About the role
Insomniac Design is a global digital agency headquartered in Washington D.C., with offices in London, Bucharest and Chisinau. We’re an agile, determined and innovative team organized by functional areas of expertise — Creative, Technology, Strategy, and Management. We specialize in human-centered design with a deep focus on design thinking and digital transformation.
As a Solution Architect , you’ll own end-to-end solution design for web/data/cloud projects, turning fuzzy business goals into clear, scalable architectures. You’ll partner with clients, PMs, designers, and engineers to ship secure, maintainable systems, then stick around to make sure they run well. If you’ve got technical breadth, love hard problems, and can explain complex tech in plain English, you’ll fit right in.
What you’ll do
- Discovery & design: Lead technical discovery, clarify requirements, map current→target state, and produce lean but complete architecture docs (diagrams, ADRs, integration contracts).
- Hands-on solutioning: Define service boundaries, APIs, data models, and cloud infrastructure (IaC). Review code/PRs when it matters.
- Delivery guidance: Set non-functional/quality attributes (security, performance, reliability, cost). Unblock teams, run technical spikes, and own the “how” on critical paths.
- Client communication: Run workshops, present trade-offs, and translate tech to business outcomes. Be the trusted technical voice in the room.
- Governance: Keep solutions aligned to standards, security, and budget; raise risks early with options.
- Pre-sales support: Shape solution approaches and estimates; contribute to RFP/RFI/RFQ responses and client presentations.
What you bring
- 6–10+ years in software engineering/architecture, including 2–4+ years as a Solution/Systems Architect or Tech Lead.
- Technical breadth: Comfortable across modern web stacks (e.g. having experience with at least one of: Java/Node/Python/.NET + SPA frameworks), APIs, integrations, and data modeling.
- Cloud fluency: Comfortable delivering architectures across (e.g. having Architect experience with at least one of: AWS/Azure/GCP while being able to navigate others); comfort with IaC, CI/CD, observability, and cost/perf trade-offs.
- Architecture methodologies/styles: Monoliths (Modular/Distributed), Service-based & microservices, caching, authN/Z, and secure design principles.
- Data basics: Practical relational and NoSQL modeling, ETL/ELT patterns, and how analytics fits (warehouses/lakes).
- Communication: Clear writing, crisp audience-focused diagrams, confident client facilitation.
Nice to have
- Pre-sales track record (RFP/RFI/RFQ writing, scoping, estimation, SOW inputs).
- Experience with DevSecOps practices, cost optimization, and performance tuning.
- Exposure to AI/ML or search/RAG integrations; data governance/quality.
- Leading small squads and mentoring engineers/other architects.