Principal Solutions Architect

Immediate Contract Opportunity for a Fractional Interim Principal Architect / Technical Advisor! NO 3RD PARTY ASSISTANCE NEEDED HERE! Location: 100% remote (Must be based in the US) Hours: 20-30 hours per week Contract Duration: Approximately 2 months (Potential for extensions and/or eventual conversion) Compensation: $100-$120/hour Overview We are seeking an experienced Interim Principal Architect / Technical Advisor to support the discovery, planning, and architecture phase of a large-scale platform modernization initiative. This engagement will focus on evaluating current-state systems, defining a future-state architecture, validating technical approaches, identifying risks, and creating a comprehensive implementation roadmap. The selected consultant will partner closely with product and engineering leadership to ensure the organization enters the build phase with a well-defined and executable technical strategy. This is an ideal opportunity for a senior architect, staff engineer, engineering leader, or technology executive who has successfully led complex replatforming, modernization, or greenfield software initiatives. Responsibilities Define and validate the target architecture and technology stack for a new enterprise platform Evaluate existing systems, services, and integrations for reuse, migration, or replacement Assess technical feasibility, scope, and delivery timelines Identify architectural risks, dependencies, and implementation challenges early in the planning process Provide recommendations around engineering team structure, staffing requirements, and capability gaps Support build-versus-buy evaluations and vendor assessment efforts Develop executive-level technical documentation, implementation roadmaps, and architecture recommendations Partner with product and engineering stakeholders to align technical decisions with business objectives Serve as a trusted advisor and technical mentor throughout the discovery phase Required Qualifications 10+ years of software engineering experience 3+ years in a Principal Architect, Staff Engineer, Lead Architect, Engineering Director, or VP Engineering capacity Proven experience leading platform modernization, replatforming, or greenfield application development initiatives Strong expertise in cloud-native architectures (AWS, Azure, or GCP) Deep understanding of APIs, microservices, distributed systems, and data architecture Experience evaluating legacy system migrations and integration strategies Demonstrated ability to assess technical risk and create implementation roadmaps Strong communication skills with the ability to present technical concepts to executive stakeholders Preferred Qualifications Experience in SaaS product environments Experience supporting large-scale customer-facing applications Background in regulated data environments Familiarity with enterprise application modernization initiatives Experience working in product-led organizations Show more Show less