Solutions Architect

Solutions Architect

Department
🛠 Production
Comp Notes
L1 Salary
$XX to $YY
L2 Salary
$XX to $YY
L3 Salary
$XX to $YY
L4 Salary
$XX to $YY
L5 Salary
$XX to $YY
L1 Hourly Wage
$XX to $YY
L2 Hourly Wage
$XX to $YY
L3 Hourly Wage
$XX to $YY
L4 Hourly Wage
$XX to $YY
L5 Hourly Wage
$XX to $YY
Billable Target Min

85

Mission 🙏

To envision and plan innovative, high-quality solutions that solve our clients’ problems and exceed their expectations.

Definition of Success 📈

Improved Profitability

Improve project profit margins by at least 10% per year by finding efficient and effective ways to deliver our work

Consolidated Technology Stacks

Continually consolidate tools so that every year, we reduce the amount of diversity within our tech stacks (2024 target: 25% reduction)

Efficient Design-to-Development Pipeline

Reduce average development build times by implementing automated design-to-development tools. (2024 target: 10% reduction)

Key Responsibilities 💪

  • Collaborate closely with strategists at the inception of a project to envision innovative and strategically-aligned solutions, along with accurate and safe estimates.
  • Make the critical decisions about how we build websites.
  • Find and implement tools and methods to optimize design and development efficiency, aiming to significantly reduce developers' time spent on the project while ensuring the highest quality outcomes.
  • Ensure the quality of our design work, steering the design direction of every new project while collaborating closely with our talented designers to meticulously refine concepts, ensuring they align seamlessly with our elevated standards of excellence.
  • Ensure our development practices are effective, efficient, and user-centric.
  • Manage key designers and developers, providing direct guidance and mentorship to help them grow and meet our standards.

Not Responsibilities

The Chief Solutions Architect is not expected to:

  • 🚫 Act as a strategist. Strategists will initially meet with clients to help determine their needs and then pull in the CSA to determine a production plan, project estimates and resourcing.
  • 🚫 Create and manage tasks in Asana. It is the PM’s responsibility to work with the CSA to determine what work needs to get done and get that into actionable tasks. The CSA will, however, have to provide technical direction in tasks.
  • 🚫 Take the lead on sales. However, the CSA may be involved in sales conversations to provide perspective on what we would build for a client.

Tier Definitions

🎁
This is a new methodology for us to figure out which tier someone falls into. Managers and reports should “feel out” where someone sits in this rubric by choosing the description that best represents the person. The person doesn’t have to match every sentence of the description, but the tier chosen should be the most accurate to their status and skillset.

L1

The L1 CSA can handle all the core responsibilities effectively for many types of project, but requires continuous support and help from executive leaders. There may be large project types they are not capable of creating solutions for. Their plans may not be fully optimal and their estimates may be significantly off and require substantial revision from strategists. The L1 CSA does not have team management responsibilities.

L2

The L2 CSA can handle more types of projects with less support. Their plans are solid and tend to work out. They manage at least one Core Team member. They do a good job establishing design and development standards and communicating them to the team.

L3

The L3 CSA can design solutions for complex projects without much support. Their plans tend to be on point and their estimates are usually within a 20% margin of error. They are proactive about researching new techniques and rolling out new tools to the team. They hold high standards and are experts in the methods they are evangelizing. They have substantial team management responsibilities.

L4

The L4 CSA can handle most project types competently, even very difficult ones. Their estimates are typically within a 10% margin of error. They are true industry experts and are continually aware of trends and new techniques available that can make our work more effective. They manage the bulk of our designer/dev team and act as a mentor for them. They make some public appearances on behalf of the company and evangelize our approach/strategy.

L5

The L5 CSA is able to architect and oversee solutions for virtually any Cantilever project, including intensive technical work like CMS migrations. They gather second opinions from other leaders but don’t need support or help. They are a visible leader in the industry, speaking at conferences and networking on behalf of the company. They play an active role in recruiting and onboarding new staff.