SaaS Architect

Job Description

Senior SaaS/Cloud Platform Architect

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Senior SaaS/Cloud Platform Architect to define, lead and establish the architectural foundation of Appear's next-generation SaaS platform.

The successful candidate will be responsible for defining the overall platform architecture and technical strategy, ensuring the delivery of a scalable, secure, resilient and enterprise-grade SaaS ecosystem.

The platform will support key business capabilities, including customer X Platform inventory management, licensing and entitlement management, customer support portals and workflow orchestration.

A critical aspect of this role will be ensuring seamless integration between cloud-managed services and distributed edge infrastructure, while maintaining uninterrupted operation of X Platform and VX products, including during cloud outages or network disconnections.

Key Responsibilities

1. Enterprise SaaS Architecture

• Define and own the overall SaaS platform architecture and target-state architecture.
• Design scalable, secure and highly available multi-tenant SaaS solutions.
• Establish architectural principles, standards and reusable platform capabilities.
• Ensure consistency and interoperability across Appear's product ecosystem.

2. Distributed Systems and Edge-Cloud Architecture

• Design resilient distributed architectures with clear control-plane and data-plane separation.
• Ensure X Platform and VX continue operating independently during cloud outages and network disconnections.
• Define robust edge-cloud synchronisation mechanisms and offline operating capabilities.
• Ensure cloud-based management does not compromise live media operations.

3. Cloud Infrastructure and Scalability

• Architect highly available and scalable multi-region cloud environments.
• Define microservices-based architectures and containerised infrastructure.
• Establish architectural approaches for Kubernetes, CI/CD and automated provisioning.
• Drive zero-downtime deployment strategies and platform resilience.

4. Licensing and Entitlement Management

• Define the architecture for subscription-based, usage-based, floating and node-locked licensing models.
• Design consumption metering and entitlement management capabilities.
• Ensure secure licence validation, including offline validation scenarios.
• Establish scalable licensing services across the Appear product portfolio.

5. Enterprise Integration, Security and Governance

• Define integration architectures connecting ERP, CRM, billing and customer support systems.
• Establish enterprise security, access governance and audit logging standards.
• Ensure comprehensive observability, telemetry and monitoring capabilities.
• Promote security, reliability and governance across the platform.

6. API Architecture and Workflow Orchestration

• Define consistent API standards and integration patterns.
• Architect workflow orchestration engines and event-driven services.
• Establish appropriate messaging and event-broker technologies.
• Enable seamless communication between multiple products, services and platform capabilities.

Strategic and Technical Leadership

• Own and communicate the SaaS platform target architecture and technical roadmap.
• Drive architectural decisions and pragmatic build-versus-buy assessments.
• Establish common architecture standards across Appear products.
• Work closely with Product Management, R&D, Engineering and other stakeholders.
• Translate business and product requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Guide the incremental evolution and delivery of the SaaS platform.
• Provide technical direction and architectural governance throughout the platform development lifecycle.

Required Experience and Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Senior Solution Architect, Enterprise Architect, SaaS Architect or Cloud Platform Architect.
• Strong track record designing and delivering enterprise-grade, multi-tenant SaaS platforms.
• Extensive understanding of distributed systems and edge-cloud architectures.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, microservices, Kubernetes and containerisation.
• Strong knowledge of API design, event-driven architectures and workflow orchestration.
• Experience with licensing, subscription management and entitlement platforms.
• Knowledge of enterprise integrations, security, governance and observability.
• Demonstrated ability to define technical strategies and architecture roadmaps.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical and business decisions.

Desirable Experience

• Experience building commercial B2B SaaS platforms from the ground up.
• Background in broadcast, media processing, telecommunications or Real Time systems.
• Experience managing hybrid cloud, private cloud and on-premise deployments.
• Experience managing distributed infrastructure and edge devices at scale.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate combines deep enterprise SaaS architecture expertise with strong distributed systems and edge-device management experience.

They will be capable of defining and delivering a cloud-managed platform that provides centralised control, operational visibility and scalable services across distributed infrastructure, without compromising the reliability and continuity of live media operations.

Broadcast and media industry experience would be an advantage, but the ability to architect resilient, enterprise-grade SaaS platforms for mission-critical distributed environments is the key differentiator.