Senior Solution Architect

Job Title: Senior Solution Architect Work Location: Remote, 40 hours per week, 8:00am to 4:30pm. Travel to Springfield, IL as needed. Need to be available for after-hours/holiday/weekend coverage during scheduled deployments and unscheduled outages. Client/Agency: Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Project Name: Legacy data conversion Employment Type: Full-Time Duration: 4000 Hours No of FTE's: 1

Team Culture: We are not a “high conflict” team. We value accountability and specificity delivered in a way that’s kind and respectful. Feedback on work output that drives the work forward, such as clarity on gaps, updates, or requirements is appropriate to discuss in front of the entire team so everyone is on the same page. Constructive criticism about job performance, presentation style, or soft skills should be done privately. We embody the “servant leader” mindset. Our division supports the area that delivers preventative social services to the public, and our development efforts must also be aligned with the idea of being of service to others. Accountability, reliability, and consistency is important to us and is reflected in our daily operating procedures. Solution Architect Soft Skills: A solution architect for our team should have strong soft skills, while also contributing the appropriate technical background. I’ve referenced this resource for overall expectations: Introduction to becoming a solution architect - Training | Microsoft Learn I’d like to highlight this page specifically that outlines the soft skill requirements: Expectations of a solution architect - Training | Microsoft Learn

I’m also copying this paragraph directly from the “soft skills” section: “While some items are produced solely by the Solution Architect, most of the deliverables will involve collaboration with other team members. If you like to work alone and are not a good team player, being a solution architect might not be an ideal role for you. Solution architects need to be comfortable asserting their expertise while simultaneously not rejecting ideas of other team members. You should look for others to respect you because of your demonstrated knowledge and expertise, not because you demanded it due to your role. A solution architect should be good at negotiating positive outcomes for challenges with both the customer and project teams.” I am willing to make myself available to our Solution Architect during their onboarding, and on an ongoing basis to meet both 1:1 and in group collaborations to do knowledge transfer and clarify project vision and strategy. I’d anticipate that the initial 90 days would be “meeting heavy” with regards to my time commitment, as well as theirs. Initially, I’d expect that they will spend some time observing project meetings on our team, as well as interacting with key stakeholders in larger increments during their onboarding phase. I’d also expect that the expectations with regards to deliverables would gradually increase throughout the course of this 90-day period. I would NOT expect the Solution Architect to be spending the majority of time working alone on deliverables, especially during the first 4-6 weeks of their time on the project. Basic Team Responsibilities for a Solution Architect Include: Attending all Agile Ceremonies, including Daily Standup and Parking Lot, Sprint Planning, Sprint Demonstration, Sprint Retrospective. Meetings start promptly at the time indicated on the calendar, and team members are expected to have their cameras on during official Agile ceremonies. Additional Illinois Connect sessions where we’d require a Solution Architect: Inspect and Adapt, Program Increment Planning (in-person, unless remote is approved for unforeseen circumstances), Intact and Preventative Services Weekly Steering Committee (our team level senior leadership meeting). Work hours should be consistent with the rest of the team: 8:30 AM-5:00 PM Central Time. All overtime or time worked on weekends and holidays should be preapproved by Product Manager. Attendance at Project-Level Solution Architect sessions: I’d like to know when these are and what topics are being discussed. A general description up front, in addition to periodic updates from the Solution Architect would be appreciated. Team level work assignments will be tracked by JIRA tasks and will be assigned to the Solution Architect by the Scrum Lead in alignment with sprints. If there are directives that come from executive leadership aligned with project-level architectural decisions, those should be communicated to the Product Manager and Scrum Lead so we can track them as a JIRA task and factor this work in to the Solutions Architect’s capacity in the relevant sprint. If the Product Manager disagrees with the priority and is being directed by their division leadership to prioritize other initiatives, they will discuss this issue with the appropriate executive leadership to determine if an adjustment to work assignment needs to be made. Priority Technical Skills: Required: Experience with Microsoft Dynamics or similar CRM system Required: Strong communication skills and the ability to translate technical terminology to business partners in non-technical roles Required: Ability to facilitate ongoing development work in alignment with design standards Required: Ability to conduct effective discovery to connect technical requirements to functional requirements Preferred: Experience in healthcare or public sector system Preferred: Experience utilizing a CRM for CCWIS or other public sector case management system Priority Initiatives for Our Team: Developing a security framework that allows for users to have access to “cases” and “teams” contingent on case and team assignment, and assistance defining the concept of a “business unit” within the framework Providing additional clarification and finalizing the model for integrating with Family Engagement/Core Solution Developing the design for the “non-hotline intake” that will enable preventative services and child welfare cases to be opened when they do not originate from a hotline call or Investigation Establishing clear security boundaries between “child welfare cases” and “prevention cases”, as well as defining a mechanism that will allow for tracking of different program types within those cases Developing a design for “queues” that will replace the concept of “mailboxes” within the legacy system to allow for efficient “routing” of “cases” from one team to another, both within and cross business units Identifying downstream dependencies that impact finance and federal reporting, or other program areas