Principal Architect

Principal Architect 

College Board - Technology  

Location: Reston, VA Hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office) 

About the Team  

The K12 Engineering teams at College Board is a close-knit, dedicated group of 200+ technologists & engineering leaders with a passion for higher education. Our technology team has maintained a primary focus on engineering, development, and delivery of customer-facing product portfolio spans K12 schools, districts and states customers, students as well as internal and external stakeholders. We are committed to providing cutting-edge technology solutions, robust platforms, and customer support to successfully deliver digital assessment for SAT, PSAT, AP and CLEP to the millions of students across the world each year. We work closely within all Technology teams and product partners to collectively design, build, and manage scalable solutions for our customers. We take pride in our industry-leading innovation, as we consistently improve and enhance our products and services.  

About the Opportunity   

You will apply your skills while leading large, strategic, and complex initiatives that have a clear impact on the students and educators that we serve. As the Principal Architect, you are a technical leader, a partner, and an innovator. You will serve as a technical visionary, guiding the organization’s tech strategy and fostering the adoption of modern technologies that align with future growth. This role requires someone with strong critical thinking and problem-solving skills that uses data to inform decisions and actions. The Architect will be able to move forward multiple projects in concert, both independently and as a member of the teams. . This role requires a deep understanding of various software architectures and technologies, with the ability to guide technical teams in building high-quality, scalable software solutions. The team communicates directly with our clients, to gain a deep understanding of their needs. You will work directly with our product owners, designers, and users to find the most efficient and effective technical solutions to meet and exceed our users’ needs.  

Strategy & Design Leadership (60%)  

• Set architectural direction for a broad set of domains and systems, ensuring that solutions meet both functional and non-functional requirements (scalability, performance, security). 

• Design and implement best-in-class systems and frameworks that will succeed long-term. 

• Deliver upon initiatives with organizational impact and priority. 

• Define technical strategy that improves products, infrastructure, processes, and organization, while staying abreast of risks and opportunities that influence strategy. 

• Provide exceptional leadership and technical innovations to features that span boundaries across engineering teams. 

• Develop and maintain the technical roadmap, aligning software architecture with the organization's long-term business goals. 

Coaching & Collaboration (40%)  

• Be a great partner, working across technical teams to build sustainable contracts looking out for the good of system vs. what might be easiest for a sole product.  

• Work closely with developm