Principal Architect Information Technology

• The Principal Architect
• Information Technology will lead the architectural design, strategy, and implementation for Baggage Scanning suite applications, ensuring resilient and performant solutions. Responsibilities include mentoring teams, developing technical standards, managing architecture reviews, and integrating emerging technologies such as GenAI and SaaS platforms. The role requires a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, at least 5 years of enterprise architecture experience, 3 years of AWS experience, and 2 years of Android mobile solution experience. Proficiency with cloud platforms, microservices, CI/CD tools, and security best practices is essential. The position is based in the United States, with a salary range of $140,600 to $183,108, and requires legal work authorisation. A master’s degree and airline experience are preferred. The Principal Architect – Information Technology at United Airlines is responsible for leading the architectural design, strategy, and implementation of the Baggage Scanning suite applications. This role oversees the design, deployment, and maintenance of large-scale, resilient systems that support multiple business capabilities. The Principal Architect collaborates with cross-functional teams to develop technical standards, design patterns, and architecture frameworks, ensuring alignment with operational requirements. The position requires hands-on leadership, mentoring, and technical guidance, as well as the ability to manage the architecture review process and drive adoption of best practices. Compensation ranges from $140,600 to $183,108, with eligibility for bonuses, long-term incentives, and comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, and paid leave. Achieving our goals starts with supporting yours. Grow your career, access top-tier health and wellness benefits, build lasting connections with your team and our customers, and travel the world using our extensive route network.

Come join us to create what’s next. Let’s define tomorrow, together.

Description

Job overview and responsibilities

• The Principal Architect will be responsible for leading the architectural design and strategy for Baggage Scanning suite applications. The role will lead the design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance.
• Work with other architects across the organization and at the enterprise level to build resilient and performant applications which can handle multiple business capabilities and deliver value. Guide the team on best practices in building large scale systems.
• The Principal Application Architect is highly experienced, self-sufficient, requires no direct supervision, and mentors/coach's others.
• Collaborate with domain architects, engineers, and leaders to develop technical standards, reference architectures, design patterns, opinion papers, and architecture decision frameworks that guide the design of technology solutions, especially those requiring integration of applications
• Develop and manage a technical strategy and coordinates adoption. This role will be responsible to guide architects and convey best practices/common pitfalls for system design, infrastructure integrations, application development practices, and application runtime principles
• Manage the architecture review process by creating validation checklists, reviewing architectural artifacts, and providing domain specific guidance to drive architectural alignment across the enterprise
• Apply architectural and engineering concepts to design solutions that meet operational requirements, such as scalability, maintainability, security, reliability, extensibility, flexibility, availability, and manageability
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines and observability tools (Harness, Dynatrace, Datadog, Splunk) to ensure efficient software delivery and application reliability
• Conduct research and develop Proof of Concepts on emerging technologies and implementation toolkits in support of anticipated development efforts and recommend technologies that are functionally robust and cost effective
• Architect solutions leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, agentic workflows, AI integrated development platforms, and custom-built technology products
• Research, enforce, and drive the adoption of design patterns throughout the enterprise and promotes best practices for solution design and development
• Identify new technologies, industry trends, and best practices, which should be incorporated into BFS policies & roadmap
• Be a Thought Partner, establishing themselves as the Subject matter expert with Product Owners, Applications Developers, Architects, Analysts, Business Process owners
• Leading and influencing the design, testing, evaluation, implementation, and support for technologies & R&D POCs of various size and complexity (application services, software, and systems tools)
• Hands-on development, support and troubleshoot of software systems as required, optimizing performance, resolving problems, and providing follow-up on all issues and solutions
• Ability to lead diagnostics/troubleshooting with the production support team during outages/incidents (including outside of business hours as needed)
• Work closely to define the product technical roadmap, prioritization and effort estimation with the product owners, business and platform architects.
• Architects complex release patterns, code review/branching strategies, and/or documentation of various levels of architecture; context diagram, component diagram, deployment diagram, sequence diagram, and logical architecture
• Support pilots for emerging technologies (including AWS services and Co Pilot) and guide their transition into scalable, supported production environments.
• Develops documentation to support the application and as a guide for establishing common practices across the platform
• Partners with platform engineering and DevOps teams to research, design and implement the appropriate technology needed to support the automation and orchestration strategy
• Partnership with the Enterprise architecture, network, and security engineering team is critical to ensure that the architectural principals support the requirements and needs of the application as well as enterprise.
• Communicates regularly and effectively with senior technology leadership
• Coordinate effort with external stakeholders to ensure timely delivery of dependent components
• Working knowledge of service-level agreements (SLAs), escalation paths, managed services workflows, and ticketing platforms such as Service Now and Jira.
• Ensures solutions are clearly communicated for implementation, deliverables are of acceptable quality
• Ensures compliance of architectural and engineering policies, standards and procedures
• Monitor and stay abreast of industry trends and anticipate future direction of application development and cloud computing

Qualifications

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
• 5+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, with a strong background in managing complex enterprise applications and infrastructure
• 3+ years of AWS experience
• 2+ years of Android Mobile Solution Experience
• Experience with usage of cloud platform like AWS, GCP and serverless technologies, services and container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes etc.) or similar
• Full-stack application management in AWS cloud native technologies like such as EC2, S3, RDS, EKS, Lambda, AmazonMQ, API Gateway, DynamoDB etc., and high level network and hardware integration
• Experience implementing /deploying microservices, web services and APIs, gateways, service mesh in highly automated CI/CD environments
• Experience in Well-Architected frameworks, application performance tuning, application resilience and reliability improvement
• Experience in developing large scale responsive web applications across multiple end user devices
• Experience in troubleshooting and support during critical system outages for operationally critical applications
• Familiarity with GenAI, agentic technologies, automation platforms, and AI tools.
• Coordinating efforts across multiple teams like Release Managers, DevOps Engineers, QA, UX designers for a successful delivery of applications
• DevOps and CI/CD: Strong knowledge of DevOps practices, including CI/CD, automation, and observability tools (Dynatrace, Datadog, Splunk)
• Security and Vulnerability Management: Solid understanding of security best practices, including vulnerability management and mitigation
• Data Management: Proficient in data architecture, governance, and security, with experience in both relational and non-relational databases
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
• Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Master's degree in Computer Science
• Airline Experience

The base pay range for this role is $140,600.00 to $183,108.00.
The base salary range/hourly rate listed is dependent on job-related, factors such as experience, education, and skills. This position is also eligible for bonus and/or long-term incentive compensation awards.

You may be eligible for the following competitive benefits: medical, dental, vision, life, accident & disability, parental leave, employee assistance program, commuter, paid holidays, paid time off, 401(k) and flight privileges.

United Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected category under applicable law. We provide reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. To request an accommodation, contact [Job Accommodations@united.com](mailto:Job Accommodations@united.com)

Job overview and responsibilities

• The Principal Architect will be responsible for leading the architectural design and strategy for Baggage Scanning suite applications. The role will lead the design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance.
• Work with other architects across the organization and at the enterprise level to build resilient and performant applications which can handle multiple business capabilities and deliver value. Guide the team on best practices in building large scale systems.
• The Principal Application Architect is highly experienced, self-sufficient, requires no direct supervision, and mentors/coach's others.
• Collaborate with domain architects, engineers, and leaders to develop technical standards, reference architectures, design patterns, opinion papers, and architecture decision frameworks that guide the design of technology solutions, especially those requiring integration of applications
• Develop and manage a technical strategy and coordinates adoption. This role will be responsible to guide architects and convey best practices/common pitfalls for system design, infrastructure integrations, application development practices, and application runtime principles
• Manage the architecture review process by creating validation checklists, reviewing architectural artifacts, and providing domain specific guidance to drive architectural alignment across the enterprise
• Apply architectural and engineering concepts to design solutions that meet operational requirements, such as scalability, maintainability, security, reliability, extensibility, flexibility, availability, and manageability
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines and observability tools (Harness, Dynatrace, Datadog, Splunk) to ensure efficient software delivery and application reliability
• Conduct research and develop Proof of Concepts on emerging technologies and implementation toolkits in support of anticipated development efforts and recommend technologies that are functionally robust and cost effective
• Architect solutions leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, agentic workflows, AI integrated development platforms, and custom-built technology products
• Research, enforce, and drive the adoption of design patterns throughout the enterprise and promotes best practices for solution design and development
• Identify new technologies, industry trends, and best practices, which should be incorporated into BFS policies & roadmap
• Be a Thought Partner, establishing themselves as the Subject matter expert with Product Owners, Applications Developers, Architects, Analysts, Business Process owners
• Leading and influencing the design, testing, evaluation, implementation, and support for technologies & R&D POCs of various size and complexity (application services, software, and systems tools)
• Hands-on development, support and troubleshoot of software systems as required, optimizing performance, resolving problems, and providing follow-up on all issues and solutions
• Ability to lead diagnostics/troubleshooting with the production support team during outages/incidents (including outside of business hours as needed)
• Work closely to define the product technical roadmap, prioritization and effort estimation with the product owners, business and platform architects.
• Architects complex release patterns, code review/branching strategies, and/or documentation of various levels of architecture; context diagram, component diagram, deployment diagram, sequence diagram, and logical architecture
• Support pilots for emerging technologies (including AWS services and Co Pilot) and guide their transition into scalable, supported production environments.
• Develops documentation to support the application and as a guide for establishing common practices across the platform
• Partners with platform engineering and DevOps teams to research, design and implement the appropriate technology needed to support the automation and orchestration strategy
• Partnership with the Enterprise architecture, network, and security engineering team is critical to ensure that the architectural principals support the requirements and needs of the application as well as enterprise.
• Communicates regularly and effectively with senior technology leadership
• Coordinate effort with external stakeholders to ensure timely delivery of dependent components
• Working knowledge of service-level agreements (SLAs), escalation paths, managed services workflows, and ticketing platforms such as Service Now and Jira.
• Ensures solutions are clearly communicated for implementation, deliverables are of acceptable quality
• Ensures compliance of architectural and engineering policies, standards and procedures
• Monitor and stay abreast of industry trends and anticipate future direction of application development and cloud computing

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
• 5+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, with a strong background in managing complex enterprise applications and infrastructure
• 3+ years of AWS experience
• 2+ years of Android Mobile Solution Experience
• Experience with usage of cloud platform like AWS, GCP and serverless technologies, services and container technologies (Docker, Kubernetes etc.) or similar
• Full-stack application management in AWS cloud native technologies like such as EC2, S3, RDS, EKS, Lambda, AmazonMQ, API Gateway, DynamoDB etc., and high level network and hardware integration
• Experience implementing /deploying microservices, web services and APIs, gateways, service mesh in highly automated CI/CD environments
• Experience in Well-Architected frameworks, application performance tuning, application resilience and reliability improvement
• Experience in developing large scale responsive web applications across multiple end user devices
• Experience in troubleshooting and support during critical system outages for operationally critical applications
• Familiarity with GenAI, agentic technologies, automation platforms, and AI tools.
• Coordinating efforts across multiple teams like Release Managers, DevOps Engineers, QA, UX designers for a successful delivery of applications
• DevOps and CI/CD: Strong knowledge of DevOps practices, including CI/CD, automation, and observability tools (Dynatrace, Datadog, Splunk)
• Security and Vulnerability Management: Solid understanding of security best practices, including vulnerability management and mitigation
• Data Management: Proficient in data architecture, governance, and security, with experience in both relational and non-relational databases
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
• Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Master's degree in Computer Science
• Airline Experience

Equal Opportunity Employer
The University of Missouri System is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Equal Opportunity is and shall be provided for all employees and applicants for employment on the basis of their demonstrated ability and competence without unlawful discrimination on the basis of their race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable state or federal law. This policy applies to all employment decisions including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, training, promotions, pay practices, benefits, disciplinary actions and terminations. For more information, visit https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/hr/eeo.

• All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable state or federal law. Achieving our goals starts with supporting yours. Grow your career, access top-tier health and wellness benefits, build lasting connections with your team and our customers, and travel the world using Responsibilities
• Responsible for leading the architectural design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance of Baggage Scanning suite applications.
• Play a key role in shaping technical standards, reference architectures, design patterns, and architecture decision frameworks for technology solutions.
• Help drive innovation in the adoption of best practices and common pitfalls for system design, infrastructure integrations, and application development.
• Take ownership of the architecture review process by creating validation checklists, reviewing artifacts, and providing domain-specific guidance.
• Deliver high-quality solutions that meet operational requirements such as scalability, maintainability, security, reliability, and extensibility.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines and observability tools to ensure efficient software delivery.
• Lead efforts to conduct research and develop Proof of Concepts on emerging technologies and implementation toolkits.
• Architect solutions leveraging Generative AI, AI SaaS platforms, agentic workflows, and custom-built technology products.
• Coordinate with platform engineering, DevOps, network, and security teams to ensure architectural alignment and support automation strategies. Skills
• Demonstrated experience in enterprise architecture, managing complex enterprise applications and infrastructure.
• Proficiency with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, and serverless technologies, including services and container technologies like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Hands-on experience with AWS cloud native technologies such as EC2, S3, RDS, EKS, Lambda, AmazonMQ, API Gateway, and DynamoDB.
• Experience implementing and deploying microservices, web services, APIs, gateways, and service mesh in automated CI/CD environments.
• Strong knowledge of Well-Architected frameworks, application performance tuning, resilience, and reliability improvement.
• Expertise in developing large-scale, responsive web applications across multiple end user devices.
• Experience troubleshooting and supporting critical system outages for operationally critical applications.
• Familiarity with GenAI, agentic technologies, automation platforms, and AI tools.
• Strong DevOps practices, including CI/CD, automation, and observability tools such as Dynatrace, Datadog, and Splunk.
• Solid understanding of security best practices, vulnerability management, and data architecture, governance, and security. Education
• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field is required.
• A Master's degree in Computer Science is preferred.