Loading
The engineers who design the systems before anyone builds them.
Overview read · 0 of 4 chapters
Architect roles span some of the widest variance in technical depth and seniority of any engineering title. A Solutions Architect at a cloud vendor spends their days in pre-sales conversations. A Software Architect at a fintech company is designing distributed systems and reviewing code. An Enterprise Architect at a large bank is drawing boxes on a whiteboard connected to business strategy. The word "architect" tells you very little until you know what kind. Understanding the distinctions helps recruiters ask the right clarifying questions, source from the right pools, and avoid misrepresenting a role to a candidate.
Highlighted pills — primary tools most commonly listed in job descriptions for this discipline.
When you see "Architect" on a job description, ask the hiring manager: does this person need to write production code? The answer divides the candidate pool in half. Hands-on architects (Software, Systems, Cloud) typically need recent coding ability. Advisory architects (Solutions, Enterprise) often don't, and engineers who still code sometimes resent advisory roles. Getting this wrong produces a costly mis-hire.