Summary:

Join our team as a JWEB Modernization Solution Architect to lead Harris County’s transformation of legacy systems through strategic modernization initiatives. This senior-level hybrid role combines deep IT architecture expertise with strong leadership in cloud strategy, disaster recovery planning, stakeholder engagement, and governance. You’ll assess current systems, develop architectural roadmaps, and define hybrid cloud models across Azure and AWS. Ideal for professionals with 15+ years of experience in public sector IT modernization, PMP certification, and strong disaster recovery knowledge, this role plays a critical part in driving innovation, compliance, and operational resilience across Harris County’s enterprise technology landscape.

JWEB Modernization Solution Architect

Responsibilities

·         Modernization at Harris County: Define, build and align modernization models and strategy/tools with industry best practice such as 6 R’s (Rehost, Re-platform, Replace, Retire etc), Viewpoints: Architecture  -Monolith/SOA/Microservice, Physical Servers layer  – VMs/Cloud, Delivery-Waterfall/Agile/DevOps

·         Assessments: Complete initial assessments to understand and document current landscape to supporting the supporting applications and infrastructure. Identify any in-flight projects; Assess Harris Couty’s change readiness levels

·         Strategy/Vision/Prioritization: Develop an architectural roadmap related to the modernization and migration efforts around Application and Infrastructure solutions; Developing an overall strategy that aligns with Harris County’s mission and vision.  Identify short-term and longer-term initiatives and priorities

·         Hybrid Multi-cloud: Propose cloud related design and elaborate on Hybrid cloud models and how they enhance the County’s stance around innovation, security posture, benefits, and speed to value. Government cloud focuses on Microsoft Azure, AWS clouds

·         Collaboration/Partnership and Stakeholder Leadership: Acts as a trusted advisor, and builds and maintains relationships with the director and other IT leaders and executives to develop a clear understanding of enterprise needs; ensures cost-effective delivery of IT services to meet those needs, and can respond with agility to changing industry and organization priorities. As such, the Architect will communicate and coordinate with all areas of the Information Systems department, including infrastructure, applications, database administrators, business owners and vendors; also work with customers, partners, and other critical stakeholders to develop and align architecture roadmaps

·         Disaster Recovery Strategy/Approach: Work closely with IT and business teams to understand current state of organization’s application and infrastructure solutions and DR plans, including any hot, warm or cold DR sites, templates, documentation, and related technology assets and tools; get clear understanding of the current backup strategy, designs, processes, and tools; the Architect will develop, coordinate, and maintain application disaster recovery plans and coordinate the testing of those plans and then operationalized these DR plans as needed

·         Compliance/Standard and Governance: Ensure compliance according to Harris County Technology Information Security standards and best practices. Establish governance processes related modernization and transformation initiatives aligned with the county standards, processes, plans, tools, and measures

• Budgets and Costing: Assist the IJIS Director in developing annual budget based on business requirements, operational needs, and forecasted technology investments. Estimate costs associated with Modernization and DR projects / initiatives and ongoing operations including hardware, software, personnel, and external services.

·         Knowledge Management and Enablement: Conduct workshops to provide and get input around important concepts and decisions. Document and align work products with key stakeholders as necessary. Ensure a process that enable knowledge transfer and support for less senior employees.

Work Experience/Qualification   

·         Bachelor’s degree

·         Minimum 15 years of experience leading large complex projects supporting Transformation and modernization goals and objectives

·         PMP/PMI Certification that is current

·         Minimum 10 years of experience with information technology or infrastructure support, design or analysis and/or project management

·         Minimum 7 years of experience assessing and designing/implementing disaster recovery solutions for applications and related infrastructure across on-prem and government/public clouds using services such as Azure Site Recovery (ASR) and AWS Backup and Recovery Services/Solutions

·         Experience working in a complex environment with significant numbers of stakeholders across infrastructure, applications, databased and technology toolset with ambiguous or unclear requirements

·         Minimum 10 years of experience working in public service industry especially state and local government

• Strong verbal communication skills, including the ability to present verbally to high-level stakeholders.
• Proven ability to provide excellent customer service and maintain client/professional relationships/partnerships. 
• Capacity for quickly understanding new and different concepts/approaches, workflows, and systems.

·         Works in a highly organized manner, independently or within a team, in a fast-paced, innovative, and continuously changing environment with minimal supervision.

• Strong leadership and strategic planning skills, with the ability to drive cross-functional projects and initiatives.
• Knowledge of ITIL and IT Service Management is desirable.
• Excellent negotiating skills and demonstrated skills in managing shared services team
• Demonstrated ability to constructively influence other people and organizations to drive and achieve objectives, goals and balance competing needs
• Minimum 5 years of experience in large, cross-functional teams influencing senior-level management and key stakeholders effectively across the organization and within complex contexts
• Experience in various backup technologies and experience in deploying large enterprise scale backup and DR solutions

Education (Required):

Bachelor Degree

Certification (Required):

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Formal Architecture Training

Information Technology Infrastructure Library ITIL