Jira Admin

Location: Mountain View,CA (day 1 hybrid role)

Duration: 1 yr

Job Description: Principal Jira Standardization Architect (Jira Administrator Expert)

Overview

Client is seeking an exceptional Principal Jira Standardization Architect to lead the design and implementation of our next-generation, standardized Jira environment on Jira Cloud. With over 25,000 users, 93 issue types, and a complex ecosystem of over 100 schemes and 800 custom fields, this role is critical to operational efficiency and digital transformation.

The ideal candidate will possess deep, hands-on expertise in large-scale Jira administration, governance, and architectural design, specifically focusing on simplifying and consolidating complex scheme structures to enable massive data migration and long-term maintainability. This is not a typical administrator role; it requires a strategic, organizational design mindset.

Key Responsibilities

1. Target State Design & Architecture

Standardization Strategy: Design the target, simplified, and standardized architecture for all core Jira components (Issue Type Schemes, Workflow Schemes, Permission Schemes, Notification Schemes, and Field Configurations) that can support diverse organizational needs.

Scheme Consolidation: Analyze the current 100 schemes and propose a dramatically reduced set of standard reusable schemes (e.g., a target of 5-10 standardized schemes across the entire organization).

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Custom Field Optimization: Conduct a deep analysis of 823 custom fields to identify redundancy, obsolete fields, and opportunities for reuse and consolidation. Design a strategy to reduce the overall custom field footprint.

Governance Framework: Define the policies, principles, and guardrails for the use and creation of new Jira schemes and custom fields post-migration to ensure the long-term health and governance of the Cloud instance.

2. Analysis & Gap Assessment

Current State Documentation: Rapidly assess and document the current, decentralized Jira Data Center/Server architecture, identifying pain points, interdependencies, and technical debt.

User Needs Mapping: Work with business and product leaders to map current functional requirements against the proposed standard target schemes, ensuring critical functionality is maintained or improved.

Impact Assessment: Produce detailed analyses of the impact of scheme standardization on various user groups and existing automation/integrations.

3. Preparation for Transformation

Migration Roadmap Support: Provide expert architectural guidance to the core migration team, ensuring the designed target schemes are fully optimized for data transformation and the Cloud migration process.

Data Integrity: Design transformation rules and mappings for migrating existing project data (issues, fields, workflows) from the current disparate schemes into the new standardized schemes in Jira Cloud.

Required Qualifications & Expertise

Experience: 10 years of deep, hands-on experience as a Jira Administrator/Architect, with a proven track record of managing and transforming very large, complex enterprise instances (20,000 users).

Architectural Mastery: Mandatory expertise in designing and consolidating all Jira administrative schemes across multiple instances or organizational units.

Jira Cloud Expert: Deep understanding of the differences, limitations, and best practices of Jira Cloud vs. Data Center/Server, particularly regarding scheme management and customization.

Custom Field Strategy: Proven ability to strategically reduce hundreds of custom fields into a manageable, reusable, and performant set.

Process Engineering: Exceptional ability to translate complex, inconsistent business processes into standardized, simple, and efficient Jira workflows.

Soft Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical challenges and solutions to both technical and executive audiences.

Certifications: Jira Administrator certifications (ACP-JA, ACP-JCA, or similar) are highly desirable.