Demo

Principal Application Architect

IBM
IBM Salary
Bellevue, WA Full Time
POSTED ON 6/26/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 8/2/2026
Introduction

At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You’ll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM’s product and technology landscape. Here, you’ll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.

Your Role And Responsibilities

As an Application Architect, you will design applications that automate business processes and meet business needs, resulting in designs that may run on multiple platforms and comprise multiple software packages and custom components.

Responsibilities

You will define best practices in the critical evaluation and selection of software components, hardware requirements, and development methods. Your primary responsibilities will include:

  • Design Applications: Define and develop comprehensive application designs that meet business requirements, ensuring quality, performance, availability, scalability, and integrity.
  • Evaluate and Select Components: Critically evaluate and select software components, hardware requirements, and development methods, defining best practices for application development.
  • Ensure Application Usability: Develop functional interfaces to applications, ensuring usability and seamless user experience.
  • Define Development Processes: Establish development processes, best practices, and tools to ensure efficient and effective application development.
  • Ensure Quality and Performance: Oversee application-related quality, performance, availability, scalability, and integrity, driving excellence in application architecture.

Preferred Education

Bachelor's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

  • Deep Expertise in Data Cloud Architecture: Proven experience designing comprehensive data cloud solutions that unify, govern, and activate enterprise data across business processes, with a strong understanding of data quality, performance, availability, scalability, and integrity considerations across ingestion, storage, transformation, and consumption layers.
  • Critical Evaluation and Selection: Deep expertise in critically evaluating and selecting data platform components, compute and storage architectures, integration patterns (ETL/ELT, streaming, CDC, reverse ETL), and modeling methodologies, with a proven track record of defining best practices for data cloud implementation.
  • Technical Leadership in Data Engineering Processes: Experience establishing data development processes, governance frameworks, and tooling (orchestration, observability, lineage, catalog) to ensure efficient and effective data product delivery, with a focus on driving excellence in data architecture and platform engineering.
  • Mastery of Data Consumption and Activation: Proven experience developing semantic layers, data products, and self-service interfaces that ensure usability and seamless analyst, business, and downstream system experience, with a strong understanding of data contracts, schema design, and consumer-centric modeling principles.
  • Enterprise Vision for Data Trust and Performance: Deep expertise in overseeing data quality, performance, availability, scalability, and integrity across the platform, with a proven ability to drive strategic decision-making and shape the enterprise vision for data cloud architecture, governance, and value realization.

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

  • Advanced Technical Knowledge: Deep expertise in emerging technologies, programming languages, and software development methodologies, with the ability to apply this knowledge to drive innovation and excellence in application architecture.
  • Cross-Domain Expertise: Experience working across multiple domains, industries, or technical areas, with the ability to integrate knowledge and drive strategic decision-making in application architecture.
  • Enterprise Architecture: Deep understanding of enterprise architecture principles, frameworks, and best practices, with the ability to shape the enterprise vision for application architecture and drive strategic alignment.

Salary : $175,000 - $327,000

If your compensation planning software is too rigid to deploy winning incentive strategies, it’s time to find an adaptable solution. Compensation Planning
Enhance your organization's compensation strategy with salary data sets that HR and team managers can use to pay your staff right. Surveys & Data Sets

What is the career path for a Principal Application Architect?

Sign up to receive alerts about other jobs on the Principal Application Architect career path by checking the boxes next to the positions that interest you.
Income Estimation: 
$89,966 - $112,616
Income Estimation: 
$118,163 - $145,996
Income Estimation: 
$120,777 - $151,022
Income Estimation: 
$129,363 - $167,316
Income Estimation: 
$86,891 - $130,303
Income Estimation: 
$172,688 - $210,712
Income Estimation: 
$132,903 - $169,021
Income Estimation: 
$144,671 - $184,917
Income Estimation: 
$136,361 - $179,761
Income Estimation: 
$86,891 - $130,303
Employees: Get a Salary Increase
View Core, Job Family, and Industry Job Skills and Competency Data for more than 15,000 Job Titles Skills Library

Job openings at IBM

  • IBM Washington, DC
  • Introduction A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You’ll work with leading companies ac... more
  • 1 Day Ago

  • IBM Poughkeepsie, AR
  • Introduction Test Design is a forward-thinking semiconductor team dedicated to delivering testable, high-performance silicon in innovative ways. We’re look... more
  • 1 Day Ago

  • IBM Bentonville, AR
  • Introduction At IBM Global Sales, we bring together innovation, collaboration, and expertise to help clients solve their most complex business challenges. ... more
  • 1 Day Ago

  • IBM Poughkeepsie, AR
  • Introduction At IBM Global Sales, we bring together innovation, collaboration, and expertise to help clients solve their most complex business challenges. ... more
  • 1 Day Ago


Not the job you're looking for? Here are some other Principal Application Architect jobs in the Bellevue, WA area that may be a better fit.

  • Summit Group Solutions, LLC Issaquah, WA
  • Apply through us for direct hiring manager access. Job Description: We're hiring a Principal AI Architect to drive enterprise-scale AI transformation. We n... more
  • 14 Days Ago

  • DevSelect Seattle, WA
  • Title: Senior Web Application Architect Location: Seattle, WA - Remote Openings: 1 Type: Full Time Hire Job Description The Client is searching for an expe... more
  • 22 Days Ago

AI Assistant is available now!

Feel free to start your new journey!