Principal Solutions Architect

Company Summary Statement

As one of the largest investor-owned utility companies in the United States, PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), is committed to creating long-term, sustainable value for our 3.5 million customers, our shareowners and the communities we serve. Our high-performing regulated utilities — PPL Electric Utilities, Louisville Gas and Electric, Kentucky Utilities and Rhode Island Energy — provide an outstanding experience for our customers, consistently ranking among the best utilities in the nation. PPL’s companies are also addressing challenges head-on by investing in new infrastructure and technology that is creating a smarter, more reliable and resilient energy grid. We are committed to doing our part to advance a cleaner energy future and drive innovation that enables us to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 while maintaining energy reliability and affordability for the customers and communities we serve. PPL is a positive force in the cities and towns where we do business, providing support for programs and organizations that empower the success of future generations by helping to build and maintain strong, diverse communities today.

The Principal Solution Architect will be responsible for full end-to-end solution architecture and support one or more system architects by providing, communicating, and evolving the broader technology and architectural view of the enterprise. They are recognized as an expert in Enterprise, Functional and Integration architecture conforming to Enterprise architecture standards and goals. The ideal candidate will be hands-on and be strongly driven to keep abreast of the latest technology trends and proactively strive to apply them to new and existing systems. They will have demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas – Cloud (multi-provider), legacy modernization, DevOps, API/Microservices, Event driven architecture etc. We are looking for someone who is outcome focused, loves challenges, can work collaboratively, and exemplifies the virtues of our talent model: Humble, Hungry and Smart. The position reports to the Director- Enterprise Portfolio Technology and is an individual contributor role.

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- Provide architectural leadership and expertise in the creation of end-to-end technical solutions across the enterprise

- Work with one or more System Architects to champion the adoption of patterns, platforms, and tools to support the usage and conformity of solution architecture.

- Define subsystems and their interfaces, allocate responsibilities to subsystems, understand solution deployment, and communicate requirements for interactions with solution context.

- Hands-on technologist, who has grown through the development ranks and has pivoted to Solution Architecture.

- Hands-on experience producing detailed technical diagrams and authoring technical documentation with demonstrated experience in architecting cloud native solutions with platforms such as Azure, AWS, GCP, etc.

- Participate in planning, definition, and high-level design of the solution and exploration of solution alternatives.

- Ensure that emergent design choices are made with an understanding of the overall solution and minimize technology complexity and avoid unnecessary duplication of capabilities.

- Work with portfolio stakeholders, notably the Chief Architect, to develop, analyze, split, and realize the implementation of solutions.

- Plan and develop the Architectural Runway in support of new business Features and Capabilities.

- Assess wider industry technology trends and best practices to identify best-in-class Technology and architecture directions and play an active role in identifying new technologies for improving systems.

- Contribute towards the improvement of the Architecture process and adhere to Architectural technology standards.

- Develop and maintain architectural assets including reference architectures, models, blueprints, roadmaps, frameworks, patterns and services.

- Significant expertise in architecting technical solutions that include Microservices, event-driven systems, container management (AKS, GKE, ECS, OpenShift, Rancher, etc.), messaging systems (RabbitMQ, MQ, Kafka, etc.), data management, continuous integration / continuous deployment (Jenkins, Ansible, Terraform etc.), API Management (Apigee, Kong etc.), Legacy Modernization, Application Rationalization, management of technical debt.

- May be assigned an Electric Utilities emergency and storm role. This is a special assignment that comes into play during storms and other emergencies when the company needs to restore power or respond to other issues affecting customer service. This role may necessitate the need to work after-hours, outside of your normal schedule.

- The company reserves the right to determine if this position will be assigned to work on-site, remotely, or a combination of both. Assigned work location may change. In the case of remote work, physical presence in the office/on-site may be required to engage in face-to-face interaction and coordination of work among direct reports and co-workers.

- Performs other duties as assigned

- Complies with all policies and standards

Qualifications

REQUIRED EDUCATION :

- Bachelor’s degree and 8+ years work related experience or Master's degree and 5+ years work related experience.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE :

- 5+ years experience architecting solutions that include automation, mobile, data management, integration technologies and deployment on cloud infrastructures, preferably for large enterprises.

- Excitement, curiosity, and passion for shaping the future through digital technology.

- Strong knowledge of advanced technology architecture and emerging trends.

- Strong hands-on development experience, ability to roll up sleeves and code as needed.

- Familiar with the latest technologies, trends, standards, products, and applicability.

- Ability to effectively adapt to rapid technological and business change while maintaining enthusiasm and displaying sound judgment.

- A creative and analytical problem solver focused on translating complex business problems into architecturally sound technical solutions.

- Excellent interpersonal relations skills

- Experience with Agile methodologies and fast-paced environment

- Driven, self-motivated, able to work under pressure using sound judgment & professionalism.

- Demonstrates a craving for continuous improvement, through understanding of new technology innovation and its application.