Technical Architect — Engineering, Amsterdam
We're looking for a Technical Architect based in our Amsterdam office who can take complex high-level designs and see them through build: designing the detail of our most complex server-side and cloud solutions, and getting hands-on through delivery to make sure what gets built achieves our clients' product goals, from finance and retail to health and sport.
As a Technical Architect you'll turn a solution's shape into a detailed design a delivery team can build, own the cloud infrastructure decisions behind it, and take on the infrastructure problems the team can't get past. On our larger engagements you'll work alongside a Solution Architect, who sets the overall shape while you own the detail, the infrastructure and the path through delivery. On smaller ones there might not be a Solution Architect, and the design is yours from the first conversation. You'll work closely with the engineers who'll build it (Lead Server Engineers, Technical Leads and their teams) so the design is understood, challenged and owned rather than handed down, and you'll be the person clients bring their hardest technical questions to.
Responsibilities
•Provide the overarching technical steer for the overall architecture, making high-stakes decisions that ensure scalability and resilience.
•Act as a primary client-facing lead, bridging the gap between complex business requirements and elegant technical solutions.
•Foster a high-performance culture through mentorship and the evolution of agile engineering standards.
•Act as the primary technical consultant for major clients.
•Consult on early client engagements, translating business goals into technical strategies and building deep-rooted professional trust.
•Take high-level designs and produce the detailed designs; occasionally produce high-level designs where needed.
•Identify, adapt and document design and patterns for a solution, including the risks and how they will be mitigated.
•Own non-functional requirements, covering security, performance, resilience, observability and the running cost of what you build.
•Own cloud infrastructure decisions across compute, storage, identity, governance, networking and security, and own the problems when they land.
•Manage and coordinate the technical dependencies coming from clients and third parties.
•Champion and evolve agile methodologies and DevOps cultures, identifying bottlenecks in the delivery lifecycle and implementing systemic improvements.
•Lead by example by contributing to mission-critical code, setting the gold standard for clean, maintainable, and high-performance engineering.
•Support bids and pitches as the technical expert, including the specifications that let bid teams estimate honestly.
•Drive the technical discovery phase for new large-scale engagements, performing feasibility studies and defining MVP boundaries.
Requirements
•A seasoned technologist with a track record of delivering complex, large-scale applications.
•Strong communicator who thrives in client-facing environments, with the strategic mindset required to navigate the challenges of global enterprise digital transformation.
•Deep, practical AWS, GCP or Azure experience of modern large-scale solutions across compute, storage, identity and governance.
•A strong understanding of cloud networking and of cloud and application security.
•Strong experience in Node.js and TypeScript or .Net.
•A strong grasp of Domain-Driven Design.
•Knowledge of modern architectural patterns and the ability to articulate the pros and cons of each clearly.
•The ability to articulate architecture to technical audiences of varying ability, to get a team and a client pulling in the same direction, with an instinct of "yes, if" rather than "no" when faced with challenges.
•Experience in a multidisciplinary team, and the ability to make sure standards are followed by others rather than merely documented.
•Comfort with change, and with leading discussions about technologies and systems you aren't yet familiar with.
•An empathetic communicator, comfortable with clients and stakeholders — including difficult conversations around deadlines and budgets.
