About this role.
Actian is seeking a senior Software Architect to shape the architecture of a multi-tenant cloud data platform. The role focuses on resilient, scalable and cost-efficient cloud services, with responsibility for fault tolerance, observability, security and modernization of legacy systems. This architect will establish technical standards, review designs and create APIs, templates and shared tooling that improve developer productivity. The position requires deep practical experience with cloud SaaS platforms, microservices, Docker, Kubernetes and messaging systems. It also requires proactive technical leadership and the ability to communicate complex architectural decisions to both engineers and executives.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
4/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
5/5Salary analysis
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would begin by defining service-level objectives and the platform's failure domains. I would use stateless, horizontally scalable services where possible, durable messaging and storage, health checks, automated failover, idempotent operations and tested recovery procedures. I would also validate the design through fault-injection exercises and monitor leading indicators such as error rates, latency, queue depth and recovery time.
I treat cost as an architectural metric alongside availability and latency. I establish visibility through resource tagging and unit-cost dashboards, then address waste through right-sizing, autoscaling, storage lifecycle policies, workload scheduling and efficient data-access patterns. Each change is measured against service objectives so savings do not introduce unacceptable reliability or performance risk.
I involve delivery teams early, identify repeated pain points and turn proven patterns into paved roads such as templates, reference implementations, APIs and automated guardrails. Standards should be lightweight, documented and easy to adopt through CI/CD and self-service tooling. I measure adoption and developer feedback, then revise standards when they create friction without sufficient benefit.
I would first map dependencies, operational risks and measurable outcomes, then use an incremental migration plan such as the strangler pattern. New capabilities would be built around stable interfaces while traffic is gradually shifted behind feature flags and observability controls. I would maintain rollback paths, validate data consistency and retire legacy components only after production evidence confirms the replacement is stable.
I translate the decision into business outcomes: customer impact, delivery speed, operational risk, cost and the consequences of delay. I present a small number of viable options with assumptions, estimated effort and a clear recommendation. This keeps the discussion focused on informed trade-offs rather than implementation detail while preserving enough technical evidence for confidence.
The architecture team at Actian works side-by-side with the development team. We are looking for a Software Architect to design the structure of our cloud platform and make it efficient, easy to extend, maintain and operate.
We need a proactive professional who ensures the product meets three key conditions: it must be stable (it doesn’t crash when failures happen), efficient (it doesn’t skyrocket cloud costs), and easy to use for our own developers. Your goal is to eliminate technical complexity and set the rules of the game so developers can ship new features fast and without errors.
Core Responsibilities:
Cloud Platform Design: Design and improve the cloud structure (AWS, Azure, or GCP) of our data platform, ensuring it works well for many clients at the same time.
Stability & Fault Tolerance: Build a system ready for failures, capable of recovering automatically and keeping things running if there are issues in production.
Making Life Easy for Developers: Create clear APIs, templates, and common tools so internal developers can write code faster and with fewer mistakes.
Cloud Cost Control: Monitor and optimize the use of cloud servers and tools (like Kubernetes) to keep the product cost-effective to run.
Improving Legacy Code: Identify parts of the system that have become outdated and plan how to improve them step-by-step without stopping daily work.
Technical Guidance & Standards: Review team designs and define the company’s technical standards, helping to resolve questions without becoming a bottleneck.
Security by Design: Ensure the platform’s structure inherently protects customer data and complies with security rules from the very beginning.
System Monitoring: Decide how we measure platform performance so that if something fails, we know exactly what happened within a few minutes.
Testing New Technologies: Build quick prototypes and test new tools before deciding whether to adopt them company-wide.
Qualifications & Profile:
Technical Background: Proven experience as a Software Architect or Principal Engineer working with cloud SaaS products and systems handling large volumes of data.
Key Tools: Real-world experience with microservices, containers (Docker, Kubernetes), messaging systems
Proactive Mindset: You don’t wait to be told what to do; you look for where the system might fail or where we are overspending, and you propose solutions.
Developer-Focused: You care about your fellow developers working comfortably and without frustrations using the tools you design.
Communication: Excellent English skills (written and spoken) to explain complex technical problems simply to both developers and executives.
What We Offer:
- The chance to be part of an innovative, fast-growing company making a significant impact in the data management space.
- Collaboration with a passionate and diverse team.
- Competitive salary and benefits package.
- Flexible work arrangements (remote or hybrid).
- Opportunities for professional growth and development.
Compensation
Additional Information
Why Join Us? At Actian, we are passionate about innovation and teamwork. This role is perfect for someone who thrives in a dynamic environment, loves creating an efficient and welcoming workspace, and enjoys working closely with a talented team.
Interested? We’d love to hear from you! Let’s discuss how you can contribute to our success while growing your career with us.
We value diversity at our company. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying.
Annual salary information is not provided for this position. Explore salary ranges for similar roles in our Salary Directory ›
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