The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Principal Solution Architect, Enterprise API Platform

The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
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1 month ago

Base Salary

$152k - $250k/yr

Responsibilities

  • Own enterprise and business solution architecture strategy, standards, reusable patterns, reference architectures, and architectural guardrails.
  • Lead complex, high-impact architecture decisions spanning multiple value streams, platforms, domains, and business units.
  • Drive API modernization, API rationalization, reuse, lifecycle management, gateway and integration patterns, and domain-aligned API design.
  • Shape API, MCP gateway, context-layer, observability, discoverability, governance, and AI-enablement strategies.
  • Guide build-versus-buy decisions, API reimplementation priorities, scalability and resilience improvements, and modernization sequencing.
  • Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Engineering, Product, Platform, Security, Risk, Compliance, and business stakeholders.
  • Influence roadmaps, MVP scope, technical trade-offs, and enterprise exceptions without direct reporting authority.
  • Mentor and coach architects and senior engineers and represent solution architecture in review boards and enterprise forums.
  • Provide architecture input for major production incidents and translate technical decisions into business outcomes.

Requirements

  • Deep experience designing and governing enterprise-scale solution architectures across multiple teams and domains.
  • Experience modernizing API ecosystems, including API management and lifecycle platforms, gateway patterns, integration patterns, performance, scalability, and domain-aligned API design.
  • Proven ability to define and drive adoption of architecture standards, frameworks, reusable patterns, and governance.
  • Strong understanding of application architectures, APIs, integration patterns, AI, cloud platforms, and data flows.
  • Experience balancing business priorities, technical trade-offs, risk, governance, and compliance at enterprise scale.
  • Ability to operate at both strategic and hands-on levels and influence distributed teams without direct authority.
  • Strong communication skills with technical and non-technical audiences and the ability to translate strategy into architectural direction.
  • Experience in regulated or risk-sensitive environments and a track record of mentoring architects and engineers.
  • Experience with Agile or product-based delivery models and producing product-level and team-level technical design documentation.
  • Strong engineering background and ability to partner credibly with engineering leaders on enterprise API architecture.
  • Understanding of MCP, agentic AI enablement, context-layer architecture, API observability, discoverability, governance, security, and AI-native enterprise capabilities.

Benefits

  • Full-time eligible employees receive contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources.
  • Professional skill-building, leadership development, and philanthropic opportunities are available.
  • Hybrid work arrangement requiring three days per week at the Guardian office in Holmdel, New Jersey.

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The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

About The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

10,000+ employees
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