Vice President of Architecture
The Vice President of Architecture at Accela is a senior technology leader responsible for defining and driving the company's technology strategy, application architecture, and cloud infrastructure. This role requires a developer at heart—someone who fully understands the modern cloud stack end-to-end and has successfully led application development, DevSecOps, and infrastructure teams. The VP of Architecture brings both hands-on technical depth and executive-level leadership, enabling them to guide teams, influence outcomes, and make durable architecture decisions that support Accela's products and platforms. This leader will work closely with the CTO and engineering leadership to ensure Accela's technological choices drive velocity, quality, scalability, and security, while remaining aligned with business and customer needs.
Key responsibilities include defining and evolving application, platform, and infrastructure architecture within a cloud-native SaaS environment. The VP will establish architectural principles, standards, and reference models that guide teams while preserving appropriate flexibility. They will lead architecture decisions for major initiatives, products, and platforms, balancing near-term delivery needs with long-term sustainability and scalability. Additionally, the role involves owning and deeply understanding the full cloud stack, including cloud infrastructure and networking, container platforms and orchestration, application architecture, CI/CD pipelines, DevSecOps, observability, and reliability engineering. The VP will champion pragmatic, cloud-native approaches that improve resilience, scalability, and developer productivity, embedding security and regulatory requirements into architectural designs in partnership with Security and Compliance.
The ideal candidate will have 12+ years of progressive experience in software engineering and architecture leadership, with proven executive-level leadership in cloud-native SaaS environments. Deep hands-on expertise across modern cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, APIs, container orchestration, and DevSecOps is essential. Demonstrated success leading large-scale architecture decisions and platform modernization efforts, as well as experience embedding security and compliance into system design, are required. A track record of mentoring senior technical leaders and influencing cross-functional teams, along with experience deploying AI/ML or agentic AI frameworks within SaaS environments, is also desired. Strong executive communication skills are necessary to effectively translate complex technical concepts for both technical and non-technical audiences.
Accela offers a competitive compensation package, including a base salary, performance-based bonuses, and equity options. Benefits include comprehensive health insurance, retirement plans, and generous paid time off. The company supports professional development through continuous learning opportunities and provides a collaborative work environment that fosters innovation and growth.
Accela is committed to fostering a culture of security, empowerment, and ownership across the company. The organization values diversity and inclusion, encouraging employees to bring their authentic selves to work. With a focus on building and scaling a high-performing architecture organization, Accela provides ample opportunities for career advancement and professional growth. Joining Accela means contributing to a mission-driven company dedicated to improving efficiency, increasing citizen engagement, and enabling better decision-making for government agencies.