Senior Applications Architect

Job Description

At K&L Gates, we are looking for smart, imaginative and hard-working people with diverse backgrounds, experiences and ideas to join us.

Perhaps our search for talented visionaries and your search for important and impactful work lead to the same place.

We are seeking a Senior Applications Architect to join any U.S. office. The candidate will participate and manage requirements gathering processes, including collecting, reviewing, analyzing, evaluating, estimating, prioritizing, and documenting business requirements for supported initiatives and enterprise / team projects.

Develop enterprise standards, best practices, requirement gathering practices, and documentation standards.

Lead the design and development of scalable, reliable, and secure applications, SaaS, code, and workflow architectures for complex applications.

Candidates must be self-starters who possess the ability to work independently and as part of a team. Excellent communication skills and a commitment to providing the highest quality client service are strongly preferred.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Demonstrate leadership by fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and diversity to create exceptional products and solutions aligned with the Firm's key business processes.
• Develops and maintains application architecture process and standards that enables the Enterprise Applications teams to develop and deliver enterprise scale applications / SaaS / code / workflow solutions
• Lead the architectural design, review, prototyping, and development of scalable, reliable, and secure software architecture for complex applications / SaaS / code / workflow solutions.
• Stay informed about industry trends and emerging technologies, incorporating them into the architectural vision of applications / SaaS / code / workflow solutions.
• Collaborate with other architects and teams to ensure consistency and interoperability across the entire technology landscape.
• Conduct regular performance assessments to identify performance and process bottlenecks in applications / code / SaaS / workflow solutions and implement optimizations to enhance system efficiency.
• Ensure that architectural solutions comply with security and operational standards as well as industry regulations.
• Collaborate with the security team to implement and enhance application security measures limiting user impact and work cycles.
• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation of architectural designs, decisions, and guidelines.
• Work closely with project managers to ensure timely and successful project delivery.
• Create user requirements system architecture in the form of User Stories to drive workloads of other engineers and developers.

ADDITIONAL DUTIES

• Serve as a model for the Enterprise Applications Team philosophy, advocating enterprise processes, procedures, standards, and knowledge-first support.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to development and engineering teams, ensuring adherence to architectural best practices.
• Participate in enterprise projects, occasionally acting as a project sponsor for team / self-managed projects.
• Proactively meet with vendors to identify opportunities for training and development, as well as to maintain communication on future versions and strategic direction related to our environment.

Make recommendations to IT Leadership to inform future IT strategic planning.

• Lead one or more functional cross-technology groups, called Technical Circles, working to develop and enhance a technology offering.
• Logs and tracks work items in DevOPS or Ticket management system (ServiceNOW)
• Work with the quality assurance team to assist and define testing efforts, including creating test plans / scripts and conducting functional testing.

Also, help coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT), basic Quality Assurance (QA) testing, and end-user testing of business functions and applications.

EXPERIENCE SKILLS REQUIRED

• Bachelors in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or equivalent education / experience to provide the necessary skills to perform primary responsibilities
• Masters degree in related field preferred
• A minimum of 10 years of demonstrated, application architecture, application engineering, or application development experience.
• Proficency in using Microsoft Office suite and other tools to create reports, diagrams, and to complete data analysis tasks.
• Proficency in one or more coding or scripting languages such as C#, .Net Framework, Python, Powershell, bash, batch or other cloud relevant languages.
• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft technologies including Active Directory / Azure AD / Entra ID, Azure polices / GPO, Conditional Access Policieces, and Intue endpoint management.
• Advanced working knowledge of DNS, DHCP, VPN, firewalls, network load balancing, proxies, network fileshares, e-mail, SQL server, IIS / Apache / HTTP web servers, and SSO technologies.
• Apitiude to aquire and assess data from a variety of sources to make informed data-driven recommendations and / or decisions.
• Advanced understanding of cloud computing patterns and best practices.
• Advanced working knowledge of document management solutions, such as iManage, Net Docs, SharePoint, OneDrive, Box, HighQ, and others.
• Advanced knowledge in Microsoft SQL Server and ability to create medium and complex reports using Microsoft Power BI.
• Advanced knowledge of KCS (Knowledge Center Support) methodology
• Hold two or more relevant Azure certifications such as PL-600, PL-100, PL-400, MS-102, AI-102, MS-700, or other applciaion / platform certifications such as ITIL v4, iManage certififed developer, Box certified professional, or other relevant certifications.
• High level understanding of global data privacy standards such as GDPR and Technolgy industry standards such as ISO27001.
• Prior experience working with and implementing applications / SaaS / code / workflow solutions used by professional service orginzations.

ADDITIONAL ABILITIES REQUIRED

• Ability to collaborate, engage, and communicate with team members or resources in various office and time zones, while effectively interacting with diverse personalities while maintaing a professional demenior.
• Proficiency to translate business needs into functional appliciaon requirements.
• Possesses the expertise to draw, sketch, write, and use collaborative productivity tools to share and view ideas in a hybrid work environment.
• Proven ablity to Design and implement solutions for seamless integration of different components and systems.
• Knack to evaluate and self learn solutions and their capabilities.
• Capabilities to handle frequent computer, telephone, email, messaging applications (MS Teams), and video call use at workstation for up to eight hours at a time.
• Frequently work at a fast pace with unscheduled interruptions.
• Means to perform job functions in an office setting or suitable remote working (virtual work) location.
• Capability to travel upon request (up to 10%) to other offices, vendor sites or to conferences / seminars.
• Manual dexterity required for typing, reaching, and lifting of small objects, and operating office equipment.
• Mobility within the office including movement from floor to floor.

Compensation Salary $137,800 - $258,300 / year

The compensation salary for this position will be determined during the interview process and will vary based on multiple factors, including but not limited to prior experience, relevant expertise, current business needs, and market factors.

As required by the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative Ordinance and San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, qualified applicants for our Los Angeles and San Francisco offices with arrest and conviction records will be considered.

ABOUT THE FIRM

K&L Gates is a fully integrated global law firm with lawyers located across five continents in more than 40 offices. We have experienced dramatic growth in the past decade and now rank among the largest U.

S. based law firms in the world. We take pride in constantly striving for innovation, imagination and an entrepreneurial spirit.

We come up with big ideas and then roll up our sleeves to get the job done, guiding our clients through their most complex issues in a variety of industry sectors and across multiple regions of the world.

The industry recognition the firm has garnered emanates from the foundation of a global community aligned on behalf of our clients.

The people at K&L Gates are committed to working together to create a legacy for each other, the firm, our clients, and the communities in which we serve.

We thrive in an inclusive and socially conscious environment that embraces diversity and takes a holistic approach to the career evolution of all our professionals.