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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Principal Architect within Starbucks Technology - **Company:** Starbucks - **Location:** Seattle, WA, United States - **Experience:** Experienced - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Amazon Web Services, Confluence, JIRA, Microsoft Azure, Law Practice Management Software, Software as a Service, Identity and Access Management, Software Engineering, Data Streaming, Data Processing, Information Technology, Atlassian Tools, Servicenow - **Published:** October 9, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.dice.com/job-detail/d45dbafe-c3a1-4e88-b353-42ed72567d5b ## About the Role * Overall IT experience - 15 years * Variety of technical environments, systems/application development experience - 10 years * Architecture experience - 7 years * Functional and systems modeling - 10 years * Direct, hands-on experience with at least three of: Azure, AWS, Atlassian (Jira/Confluence), ServiceNow, legal technology platforms * Indirect people development - 10 years * Business process and system design - 10 years * Strategic planning - 4 years * Financial analysis & business planning - 7 years * Running technology proof-of-concepts - 10 years * Demonstrated track record of identifying software rationalization opportunities with measurable cost or complexity impact * Strong security fundamentals - able to identify and articulate risk without relying solely on a dedicated security team Preferred Qualifications Architectural Thinking * Develop concepts from strategic ideas to detailed logical views, validated through hands-on technical work * Utilize perception, creativity, transformational ideas, systems thinking, and organizing techniques * Develop the business case ("why"), conceptual model and vision ("what"), and logical model ("how") by considering value, risk, opportunities, conditions, themes, and gaps across the five platforms * Validate that physical models developed by engineering teams translate logical models consistently with desired goals and outcomes * Demonstrate a bias for action and apply iterative thinking * Actively contribute to the maturation of the architecture practice through principles, policies, reference artifacts, and reusable patterns Interpersonal Skills * Build and maintain influential working relationships at all levels and across the enterprise * Contribute to a positive team environment by actively promoting a positive, respectful work environment * Demonstrate effective behaviors to communicate and work with others * Actively engage and create learning experiences * Continuously seek to understand and create value from the customer's perspective * Demonstrate flexibility and adapt approach and interpersonal style to best meet the needs of the individual customer ## Description As a Principal Architect within Starbucks Technology, you lead architecture development for global IT solutions spanning Legal Technology, Azure (including Azure Translate), AWS, Atlassian, and ServiceNow. This role is intentionally hands-on - closer to the practice than a strategy-only EA - and is accountable for converting business need into architectures, designs, and working solutions across this full technology ecosystem. As a senior member of the architecture community, you champion best practices and process improvement, but your credibility comes from direct, working-level fluency in the platforms themselves, not solely from frameworks and roadmaps. This person must be equally comfortable evaluating out-of-the-box and SaaS platform capabilities as they are assessing when a custom-built tool or integration is the better path. A core part of this role is bringing sound build-versus-buy judgment to the table - recognizing when existing platforms can be configured or extended to meet a need, and when building a purpose-built tool will deliver more value, flexibility, or cost efficiency. The defining measure of success for this role is the ability to synthesize cross-platform, hands-on technical insight into an optimization strategy - identifying where to cut redundant or underused software, where to consolidate capability, where to augment with new tooling (built or bought), and where custom development is the smarter investment - while simultaneously elevating the organization's security posture by embedding security insight directly into architecture and platform decisions., * Evaluate build-versus-buy trade-offs for each capability gap identified - weighing total cost of ownership, flexibility, security, and maintenance burden of custom tooling against configuring or extending existing SaaS/out-of-the-box platforms * Design and prototype custom tools or integrations when a build decision is warranted, rather than defaulting to vendor-provided solutions * Maintain deep, working-level fluency across multiple domains and enterprise programs- able to move from strategy conversation to configuration review in the same meeting * Personally build and maintain architecture diagrams, data flow maps, and integration inventories across all five platform areas rather than delegating artifact creation * Prototype, test, and validate integration patterns directly instead of relying solely on vendor documentation or secondhand reporting from engineering teams * Stay current on platform-specific capabilities, licensing models, and roadmap changes for each of the five ecosystems Software & Platform Rationalization * Build and continuously maintain a cross-platform capability map identifying overlapping, redundant, or underutilized tools across multiple domains * Deliver regular, data-backed rationalization recommendations: what to cut, what to consolidate, what to augment, and the expected cost/complexity impact of each * Quantify the business case for rationalization decisions, including cost savings, reduced maintenance burden, and reduced integration complexity * Partner with finance and vendor management to validate license utilization and total cost of ownership across the platform portfolio * Present rationalization findings in a way that directly and measurably influences leadership's technology investment strategy Security Posture Enhancement * Proactively surface security risks and gaps discovered through hands-on platform work, including misconfigurations, excessive access, unpatched integrations, and data exposure risks * Bring security-by-design thinking into every architecture decision across the five platforms rather than treating security as a separate downstream review * Partner directly with security and compliance teams to translate architecture-level findings into actionable remediation plans * Establish and enforce security standards for integrations, APIs, identity/access management, and data handling across multiple domains and enterprise programs * Track and report measurable improvement in security posture resulting from architecture-driven changes Future State Planning and Road-mapping * Develop capability views, strategies, architectures, and roadmaps for business and technology capabilities * Advise functional and technology leaders in defining priorities, key initiatives, and organizational alignment to support informed business decisions * Evaluate industry and technology trends and translate them into Starbucks-specific strategies, plans, models, principles, and designs across the covered ecosystems Concept and Business Case Development * Partner with business capability and technology service owners to develop concepts from ideation through business case, grounded in hands-on technical validation * Assess the value and impact of emerging technologies by leading opportunity assessments and proofs-of-concept across multiple domains and enterprise programs * Assist in development of enterprise strategy proposals based on environmental analysis, opportunity identification, value cases, and risk Solution Design and Facilitation * Partner with leadership to assess business case for readiness for design across multiple domains and the enterprise * Develop multiple domain and enterprise solution options across business, information, and technology domains * Facilitate architectural design and on-going change request approvals for programs across multiple domains * Manage program and architectural interdependencies between programs across multiple domains and the enterprise * Facilitating the understanding and adoption of the solution architectures with the capability and service teams * Maintain architecture artifacts across the business, information, technology, and security architectural domains Policy Definition and Governance * Evaluate technology and business changes across the covered platforms for policy impacts * Govern solution architectures against defined principles, policies, and reference architectures, with particular attention to security standards * Prepare, champion, and educate client groups and teams on changes in policies and practices across multiple domains and enterprise programs Managing Teams * Develop partners indirectly through coaching and mentoring * Assist in development of strategic and operational plans for the work group * Support EA managers in promoting a successful attitude, confidence in leadership, and teamwork Program Management * Lead the design and shape of programs across multiple domains and the enterprise to introduce strategic technology transformation and change including assisting on the development of business case * Lead, coordinate, and facilitate cross-functional team members (business and technology) in activities related to architecture as part of the strategic program * Works with IT PMO, business, and IT to ensure work necessary to achieve strategic programs are included in the Information Technology portfolio and prioritized appropriately Domain Proficiency * Demonstrate functional and business knowledge for multiple domain and enterprise context * Act as a subject matter expert and provide consulting, guidance, and recommendations * Continuous development of domain knowledge in both the industry and the Starbucks enterprise Leadership * Demonstrate accountability and make timely, appropriate decisions across the five platform areas * Take calculated risks and challenge the status quo, particularly in identifying rationalization and security opportunities * Develop partnerships and influence others both directly and indirectly * Motivate and collaborate to create a team environment that enables team-based fulfillment of objectives * Provide coaching, direction, and leadership support to team members to achieve partner, business, and customer results