Application Architect in Newport

Ascensus is the leading independent technology and service platform powering savings plans across America, providing products and expertise that help nearly 16 million people save for a better today and tomorrow. Ascensus does not provide visa sponsorship now or in the future and does not hire candidates working under OPT.

The Application Architect role is positioned between the Platform Architect and the Principal Software Engineer and is responsible for providing technical direction and oversight across scrum teams within a program. Works closely with the Platform Architect to understand business needs and identifies technical solutions. Collaborates with other Platform Architects and Application architects to promote innovation, reusability, stability, scalability, and consistency across programs. Provides technical direction for scrum teams for specific initiatives and assists with initial proof of concepts and template builds. Provides ongoing technical oversight and mentoring across scrum teams to ensure they are progressing in accordance with established architecture direction. Some participation as an individual contributor to assist scrum teams with complex tasks and POCs. Researches new technologies and tools—including AI-assisted engineering, intelligent automation, and related platforms—to stay current and identify innovation opportunities that align with security, privacy, and enterprise governance. Passionate about quality and continuous delivery.

Job Functions, Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Relies on extensive experience and sound judgment to prioritize workload and engagement with teams.
• Establishes strong alignment with Product Owners to understand, influence, and deliver on roadmaps.
• Sets technical direction and provides proactive oversight to scrum teams so solutions are secure, scalable, efficient, and stable.
• Leads, coaches, and mentors technical staff.
• Establishes standards, proofs of concept, and templates that enable teams to deliver high-quality software efficiently.
• Designs, prototypes, and guides implementation of agent-based solutions (e.g., tool-using workflows, orchestration, retrieval, and guardrails) within approved platforms and enterprise standards, partnering with security, compliance, and enterprise architecture as needed.
• Defines and promotes standards for responsible use of AI and automation across the software lifecycle—including approved tools, data-handling expectations, human review for high-risk decisions, and patterns for integrating AI, model-based, or agent-based capabilities—in partnership with security, compliance, and enterprise architecture as applicable.
• Evaluates AI-enabled tools and practices (e.g., code generation, review support, refactoring, testing, documentation, operations, and agent-based workflows where appropriate) for fit, risk, cost, and maintainability; drives adoption through reference implementations, guardrails, and templates.
• Participates in project discussions to remove technical impediments and assists in establishing estimates.
• Performs design and development for complex work as an active contributor to the project pipeline.
• Collaborates with other Application Architects and Platform Architects to identify, socialize, and confirm the best possible solutions.
• Holds a high degree of responsibility for application architecture and technical execution within a program.
• Takes ownership and provides technical leadership when production issues require software engineering expertise.
• Protects, secures, and handles all confidential Ascensus data appropriately to prevent unauthorized access, improper transmission, or unapproved disclosure that could harm Ascensus or our clients.
• Assists with other tasks and projects as assigned.
• Demonstrates our I-Client service philosophy and Core Values of People Matter, Quality First, and Integrity Always in daily actions and supports our organizational culture.

Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements:

• Minimum 8 years of Software Engineering experience with a minimum of 2 years in a lead role.
• Passion for leadership, mentoring, and coaching to help others succeed.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills with ability to explain and influence architectural direction.
• Excellent technical skills with deep knowledge of development technologies and tools.
• Excels in a results focused organization.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum, continuous integration, continuous delivery, and related DevOps tooling and practices.
• Expertise in server configuration, pipeline automation, and software engineering practices (code quality, branching, releases, operational readiness).
• Innovative and change-oriented, balanced with pragmatic delivery and risk awareness.
• Experience with multiple database platforms (e.g., MS SQL Server, Sybase, Oracle, or similar).
• Expert-level proficiency in the .NET ecosystem.
• Strong knowledge of JavaScript and modern front-end frameworks.
• Experience designing and evolving microservices-style architectures, including service boundaries, APIs/contracts, resilience patterns, and operational considerations (deployment, monitoring, scaling).
• Experience with event-driven architecture, including messaging/eventing, asynchronous integration patterns, and reliability considerations (e.g., idempotency, ordering, observability).
• Experience with test-driven development (TDD) and automated testing frameworks.
• Demonstrated proficiency with AI-assisted engineering tools for implementation, code review support, refactoring, and technical research, including clear human review habits and compliance with data/security policies.
• Practical experience designing, prototyping, or delivering agent-based or model-assisted application capabilities (e.g., orchestration, tool/API integration, guardrails, observability, and production support considerations).
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving skills in complex production and delivery environments.

Nice to Have Skills:

• Experience with Container technology.
• Experience with networking, load balancing, clustering.
• Experience with cloud development.
• Experience with Mobile apps.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. The national average salary range for this role is $170-200k in base pay, exclusive of any bonuses and benefits. This base salary range represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position. Actual salary offered will vary and may be above or below the range based on various factors including but not limited to location, experience, performance, and internal pay alignment. Other rewards and benefits may include: 401(k) match, Medical, Dental, Vision, Paid-Time-Off, etc.