a group of employees in a particular section, geared to accomplish daily specific goals. The team lead and developer ensures that the team works cohesively and efficiently to achieve its goals. It is the role of the team lead to ensure employees are well-equipped, trained properly, and capable. The team lead conducts regular assessments of teammates and offers support. Added to the role of the team lead is to request training, enhancement seminars, and submit accomplishment and activity reports to company management.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior architect responsibilities requires skills like "cloud," "infrastructure," "emerging technologies," and "aws." But a team lead and developer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "architecture," "web application," "application development," and "c # .net."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Team lead and developers tend to reach similar levels of education than senior architects. In fact, they're 4.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior architects in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Howard Rees
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Information Systems, Rider University
Meaning that the applications (and those "operating" them) do not understand what's happening inside. AI systems are often "designed, trained, and tested" by the provider and certified as generating the output most desired by the customer but only in a statistical sense. There is no "proof" that the AI black box is, with certainty, doing what the business customer (or the provider for that matter) thinks it is doing - it just does a good job when tested on data. There will be a significant need for tech-savvy people to design, train, monitor, and apply them so that they do not deviate from the desired goals. Such deviations can result in socially destructive business practices. As you can't properly manage what you don't understand, there is a risk in using AI too blindly. CS and IT graduates will need to help out.
Senior architect vs. Integration engineer
An integration engineer specializes in developing programs and projects to improve business systems for optimal processes. Their responsibilities revolve around meeting with clients to determine their needs, coordinating with analysts to identify the company's strengths and weaknesses, implementing various solutions for business processes, and performing corrective measures as needed. They must also respond to any issues or inquiries, resolving them promptly and professionally. Furthermore, an integration manager may perform clerical tasks such as processing and preparing documentation, performing presentations, and updating clients.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior architect resumes include skills like "cloud," "infrastructure," "aws," and "digital transformation," whereas an integration engineer is more likely to list skills in "python," "data analysis," "troubleshoot," and "rf. "
When it comes to education, integration engineers tend to earn lower degree levels compared to senior architects. In fact, they're 6.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Senior architect vs. Senior design engineer
A senior design engineer is responsible for creating mechanical and electrical designs for machines and systems, following clients' specifications and business guidelines. Senior design engineers also assist junior design engineers with their tasks, sharing best practices and techniques, and suggesting adjustments as needed. They also oversee the manufacturing process, inspect possible inconsistencies, and revise plans without exceeding the agreed budget or compromising the quality. A senior design engineer must be keen with details and highly organizational, especially on meeting deadlines with the highest client satisfaction.
Types of senior architect
Updated January 8, 2025
