Solution Architect

Job description

The Voice of Texas Agriculture. Company Name: Texas Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company | Department: Information Systems The Solution Architect – Application Administration serves as a senior technical leader responsible for the design, engineering, and lifecycle management of enterprise application solutions. This role blends deep application administration expertise with a solution architecture mindset, focusing on building scalable, secure, and sustainable platforms that align with business strategy. The Solution Architect partners closely with architects, infrastructure teams, and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into engineered solutions, ensuring optimal integration across systems and platforms. This position emphasizes solution design, automation, standardization, and continuous improvement, while maintaining hands-on technical involvement. As a technical leader and mentor, this role fosters collaboration across teams, promotes engineering best practices, and drives innovation across the application administration domain. MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORITY Solution Design and Engineering Leadership: Design, engineer, and implement robust application solutions that align with enterprise architecture and business objectives. Partner with Enterprise Architects to validate solution designs for scalability, performance, and integration. Translate complex technical and business requirements into actionable solution designs. Lead prototyping and proof-of-concept efforts to validate solution feasibility. Application Lifecycle Ownership: Own the end-to-end lifecycle of application platforms including deployment, configuration, maintenance, and optimization. Ensure solutions are maintainable, scalable, and aligned with application administration best practices. Drive standardization and automation across application lifecycle processes. Technical Standards and Governance: Enforce and evolve engineering standards, guardrails, and best practices across all application solutions. Champion secure administration and deployment practices across environments. Ensure compliance with enterprise SDLC and governance frameworks. Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement: Partner with Infrastructure, Development, and Business teams to deliver aligned and effective solutions. Facilitate clear communication between technical teams and business stakeholders. Drive solution discussions, requirements clarification, and technical decision-making. Technical Leadership and Mentorship: Serve as a senior escalation point for complex technical issues and solution challenges. Mentor Application Administrators and engineers on solution design, automation, and best practices. Promote a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Solution Delivery and Optimization: Lead troubleshooting and root cause analysis for complex system and application issues. Perform system analysis, performance tuning, and optimization across platforms. Ensure high-quality, scalable releases through solution validation and oversight. Business Alignment and Value Delivery: Drive solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes and operational efficiency. Build strong relationships with stakeholders to ensure alignment between technical solutions and business needs. Support end-user enablement through guidance, documentation, and training. Professional Competencies: Act as a role model for Application Administrators in adhering to and enhancing established quality and SDLC/PMLC best practices. Comply with Certified Fleet Operator requirements as per the Company Driving and Safety Policy. Other Duties: Perform additional responsibilities as assigned while maintaining flexibility and commitment to organizational success. MINIMUM POSITION QUALIFICATIONS At least one of the following: • Bachelor’s degree from accredited college or university in a network, computer, or management related field and substantial experience in an information technology-related field. • Associate degree from an accredited school in a technology-related field and extensive experience in an information technology-related field. Technical Expertise: Solution Architecture Expertise: • Strong foundation in application architecture, integration, and system design principles. • Ability to build and deliver scalable, enterprise-grade solutions. Cloud and Platform Engineering: • Experience in designing and supporting cloud-native solutions (preferably Microsoft Azure). • Familiarity with PaaS environments and modern application hosting models. Security and Compliance: • Expertise in secure configuration, deployment, and vulnerability mitigation practices. Problem-Solving and Innovation: • Strong analytical and critical thinking skills applied to complex solution challenges. • Ability to identify and implement innovative improvements across systems and processes. Performance Engineering: • Experience optimizing application performance and system efficiency across distributed environments. Leadership & Collaboration: • Proven ability to mentor teams and lead through influence. • Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills. Preferred Certifications and Skills: • Certifications in Scrum, Agile, SAFe, or comparable frameworks. • Cloud-native experience, ideally in PaaS environments such as Microsoft Azure. Role-Specific Competencies: • Exceptional analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities can address and resolve highly intricate challenges. • A passion for continuous learning, skill expansion, and adaptability to emerging technologies and practices. • Outstanding oral and written communication skills, ensuring clarity in technical discussions and collaboration across diverse teams. • Strong organizational acumen, particularly in prioritizing tasks and managing competing demands effectively. Professional Context: • Operates as a senior technical leader without direct reports, influencing solution direction and engineering standards. • Bridges business and technical domains to ensure successful solution delivery and alignment. Tools and Industry Knowledge: • Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite for documentation and communication tasks. • Desirable: Experience in the insurance industry or familiarity with its terminology, workflows, and regulatory requirements to ensure alignment with business needs and compliance requirements. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS Repeated use of PC, telephone, and office machines. Extended periods of sitting and concentration. Occasional bending, twisting, crouching, pulling, pushing, and reaching in an office environment. Consistently lift and move items weighing up to 40 lbs. without assistance. WORKING CONDITIONS Occasionally work long, irregular hours. Work to be conducted in office environment owned or leased by company. Travel, as required. Texas Farm Bureau is an Equal Opportunity Employer (M/F/D/V).