Principal Software Architect - SaaS Platform Consolidation & Integration

Full-Time | Contract-to-Hire | Remote (U.S.)

OtterSoft is seeking an accomplished Principal Software Architect to lead the architectural strategy and technical execution of consolidating multiple existing software platforms into a unified, next-generation SaaS product.

Our objective is to bring Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and Vendor Management System (VMS) capabilities together into a cohesive, extensible platform that supports the complete workforce lifecycle—from recruiting and candidate management through workforce fulfillment, scheduling, timekeeping, invoicing, and billing.

The unified platform will also provide robust integration capabilities with external enterprise systems, including Workday, workforce scheduling platforms, HRIS, payroll, ERP, and other third-party applications.

This role is specifically for an architect who has successfully consolidated multiple existing software products or platforms into a unified production system. We are not looking for someone whose experience is limited to designing new applications, connecting systems through APIs, or producing high-level architecture diagrams.

The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience resolving overlapping functionality, reconciling disparate data models, defining shared platform capabilities, establishing clear system boundaries, and executing phased migrations while preserving existing business operations.

This is a senior individual-contributor and technical leadership position with ownership of the target-state architecture, architectural decisions, and technical direction of the consolidation initiative.

Key Responsibilities

1. SaaS Platform Consolidation & Modernization

• Lead the architectural consolidation of multiple existing applications into a unified, scalable, enterprise-grade SaaS platform.
• Assess existing platforms to identify duplicated functionality, inconsistent data models, architectural dependencies, technical debt, and opportunities for simplification.
• Define the target-state architecture, including shared platform services, domain boundaries, module responsibilities, service interfaces, and data ownership.
• Determine which capabilities should be shared across the platform, which should remain domain-specific, and which warrant independent deployment.
• Develop a phased consolidation roadmap that supports incremental delivery, minimizes operational disruption, and preserves existing customer capabilities.
• Establish architectural standards that support extensibility, maintainability, performance, security, reliability, and long-term product evolution.
• Lead architecture decisions that balance strategic modernization with practical delivery timelines and business priorities.

2. Unified ATS, VMS & Workforce Architecture

• Define a cohesive domain architecture spanning recruiting, applicant tracking, candidate management, job requisitions, submissions, placements, vendor management, workforce orders, onboarding, credentialing, scheduling, timekeeping, invoicing, and billing.
• Establish consistent domain models and lifecycle relationships across formerly independent applications.
• Define authoritative data ownership for shared entities, including candidates, workers, clients, suppliers, jobs, assignments, and workforce schedules.
• Design end-to-end workflows that span multiple platform modules without creating unnecessary dependencies or duplicating business logic.
• Establish reusable capabilities for workflow configuration, business rules, identity, authorization, notifications, audit logging, reporting, and administration.
• Preserve the ability to support customer-specific processes and configurations without creating separate codebases or product forks.

3. Enterprise SaaS Architecture

• Design a modular, multi-tenant SaaS architecture capable of supporting multiple customers, organizations, suppliers, staffing programs, and operating models.
• Define tenant isolation, security boundaries, access controls, configuration management, and customer-level customization strategies.
• Establish architectural patterns for service communication, API contracts, event-driven processing, background jobs, and distributed workflows.
• Evaluate modular monolith, service-oriented, microservices, and hybrid architectures based on actual business and technical requirements rather than technology trends.
• Define standards for observability, resilience, availability, performance, scalability, and operational support.
• Ensure the architecture can accommodate future modules, external partners, new business capabilities, and AI-enabled features.

4. Enterprise Integration Architecture

• Establish an API-first integration strategy for connecting the platform to Workday and other HRIS, ERP, payroll, scheduling, timekeeping, identity, and workforce management systems.
• Define standardized integration contracts, canonical data models, API versioning, authentication, authorization, and compatibility strategies.
• Architect reusable integration components that reduce the time, cost, and complexity of onboarding additional third-party systems.
• Establish patterns for synchronous APIs, asynchronous messaging, event-driven integration, webhooks, and file-based exchanges.
• Address data synchronization, transformation, reconciliation, duplicate prevention, idempotency, retries, error recovery, and monitoring.
• Define integration ownership and system-of-record boundaries to prevent conflicting updates and inconsistent business data.
• Evaluate when to build integrations directly and when to use middleware, integration platforms, message brokers, or event-streaming technologies.

5. Data Architecture & Platform Migration

• Define the consolidated data architecture across existing platforms, including shared entities, data ownership, relationships, and system-of-record responsibilities.
• Develop strategies for database consolidation, data transformation, historical data migration, deduplication, and reconciliation.
• Define incremental migration approaches that allow existing and modernized systems to coexist during transition.
• Establish backward compatibility and data synchronization patterns to maintain business continuity during phased migrations.
• Identify opportunities to simplify data access, eliminate redundant storage, and improve reporting consistency.
• Ensure appropriate data security, privacy, retention, auditability, and regulatory compliance.

6. Hands-On Technical Leadership

• Work directly with engineering leaders and development teams to translate architectural decisions into implementable designs and delivery plans.
• Lead technical discovery, architecture workshops, proof-of-concept development, design reviews, and critical technical investigations.
• Produce actionable architecture documentation, interface specifications, system context diagrams, data models, and architecture decision records.
• Mentor senior engineers and technical leads while establishing consistent engineering standards and design practices.
• Collaborate with product management, security, infrastructure, DevOps, and implementation teams to address architectural dependencies and delivery risks.
• Evaluate new technologies and engineering approaches based on measurable business value, maintainability, implementation effort, and total cost of ownership.

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering and architecture experience, including substantial responsibility for enterprise application and SaaS platform design.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience architecting and delivering the consolidation of two or more existing software products or platforms into a unified production system.
• Significant experience designing and evolving enterprise SaaS products, preferably multi-tenant platforms.
• Deep understanding of domain-driven design, modular architecture, distributed systems, data modeling, API design, and enterprise integration patterns.
• Proven experience defining shared domain models and resolving overlapping functionality, conflicting data structures, and system-of-record ownership.
• Experience leading application modernization, phased migrations, backward compatibility, and legacy-system coexistence.
• Strong knowledge of secure enterprise integrations, API lifecycle management, asynchronous processing, event-driven architectures, and integration resiliency.
• Experience designing platform security, identity and access management, tenant isolation, auditability, and operational resiliency.
• Ability to translate business objectives into a target-state architecture and a practical, prioritized implementation roadmap.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to influence architectural decisions across engineering, product, and executive stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with ATS, VMS, staffing technology, contingent workforce management, healthcare staffing, or workforce management platforms.
• Experience integrating with Workday and other enterprise HRIS, ERP, payroll, scheduling, or timekeeping systems.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Azure, .NET/C#, SQL Server, API gateways, message brokers, event streaming, and cloud-native infrastructure.
• Experience establishing canonical data models, master data management practices, and enterprise data synchronization strategies.
• Experience modernizing mature commercial software products while maintaining active customer implementations.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled software development and incorporating AI capabilities into enterprise SaaS platforms.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate combines the strategic perspective of an enterprise architect with the practical judgment of an experienced software engineering leader.

They have personally navigated the complexity of bringing independently developed products together: reconciling data models, defining shared business capabilities, managing system dependencies, establishing integration contracts, and guiding engineering teams through production implementation.

They know when to consolidate, when to preserve modular boundaries, and when independent services are justified. They favor pragmatic architecture that supports rapid delivery without creating unnecessary complexity or long-term technical debt.

The mission is straightforward: transform multiple existing software platforms into one cohesive, extensible SaaS product with a unified architecture, consistent data, reusable integrations, and a sustainable path for future growth.

Pay: $200,000.00 - $230,000.00 per year

Experience:

• Proven SaaS Platform Consolidation: 10 years (Required)
• Enterprise Software Architecture: 10 years (Required)
• API Design and Enterprise Integration: 10 years (Required)

Work Location: Remote