United Educators · 8 hours ago
Senior Application Architect
Bethesda, MD
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$140K/yr - $189K/yr
10+ years expUnited Educators (UE) is a member-owned liability insurer serving K-12 schools, colleges and universities across the United States. The Senior Application Architect is responsible for developing and evolving UE’s application-layer architecture and shaping the technical direction of UE’s business applications.
FinanceConsultingProperty & Casualty InsuranceFinancial ServicesInsurance
Responsibilities
Own the end-to-end application architecture for key business systems, including domain modeling, application decomposition, service boundaries, and integration patterns
Define and own UE’s API strategy, including RESTful API design standards, documentation, versioning, lifecycle management, and governance
Design and govern REST APIs and service contracts that enable reuse, scalability, and consistent integration across internal applications and external partners
Strong hands-on experience in .NET, C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server, REST APIs, domain modeling, and database schema design for enterprise applications
Collaborate with business and technical stakeholders to translate strategic objectives and functional needs into application architecture, REST API designs, and implementation approaches
Develop and maintain technical and business feature roadmaps in consultation with stakeholders; identify risks, track progress, and communicate status updates to project sponsors
Lead the design and implementation of scalable, secure, and resilient enterprise application architectures, with a focus on maintainability, extensibility, and performance
Define and enforce application architecture standards, design patterns, and coding guidelines to ensure consistency and interoperability across development teams
Design and document software architectures using diagrams and models that guide development and support long-term system sustainability
Review application and API implementations to ensure adherence to architectural intent, clean code principles, and design patterns
Lead application modernization and refactoring efforts, including decomposition of legacy systems into modular or service-aligned architectures
Evaluate emerging technologies—including AI, ML, and application integration frameworks—through proofs of concept and pilot implementations, focusing on application-level feasibility and business value
Architect, prototype, and build hands-on components of AI-enabled application capabilities, such as generative AI
Partner with data engineering teams to design application-aligned data access patterns, pipelines, and governance supporting analytics and machine learning initiatives
Engage directly in complex solution development when needed, contributing application code, prototypes, and architectural exemplars
Integrate security, privacy, and compliance requirements into application and API design in alignment with UE governance standards
Engineer applications and APIs for reliability, scalability, and performance by proactively identifying and resolving architectural bottlenecks
Mentor developers and other architects, fostering a culture of hands-on learning, strong design discipline, and technical excellence
Lead vendor and product evaluations from an application and API architecture perspective, assessing extensibility, integration capability, and alignment with UE’s application roadmap
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field; advanced degree preferred
Typically requires 10+ years of experience in software design and development, including at least 5 years of architecting enterprise-level applications
Demonstrated experience designing and evolving application architecture, rather than primarily infrastructure, cloud, or data architecture
Proven experience defining and implementing RESTful API strategies, including API design, versioning, documentation, security, and governance
Experience making architectural decisions across application layers, including UI, backend services, REST APIs, and data access
Skilled in database modeling, relationship design, and writing queries and stored procedures in support of application needs
Working knowledge of cloud platforms and DevOps practices as they relate to application deployment and runtime concerns; this role does not own cloud infrastructure architecture
Experience working in Agile delivery environments, collaborating across teams to deliver iterative, high-quality application solutions
Strong understanding of application security and enterprise architecture, supported by hands-on leadership in large-scale application and API design
Experience collaborating with data engineering teams to support application-driven analytics and data initiatives
Excellent analytical, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to lead through influence and adapt to evolving priorities
Preferred
Enterprise Architecture certification preferred
Insurance or risk management industry experience a plus
Benefits
Health Insurance — We offer subsidized plan options with an optional pre-tax Health Savings Account (HSA), including an annual employer contribution and investment options. The plans offer a prescription benefit and telehealth
Dental Insurance — Two plan levels are available, depending on needs
Vision Insurance —We offer in- and out-of-network options; Lasik discounts are available.
401(k) — UE makes a 3% safe harbor non-elective contribution beginning the first of the month after date of hire; these funds are vested immediately. After one year of service, employees receive a 7% profit sharing non-elective contribution, as well as become eligible for a matched contribution of 25% of the first 5% employee deferral. Employees can make pre-tax contributions or taxed (Roth) salary reductions. Catch-up contributions for employees 50 years old and over. Employer contributions are fully vested immediately
Life Insurance — UE pays for Basic Life Insurance, and employees have the option to apply for additional Voluntary coverage
Short- and Long-Term Disability Insurance — We offer coverage in the event employees are unable to work for a period of time
For the first two years of employment, employees accrue PTO at 24 days per year. At the beginning of the third year of service, employees accrue 30 days per year of PTO
11 paid holidays annually including Juneteenth and an employee choice floating holiday
Bonus eligibility is based on salary earned and performance for the year
Hybrid environment - employees are typically in the office 2-3 days per week after the initial training period
Inclusive and supportive culture that embraces diversity and provides opportunities for all to succeed
Monthly lunches and various social events throughout the year
Opportunities to join the Social Committee, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA)
Company
United Educators
United Educators specializes in extending its services for schools and colleges seeking financial protection for their educational mission.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
United Educators has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (3)
2024 (2)
2023 (4)
2022 (3)
2021 (4)
2020 (2)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageLeadership Team
Richard Mills
President and Chief Executive Officer
Michael Horning
V.P. and CFO
Recent News
2025-07-08
2025-04-16
Company data provided by crunchbase