Sphera, the former Operational Excellence and Risk Management business of IHS Inc. is a leading global provider of enterprise software and services that enables companies to manage and optimize their environmental, health, safety and sustainability processes. Our software allows customers to automate processes, monitor emissions, ensure regulatory compliance, and track chemical inventory throughout a manufacturing cycle. We were recently spun off by IHS and acquired by Genstar Capital, essentially positioning us as a start-up tech company with $100 million in annual revenue and over 3000 customers in 70+ countries.

At Sphera, it is more than just a job.  If you are looking to help change the world and challenge status quo while growing your career, you might find some interesting opportunities to pursue whether for you or to refer a colleague.

Chief Applications Architect

The Chief App Architect is responsible for delivering results for the Engineering department by:

• Leading the architecture strategy for the company’s suite of products in the Cloud and work collaboratively across all functional departments to support the long-term product vision
• Ensuring that our core product functionality is transitioned to the SpheraCloud platform in a cohesive way
• Being a leader at Sphera who is both highly technical but also business savvy
• Actively participating in the engineering process- anticipating our future needs

Responsibilities

Set Standards for our Engineering team

Set, communicate, and govern technical standards throughout the product development organization. This includes the standards for the architecture itself and working closely with our delivery teams in setting standards of how the work gets done (i.e. coding standards, design patterns, code reviews, security requirements, etc.)

Advance our Cloud Architecture

Drive the creation and implementation of architecture standards and artifacts by working collaboratively with the Engineering leadership team

• Collaborate with the Engineering team to develop the architecture, build the backlog, and adjust the design as necessary. Collaborate with the Product Management team to make sure the voice of architecture is part of the Product Roadmap.
• Lead technology evaluations and framework selections to choose the most appropriate technology that meets the current and future business needs.
• Analyze the risks, benefits, and opportunities associated with the implementation of solution.

Be Diligent about Planning and Design

Translate product requirements to system level architecture, creates architecture roadmaps and high-level designs. Work with senior technical team (technical leads, principal engineers, etc.) to develop detailed designs.

Perform Research and Development

Maintain knowledge of and seek to understand current trends in new technology. Have a progressive vision to look forward for our product in development for 3 years or more in the future. Assist in the evaluation of technology for future acquisition.

Collaborate across Product Development

Facilitate negotiation between Product Management and Engineering to advance the development of our product.

• Ensure that overall enterprise architecture is inclusive of all stakeholder viewpoints and are vetted to ensure that artifacts support, reflect, advance, and integrate as intended
• Work closely with Engineering in building and governing processes to improve and evolve the software development process at Sphera (tooling, standards, code reviews).
• Evaluating the long-term product plan and ensuring that we’re anticipating architecture needs.

Have an Agile mindset

Delivers solutions in small steps while incorporating an “inspect and adapt” feedback loop from internal and external stakeholders. Flexible and able to adjust\change direction as the business environment and technology universe evolves and changes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Computer Science or related disciplines
• 10+ years of software development of commercial-grade systems and applications with a proven track record of building and leading successful engineering teams
• Excellent Knowledge of the new technology trends and its applications for the new products in the market place.
• Excellent Knowledge of Software Engineering Discipline, including hands-on knowledge of Latest Programming Languages, Object-Oriented Programming, High-Performance, Fault-tolerant Distributed Systems, Data Structures and Algorithms, Operating Systems, Distributed DBMS and DB modeling and access languages.
• Strong technical understanding of the Microsoft technology stack
• Proven experience assessing business requirements
• Strong leadership skills, ability to perform under the pressure and deliver complex technical solutions
• Superior communication skills with ability to relate with both technical and business professionals
• Full knowledge of and adherence to Software Development Life Cycle best practices
• In depth knowledge of Agile Project Development Methodologies

Sphera is an equal opportunity employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status and other legally protected characteristics.