| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Information Technology |
| Level | Senior management |
| Reports to | Delivery Manager |
| Direct reports | Technical Lead, Module Lead |
| Experience | 9 to 13 years of development, with 2 or more years as the technical owner of a project or module |
Technical Architect job description template
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Job title: Technical Architect
Department: Information Technology
Reports to: Delivery Manager
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Technical Architect is the hands-on technical authority for a project or account, usually in one technology stack such as Java, .NET, Salesforce or SAP. In Indian IT services firms they take the solution architect's high-level design and turn it into frameworks, coding standards, component designs and build pipelines, then stay close to the code through reviews and hard fixes. The role reports to the delivery manager or a senior architect. A good Technical Architect keeps the project technically unblocked and makes sure the software performs as promised.
Key responsibilities
- Convert the high-level solution into a detailed technical design covering components, database schema, integration interfaces and deployment layout.
- Set up the project skeleton: framework, folder structure, shared libraries, logging, configuration and the CI pipeline the team builds on.
- Write coding standards and review checklists for the stack, and run code review sessions with technical leads.
- Solve the hardest technical issues on the project, such as memory leaks, deadlocks, slow queries or integration failures.
- Tune application and database performance before load tests, and fix the bottlenecks the tests reveal.
- Support estimation for new features and change requests with a technical breakdown of effort and risk.
- Evaluate new libraries or product versions and run upgrade proofs of concept before the project adopts them.
- Join client technical meetings to explain design choices and agree changes with the client's own architects.
- Coach technical leads and senior developers on design, debugging and secure coding in the stack.
- Prepare technical documentation and knowledge transfer material so the application can be supported after go-live.
Requirements
- B.E., B.Tech or MCA
- Stack certifications such as Oracle Java, Azure Developer or Salesforce Application Architect are an advantage
- 9 to 13 years of development, with 2 or more years as the technical owner of a project or module
KRAs and KPIs for a Technical Architect
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Technical design | Detailed design approved before build for every module, with no major redesign once the build starts |
| Code quality | No blocker or critical issues in the SonarQube quality gate at any release |
| Performance | Application meets the contracted response times in the final load test before go-live |
| Blocker resolution | Technical blockers escalated to the architect resolved within 2 working days |
| Estimation support | Technical estimates for change requests delivered within 3 working days of the request |
| Knowledge transfer | Technical documentation and handover accepted by the support team before each release closes |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse or Visual Studio, Git and Bitbucket, Jenkins or Azure DevOps, SonarQube, JMeter, SQL Developer or SSMS, AppDynamics or Dynatrace.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Solution Architect, Software Architect, Enterprise Architect
Interview questions for a Technical Architect
- You join a project midway and the code has no common framework. What do you do in your first two weeks?
- How would you find the cause of a memory leak in a Java or .NET service in production?
- A week before go-live, the load test shows response times three times over target. What is your plan?
- How do you review code from twenty developers without becoming the bottleneck?
- A client architect wants a different design approach. How do you respond?
- What goes into your technical design document for a new module?
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What does a technical architect do?
A technical architect owns the technical design and quality of a project, usually in one technology stack. They turn high-level designs into detailed component designs, set up frameworks and coding standards, review code, fix the hardest technical problems and tune performance. They stay close to the code, unlike enterprise architects who work at the company level.
What is the difference between a technical architect and a solution architect?
A solution architect designs how systems and products fit together to meet a business need, often during presales. A technical architect works out how to build that design in a specific stack: components, frameworks, coding standards and performance. The technical architect is usually more hands-on and stays with the project through delivery.
What is the career path to technical architect?
In Indian IT firms the usual path runs from software engineer to senior software engineer, then technical lead or module lead, and on to technical architect after about 9 to 12 years. Depth in one stack, strong debugging and experience owning a project's design move people up. Many later become solution or enterprise architects.