Senior Director, Software Architecture

Title: Sr Director, Software Architecture

Location: CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MD, MN, NC, NY, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV

Job Description:

The Senior Director of Software Architecture is the enterprise leader responsible for defining, owning, and executing Accurate Background’s software architecture strategy across its background screening platforms. Reporting directly to the Chief Information Officer (CIO), this role ensures architectural alignment between business strategy, product vision, and engineering execution.

This position owns architectural vision, guiding principles, design frameworks, and engineering standards that enable Accurate to deliver secure, scalable, extensible, and compliant software products. The Senior Director partners closely with Engineering and Product leadership to translate strategy into a cohesive architecture roadmap while providing hands-on architectural leadership across the organization.

As the head of Software Architecture, this role drives consistency, quality, and long-term sustainability of the technology stack, while enabling engineering teams to innovate rapidly within well-defined architectural guardrails.

Responsibilities:

Enterprise Architecture Strategy & Governance

• Report directly to the CIO and serve as the senior-most authority for software architecture across Accurate’s technology landscape.
• Define and maintain the enterprise software architecture vision, principles, and long-term roadmap aligned with company and product strategy.
• Establish architectural guiding principles, reference architectures, design frameworks, and engineering standards for all screening platforms.
• Own architectural governance, including design reviews, exception management, and technology lifecycle decisions.

Platform & Technology Leadership

• Partner with Engineering leadership to guide system design and architectural decisions across core platforms and shared services.
• Define and evolve the technology stack, ensuring solutions are secure, cloud-native, extensible, and cost-effective.
• Lead architectural modernization efforts, including legacy platform evolution and migration to modern architectures.
• Ensure architecture supports regulatory, security, privacy, availability, and performance requirements inherent in background screening.

Product & Business Partnership

• Collaborate with Product Management to translate product strategy and roadmaps into scalable architectural solutions.
• Partner with business functions, Security, Compliance, Legal, and Operations to ensure “architecture by design” across all initiatives.
• Evaluate architectural tradeoffs to balance speed-to-market with long-term platform health and sustainability.

Engineering Enablement & Design Leadership

• Provide hands-on architectural leadership for complex, high-impact initiatives and cross-platform designs.
• Define reusable patterns, shared services, and platform capabilities to accelerate delivery and reduce duplication.
• Mentor and develop architects and senior engineers, building a strong internal architecture community.
• Champion engineering excellence, design rigor, and architectural consistency across teams.

Measurement & Continuous Improvement

• Establish architectural health metrics (e.g., platform resilience, scalability, technical debt, security posture).
• Monitor emerging technologies and industry best practices to keep Accurate’s platforms competitive and future-ready.
• Drive continuous improvement in architectural maturity across the organization.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 12+ years of experience in software engineering and architecture, with deep expertise in enterprise and platform architecture.
• Proven experience defining and governing architecture for large-scale SaaS or B2B product platforms.
• Strong background in modern architectures: cloud-native, microservices, event-driven systems, APIs, and domain-driven design.
• Experience operating in regulated environments with strong understanding of security, data privacy, and compliance.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and guide engineering organizations without direct line authority.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating architectural concepts to technical and executive audiences.
• Strategic yet hands-on leader with a passion for building sustainable, high-quality software platforms.

The annual base salary for this position ranges from $191,000 - $286,000. Pay will vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and relevant education and training.  This position may also be eligible for an annual performance-based bonus, commission, or other variable pay plan. The Company also offers a full range of benefits, including medical, dental, and 401k. Your recruiter can share more details about the specific compensation package during the hiring process.

The Accurate Way: 

We offer a fun, fast-paced environment, with lots of room for growth. We have an unwavering commitment to diversity, ensuring everyone has a complete sense of belonging here. To do this, we follow four guiding principles – Take Ownership, Be Open, Stay Curious, Work as One – core values that dictate what we stand for, and how we behave.  

Take ownership. 

Be accountable for your actions, your team, and the company. Accept responsibility willingly, especially when it’s what’s best for our customers. Give others every reason to trust you, believe in you, and count on you. Rise to every occasion with your personal best.      

Be open.

Be open to new ideas. Be inclusive of people and ways of doing things. Make yourself accessible and approachable, and communicate with genuineness, transparency, honesty, and respect. Embrace differences.

Stay curious. 

Stay curious even as you move forward. Tirelessly ask questions and challenge the status quo in your pursuit of new ideas, ways to solve problems, and to continually grow and improve. 

Work as one. 

Work together to create the best customer and workplace experience. Put our customers and employees first—before individual or departmental agendas. Make sure they get the help they need to succeed. 

Equal opportunities 

Accurate is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to hiring talented and qualified individuals with diverse backgrounds. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.