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What does a senior technical architect do?

Updated January 8, 2025
9 min read
Quoted expert
Dak Kopec Ph.D.
What does a senior technical architect do

Senior technical architects are in charge of the general execution and operation of the development effort on extensive technology arrangements. They have the primary role of making sure that technologies function simultaneously and transforming specifications into design and architecture documents utilized by the team to create solutions. Also, they guide in the development, as well as acquire acceptance and import of the solution architecture. Additionally, they recognize and forecast how all the pieces integrate as well as determine risks and potential issues prior to creating contingency plans and mitigation strategies.

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Senior technical architect responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior technical architect resumes:

  • Lead successful partnerships between multiple business and technology teams throughout the formal SDLC.
  • Lead development of initial SOA framework implementation.
  • Provide insight and manage all technology relate aspects with presentations and communications at Sr. management and CxO level.
  • Cloud network infrastructure planning and provisioning.
  • Provide infrastructure and software engineering consulting to project teams implementing JAVA web applications.
  • Used ParlayX API to send SMS messages.
  • Integrate HTML5 application onto AWS.
  • Design and implement an ACORD messaging API.
  • Involve in full SDLC of project from discovery/definition to deployment.
  • Participate in unit testing and packaging of SOA suite components for deployment.
  • Focuse on storage, storage networking, and storage virtualization technologies and strategies.
  • Help team members with skills transformation on technologies like Scala, Cucumber-Jvm, Microservices etc.
  • Perform pivotal role in design and architecture of CDIT using Microservices with the support of GE's Predix environment.
  • Design solutions for multiple customers encompassing hardware, virtualization, storage area networking, backup / data management software, etc.
  • Perform architecture planning including sizing and performance optimization for cloud data migrations.

Senior technical architect skills and personality traits

We calculated that 10% of Senior Technical Architects are proficient in Java, Cloud, and Infrastructure. They’re also known for soft skills such as Organizational skills, Technical skills, and Visualization skills.

We break down the percentage of Senior Technical Architects that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Java, 10%

    Provided infrastructure and software engineering consulting to project teams implementing JAVA web applications.

  • Cloud, 7%

    Performed architecture planning including sizing and performance optimization for cloud data migrations.

  • Infrastructure, 4%

    Helped to reduced system outages by making it a requirement to configure infrastructure and application monitoring in the Supply Chain environment.

  • Python, 4%

    Developed Python system to mask and map sensitive customer information in all logs, data dumps, and debugging dumps.

  • C++, 3%

    Designed C++ API to enable voice calls to switch seamlessly between modern VoLTE and legacy 2G/3G systems.

  • Azure, 3%

    Designed and Implemented System Center workloads to the capabilities of Microsoft Azure Performed SCCM 2007 to SCCM CB migration.

"java," "cloud," and "infrastructure" are among the most common skills that senior technical architects use at work. You can find even more senior technical architect responsibilities below, including:

Organizational skills. One of the key soft skills for a senior technical architect to have is organizational skills. You can see how this relates to what senior technical architects do because "architects often manage contracts." Additionally, a senior technical architect resume shows how senior technical architects use organizational skills: "analyze customer business and organizational requirements to provide recommendations for database and data warehouse infrastructure planning and operational processes. "

Technical skills. Another essential skill to perform senior technical architect duties is technical skills. Senior technical architects responsibilities require that "architects need to use cadd technology to create plans as part of building information modeling (bim)." Senior technical architects also use technical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided technical assistance for integration of drools with existing java based applications. "

Visualization skills. This is an important skill for senior technical architects to perform their duties. For an example of how senior technical architect responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "architects must be able to envision how the parts of a structure relate to each other." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a senior technical architect: "export the analyzed data into relational databases using sqoop for visualization and to generate reports for the bi team. ".

Analytical skills. For certain senior technical architect responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a senior technical architect rely on this skill, as "architects must understand the content of designs and the context in which they were created." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what senior technical architects do: "debug and identify race conditions, thread starvations, deadlock using java thread dump, escape analysis and other tools. "

Communication skills. Another crucial skill for a senior technical architect to carry out their responsibilities is "communication skills." A big part of what senior technical architects relies on this skill, since "architects share their ideas, both in oral presentations and in writing, with clients, other architects, and workers who help prepare drawings." How this skill relates to senior technical architect duties can be seen in an example from a senior technical architect resume snippet: "relocated fledgling energy trading business from little rock to houston while expanding technical infrastructure and eliminating transmission scheduling communications problems. "

Creativity. While "creativity" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to senior technical architect responsibilities. Much of what a senior technical architect does relies on this skill, seeing as "architects design the overall look of houses, buildings, and other structures." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of senior technical architects: "provided mentorship, delivered consulting and invented architecture methods, reference architectures and system engineering & testing templates. "

Most common senior technical architect skills

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Compare different senior technical architects

Senior technical 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.

If we compare the average senior technical architect annual salary with that of a team lead and developer, we find that team lead and developers typically earn a $33,448 lower salary than senior technical architects make annually.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between senior technical architects and team lead and developers are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like java, c++, and api.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior technical architect are more likely to require skills like "cloud," "infrastructure," "python," and "c #." On the other hand, a job as a team lead and developer requires skills like "architecture," "javascript," "web application," and "scrum." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Team lead and developers earn the highest salaries when working in the telecommunication industry, with an average yearly salary of $110,027. On the other hand, senior technical architects are paid more in the telecommunication industry with an average salary of $122,348.team lead and developers tend to reach lower levels of education than senior technical architects. In fact, team lead and developers are 7.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Senior technical architect vs. Architect and developer

An Architect And Developer is focused on the technical design, architecture, and development of products. They generally work as a part of the development team.

A career as a architect and developer brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a senior technical architect. In fact, architects and developer salary is $8,302 lower than the salary of senior technical architects per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Senior technical architects and architects and developer both require similar skills like "java," "c++," and "c #" to carry out their responsibilities.

Each career also uses different skills, according to real senior technical architect resumes. While senior technical architect responsibilities can utilize skills like "cloud," "infrastructure," "python," and "technical design," architects and developer use skills like "application development," "javascript," "design patterns," and "application architecture."

On average, architects and developer earn a lower salary than senior technical architects. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, architects and developer earn the most pay in the finance industry with an average salary of $125,314. Whereas senior technical architects have higher pay in the telecommunication industry, with an average salary of $122,348.In general, architects and developer achieve similar levels of education than senior technical architects. They're 2.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for senior technical architects in the next 3-5 years?

Dak Kopec Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Coordinator, BA Interior Architecture and Design and Master of Design Program, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

COVID-19 has changed the playing field, and future skills will need to include creative ways to use materials and systems for enhanced infection control. This will consist of thinking differently about ventilation systems, space planning, and material specifications.

Senior technical architect vs. Technical team lead

The responsibilities of a technical team lead revolve around overseeing the progress and performance of a technical team, ensuring they are functioning efficiently. They mostly delegate tasks, manage schedules, set goals, produce reports and presentations, respond to correspondence, and coordinate with staff, clients, and other department personnel to ensure accuracy and timeliness for all projects. As the leader, it is crucial to implement the policies and regulations of the company, all while leading and encouraging the staff to reach goals.

On average scale, technical team leads bring in lower salaries than senior technical architects. In fact, they earn a $29,053 lower salary per year.senior technical architects and technical team leads both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "java," "c++," and "c #," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a senior technical architect is likely to be skilled in "cloud," "infrastructure," "python," and "azure," while a typical technical team lead is skilled in "customer service," "patients," "project management," and "troubleshoot."

Technical team leads make a very good living in the automotive industry with an average annual salary of $114,182. On the other hand, senior technical architects are paid the highest salary in the telecommunication industry, with average annual pay of $122,348.Most technical team leads achieve a lower degree level compared to senior technical architects. For example, they're 15.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Senior technical architect vs. Senior leader

A senior leader specializes in overseeing the business operations and work progress within a particular department or office. Focusing on the workflow and the workforce, they are in charge of assessing performances and motivating staff to meet goals and stay within the allotted time and budget. They may also participate in the hiring and training of new employees, utilizing their talents and shaping them into valuable members of the workforce, all while implementing company rules and regulations.

Senior leaders average a lower salary than the annual salary of senior technical architects. The difference is about $4,944 per year.According to resumes from senior technical architects and senior leaders, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "java," "c++," and "c #. "While some skills are required in each professionacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities, there are some differences to note. "cloud," "infrastructure," "python," and "technical design" are skills that commonly show up on senior technical architect resumes. On the other hand, senior leaders use skills like project management, architecture, customer service, and patients on their resumes.The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for senior leaders, with average annual pay of $123,451. Comparatively, the highest senior technical architect annual salary comes from the telecommunication industry.The average resume of senior leaders showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to senior technical architects. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 11.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.4%.

Types of senior technical architect

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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