Solution Architect (Java, AWS)

Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well-being, and work-life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them.

Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself.

As a Solution Architect, you will play a key role in designing and delivering enterprise technology solutions that support business capabilities, improve operational efficiency, and enable digital transformation. You will partner with business and technology teams to create scalable, secure, and resilient architectures while ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and strategic objectives.

You will work closely with product owners, engineering teams, enterprise architects, infrastructure, security, and DevOps teams to define solution architectures that solve complex business problems. You will provide technical leadership throughout the solution lifecycle—from discovery and design through implementation and deployment.

The ideal candidate has experience designing enterprise applications, cloud-native solutions, modern web applications, and batch processing solutions. You are passionate about solving complex technical challenges, evaluating emerging technologies, and driving architecture best practices across delivery teams.

The Solution Architect will have the following responsibilities:

• Design end-to-end solution architectures for enterprise applications and digital initiatives.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Define application, integration, data, and batch processing architectures aligned with enterprise standards and architectural principles.
• Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and technical decision-making throughout project delivery.
• Design cloud-native, microservices-based, and event-driven solutions with a focus on scalability, resilience, security, and maintainability.
• Define API and integration strategies using REST and asynchronous messaging patterns.
• Architect modern user interfaces using frameworks such as React and Angular, ensuring seamless integration with backend services.
• Design enterprise batch processing solutions using Spring Batch and AWS-native services where appropriate.
• Collaborate with DevOps, infrastructure, and security teams to ensure solutions are deployable, observable, secure, and operationally resilient.
• Evaluate new technologies, frameworks, and architectural patterns to support business innovation.
• Mentor engineering teams by promoting architecture best practices, design standards, and reusable solution patterns.

You are curious, collaborative, and passionate about building technology solutions that create business value. You enjoy working across teams, solving complex technical challenges, and communicating architectural decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences. You embrace continuous learning, think strategically, and balance business needs with technical excellence.

• Experience designing enterprise-scale application and solution architectures.
• Strong understanding of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and cloud-native architecture principles.
• Experience designing microservices, distributed systems, and enterprise integration solutions.
• Experience with Java, Spring Boot, and Spring Batch.
• Knowledge of modern frontend frameworks such as React and Angular.
• Experience designing RESTful APIs and event-driven architectures.
• Understanding of container platforms such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Experience with AWS services such as EKS, ECS, Lambda, API Gateway, SQS, SNS, EventBridge, IAM, VPC, CloudWatch, and RDS.
• Knowledge of CI/CD practices and modern software delivery processes.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to balance business objectives with scalability, security, reliability, and operational excellence.
  Additional Skills & Qualifications You May Have
• Experience with Kafka or other event streaming platforms.
• Familiarity with OpenAPI/Swagger and API management platforms.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or AWS CloudFormation).
• Experience with PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL, DynamoDB, Redis, or Valkey.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect or other cloud certifications.
• Experience working within Financial Services or FinTech environments.

We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity.  All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, religion, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable state or local law.