Solutions Architect

This job is located at: 814 Commerce Drive, Oak Brook, IL 60523

PLS® Overview: 

Why PLS? Because You Deserve Better!®  PLS — which stands for People – Location – Service — is a leading retail provider of financial services. The “P” comes first, because our customers are at the center of everything we do, and we recognize that it’s our exceptional team members who go above and beyond every day. The PLS Group, headquartered in Chicago, is comprised of over 200 financial service centers in 12 states. Through our check cashing stores, we provide consumers with convenient financial products and services to help them manage their day-to-day financial needs. Although many of our customers have banking relationships, we believe that our customers use our financial services because they are convenient, transparent, and frequently more affordable than available traditional alternatives. PLS was founded in 1997 by Bob and Dan Wolfberg, who serve as Co-Presidents. 

Position Overview: 

Solutions Architect is a key leadership role at PLS responsible for designing critical enterprise solutions. The candidate will lead the architecture and design of software using technologies including Artificial Intelligence to improve and extend our Azure microservices architecture and expand our capabilities with a focus on customer impact. This person will leverage expertise in solution design and strong design patterns, as well as drive innovation through Proof-of-Concept development.

This person will collaborate with team members across the enterprise IT organization and business units to design solutions that are aligned with our overall business and technology strategies. They will work closely with appropriate business partners in developing technology solution approaches, evaluating products, and setting standards and guidelines.

Responsibilities

• Architect and design microservice solutions for desktop, mobile, and web in a predominately Microsoft stack environment, with a focus on functionality, data, security, integration, infrastructure, and performance.
• Define and implement proof-of-concepts for proving new technologies and/or design patterns.
• Provide reference model, reference architecture, and reference implementation for various domains along with frameworks to promote standardization across the enterprise.
• Build and maintain the current-state and future-state applications architecture views for the enterprise
• Advocate and enforce best practices, principles, and standards for performance, reliability, scalability, security, and reusability at an enterprise scale.
• Participate on the architecture board to provide governance and build processes to guide and sanction critical architectural decisions.
• Monitor technology trends and determine potential impact and implications to our businesses and systems.
• Serve as a technical leader and motivator on cross-functional teams during the entire lifecycle of product development in an agile software development environment.
• Mentor and coach junior IT resources.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Programming, Engineering, or a related discipline with an advanced degree preferred, or its equivalent
• Proven experience designing solutions and applications across multiple technology domains.
• 8+ years of proven experience developing and integrating enterprise-scale software products and solutions particularly focused on distributed and real-time systems
• 3+ years of experience preferred working in a business and/or technology consulting role
• In-depth knowledge of diverse technologies covering front end (Web / Mobile), middleware, persistence layer within the Microsoft stack
• Experience in the design and development of Enterprise and Mobile Applications (Native, Hybrid, Web)
• Experience in the design and development of cloud-native and on-prem distributed applications that leverage Microservice Architecture, REST APIs, API Gateways, relational and NoSQL storage and loosely coupled messaging
• Experience implementing solutions using Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) approaches leveraging enterprise service bus with security, service registry, and governance in place
• Strong understanding of Domain-Driven Design
• Strong understanding of Enterprise Integration Patterns
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (Azure or AWS) and SaaS architectures
• Familiarity with Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery CI/CD concepts and tools
• Understanding of security and networking concepts a plus
• Ability to quickly perform proof-of-concepts for validating new technology or approach
• Ability to work in a fast-paced dynamic environment and provide support across all phases of SDLC
• Good grasp of various software development lifecycle methodologies (Waterfall, RUP, Agile)
• Other duties as assigned

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to sit and/or stand for long periods of time
• Ability to lift 15 lbs
• Ability to travel on occasion

Benefits:

Benefits for eligible team members include medical/dental/vision, 401(k), vacation, opportunities for advancement, and ongoing training.

We strive to demonstrate our Core Values in all positions at PLS:

Communication ● Customer Focus ● Integrity and Trust ● Teamwork ● Results

PLS is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, marital status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. PLS is a drug-free workplace. PLS provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify your Recruiter or a member of our Human Resources team at [email protected] to make arrangements. The decision on granting accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.

For jobs located in the City of Los Angeles, consistent with the requirements of the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment