Senior Software Architect - Remote

We are Looking for Our Next Software Architect 

Are you a dynamic individual with significant experience in agile software development, who enjoys designing solutions, leading teams and mentoring other software engineers? Do you bring nuanced consulting skills to analyze complex challenges, provide strategic guidance, and deliver tailored solutions? If so, we are looking for you!

About Us and Why We’re Hiring

Ascendle is a world-class software consulting firm with a focus on product strategy, product design, software architecture, agile development, and go-to-market solutions. We specialize in driving high-risk, high-complexity, high-visibility strategic initiatives where failure is not an option.

We use a highly disciplined and proven process, coupled with thoughtfully chosen technologies, to solve complex business problems for our clients, enabling them to create innovative web and mobile apps that delight and empower their customers. More simply: We deliver real business value to our clients in the form of software that does exactly what they need it to do, and we do it in an incredibly predictable, stress-free way. It turns out there are many companies who need this sort of thing, so Ascendle is growing. We are actively looking to expand our team of Software Architects.

You’re the person we are looking for if you have a passion for walking into complex projects, setting the technical direction and leading your teams through architecturally sound decisions.

Requirements:

• 10+ yrs experience as an Architect
• 15+ yrs experience working as a member of a team that was developing, testing, and deploying software and mentoring or leading agile Scrum development teams
• Our Core Values have to really resonate with you, like really. If you are watching this video grinning and nodding your head, then you will love it here, and we seriously can’t wait to hear from you.
• Certified in either Azure or AWS cloud solutions

Additional qualities we will be looking at to see if you are a good fit for this role at Ascendle:

• Experience working in a formal consulting capacity
• Self-disciplined, proactive, punctual, detail-oriented and naturally curious with a love for learning
• A natural ability to take extreme ownership of the work you produce and your team's success
• Team player with a love of collaboration and mentoring - you thrive on working together towards a common goal and consistently achieving it!
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including in-person and virtual presentation skills
• A creative mind who can solve complex technical puzzles
• The ability to confidently inform and influence stakeholders on critical architectural initiatives
• The skills necessary to build rapport and form lasting relationships with clients
• Experience designing and building modern web solutions in both greenfield and brownfield environments

Familiarity with the following tools, technologies, and techniques is a definite plus:

• Architectural principles including SOLID/standard design patterns/Gang of Four
• .NET Core, NodeJS
• RESTful APIs
• Angular and/or React
• Git and one or more branching strategies such as Git Flow
• Expertise and Advanced Certification in at least one major cloud computing platform 
  
• Test-driven development (TDD)
• Unit testing frameworks such as NUnit or MSTest
• JavaScript testing tools such as Jasmine and Karma
• DevOps Pipelines and related CI/CD tools
• Containerization technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• ML, LLMs and generative AI applications 

Please also take a moment to watch a video about the Software Architect role at Ascendle.

Who You’d Be Working With

Ascendle people are the best of the best, and we really think you’ll like working with us. Here’s why:

• We care: All of us, to the very highest levels of leadership, actually care about doing what is best for our clients and each other.
• We are dedicated: We don’t stop until it’s done and done right. We have an excellent work-life balance, but that moves and flows around ensuring the client always has what they need from us. It’s a culture of balance between rest and never dropping the ball.
• We are authentic and intelligent and valued for that: No one feels they must put up any kind of veneer to fit in or get by. We speak our minds without fear, we listen to each other without prejudice, and the best ideas are valued and incorporated into how we do business, period.
• We are in this together: It’s 0% “what’s in it for me” and 100% “what’s in it for us” (and that “us” includes, most importantly, the client).
• We are truly agile: It’s not just a label or a buzzword for us. It’s truly how we think. It’s a mentality of not spending time and effort on things that don’t matter. It’s not getting tripped up by the sunken costs fallacy. It’s testing an idea as fast as possible, both in our internal processes and our work with clients, finding out if it works, and then building on it or abandoning it as the actual (not theoretical) results dictate.

As a Senior Software Architect, you’ll be working with people in a wide variety of roles such as client stakeholders (both technical and business), ScrumMasters, Product Owners, Technical Leads, Developers, and Q.A. Engineers, to name a few. You’ll also have a top-notch peer group of Architects to rely on for inspiration and support.

How You’d Work at Ascendle

Let’s talk more about how Ascendle operates as a company:

We Live Where We Want

We are a remote and distributed company, with team members working from home-based offices most of the time. We value flexibility while at the same time doing whatever it takes to keep our clients happy. The majority of the team is based within a couple of hours of Seacoast New Hampshire, and we do like to have periodic in-person gatherings and go to our client’s sites when it makes sense. That means that depending on where you are and the client you are working with, there may be infrequent overnight travel. If you are somewhere in the Lower 48, and that sounds reasonable, then you are good!  Keep in mind that our workday generally aligns with the Eastern Time Zone, so that would need to work for you.

We Don’t Do Emergencies

Just like the way we build software, our work weeks are predictable. While there are minor, infrequent exceptions, they rarely exceed 40 hours. Gone are the days of all-hands-on-deck bug fixing and emergency releases – it’s just not how we do things. Our proven process ensures we don’t have to. We even have a policy that you need to leave space between meetings whenever possible so that you aren’t rushed, unprepared, or forced to neglect your personal needs to be on time (which you have likely realized by now is also really important to us).

We Don’t Do Drama

Along with emergencies, workplace drama isn’t a thing at Ascendle. We truly work together to help each other succeed, share the load, hold ourselves and each other accountable and continue to improve. If things don’t go quite right, there isn’t even a hint of fault-finding at any company level for even a second. We all immediately get busy together figuring out how to make it not happen again, and then we write it down and follow it.

We Document Our Processes, Follow Them Rigorously, and Continuously Improve

How many times in your current or previous jobs have you said, “We should write this down, all promise do it this way every single time until we learn a better way to do it, and then we will update our process and do it that way until we learn more, then we’ll do it again.”?  A few?  Well, we ACTUALLY DO THAT.

We Take Time Off

We work hard but recognize that it needs to be balanced with downtime. We want you to take time off (we really like you, but sometimes we both need a break), so we have an unlimited vacation policy with only two requirements:

1. Keep the client blissfully happy – that means preparing for your time off and putting the proper measures in place to help your team keep things running smoothly while you are gone.
2. You must take at least five consecutive unplugged days off per year – seriously, we insist you turn off your devices and forget we exist for at least one week per year (not negotiable).

Miscellaneous

• We pay competitive wages: We only hire people who will give our clients and us their best, and we are willing to pay for it.
• We have all the benefits: Including the previously mentioned vacation policy, cost-effective health plans, 401(k), and a literal plethora of personal and professional growth opportunities.
• Our managers take care of us: We have regular 1:1s, ongoing feedback discussions, and are all executing on professional development plans.
• Our top leadership takes care of the company: Ascendle is lovingly managed for the long haul, sustainable growth while retaining the highest client satisfaction and profitability.
• We are in the know: Our leadership is incredibly transparent. We are always aware of what’s going on with the company – strategy, finances, current, and potential clients, and have ample opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback.
• They keep giving us stuff: We all have lots of clothes and cups and all sorts of cool things that say Ascendle on them.

It is really that good. You should join us!

More about you, Ascendle’s Newest Software Architect

What Success Looks Like

Ascendle’s ultimate goal is to deliver real business value to each client in a controlled, predictable way.

The Architect succeeds by accelerating software delivery while also ensuring the highest technical quality and long-term solution sustainability.

Just as important is being part of the internal Operations team that continuously examines and refines the process we apply to our client projects.  We will want you to learn the way we do things and apply the proven process, all the while being vigilant for improvement opportunities and fearlessly bringing those up for discussion and potential implementation.

But What Will I Actually Be Doing?

You get to do the “fun stuff” - getting new projects started and backing off so a team of developers can “take it from there” for sprint-to-sprint production. You will then be mentoring these teams through technical oversight and support. This involves:

• Working with clients to understand their vision and define the architecture.
• Performing research and writing technical proof of concept code to determine how to accomplish application business goals. For example, researching emerging technologies such as AI and machine learning, and creating prototypes that can be used as a model for the team.
• Working closely with development teams to set the architectural foundation for new projects. This may involve writing the framework code yourself and/or pairing with one or two team members to get them smart about how the patterns are coming together.
• Mentoring software engineers, providing high-level strategic guidance to help them solve technical problems and ensure technical quality by reviewing code to identify issues.
• Providing engineering support to the Sales team, talking to prospects about their technical challenges.
• Proactively shaping the project’s architectural strategy in alignment with client requirements.

Yes, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are Important to us

Ascendle is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.

Ascendle is committed to workforce diversity, creating equity, and fostering and advancing a culture of inclusion. Our culture of belonging is about uniting different backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences in an environment where everyone feels valued and works together to achieve greater outcomes.

Worried you Don't Check All the Boxes? 

If you do not meet all of the stated requirements of this position, we invite you to apply regardless, so long as you are confident that you have what it takes to do the job. Your attitude, aptitude, life experiences, and willingness to learn are just as important as previous work experience.

How to Apply

1. Click Apply for This Job and complete the form.
2. Attach a cover letter containing two pages.
   1. Tell us a little bit about you and your relevant experience, why this position resonated with you, and why you would be a great fit. Pretty standard cover letter, but don’t worry about standing out – just write from the heart! We trust you won’t apply if you don’t meet our requirements or our salary range doesn’t work for you, so we will read your letter, promise!
   2. On a second page, answer these questions:
      1. How have you managed scalability?
      2. Talk about management style
      3. How do you meet our three main requirements (Scrum experience, software experience, and being in love with our Core Values)?
      4. What does your next company and position ideally look like?
      5. What key things are important to you and why?
3. Attach your Resume.
4. Submit.

That’s it. Remember, we are actively hiring for this role, so time is of the essence!

We will send you a confirmation once you apply. If you don’t see it soon, please check your Promotions and Updates inbox, junk folder, or any filters you have set up, and be sure to add us to your safe sender list to ensure future emails come through. If you’re the one, we’d be sad if you missed our messages!

Thanks for your time, and have a wonderful day! 

-The Ascendle team

Compensation$150K - $185K