Principal Digital Architect - eCommerce

Principal Digital Architect – Commerce Architecture   
 

Role Definition 

The Principal Digital Architect – Commerce Architecture participates in defining functional designs and application systems architecture across Cat Digital’s commerce platforms. This role is accountable for producing detailed architecture deliverables to solve business problems, designing the technical infrastructure and integration architecture for commerce capabilities, and leading the evaluation and deployment of new technologies that enhance Cat Digital commerce outcomes.  

This position operates at a platform and enterprise scope as an individual contributor, partnering closely with Product, Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Security, Data, and Operations to ensure architecture decisions are scalable, secure, operable, and aligned to enterprise standards. The role provides architectural leadership through technical credibility and influence, not through direct people management.  

Key Responsibilities 

Commerce Platform Architecture Leadership 

• Define and evolve target and reference architectures for Cat Digital’s commerce ecosystem, including modular capability decomposition (catalog, pricing, promotions, cart/checkout, payments, order orchestration, content, search, and integrations).  

• Create cohesive commerce application and platform architectures that align business outcomes with architectural patterns and standards.  

• Provide architecture solutions based on business and technical requirements, ensuring alignment to platform architecture processes and standards.  

Build vs Buy, POTs & Technical Assessments (Primary Accountability) 

• Lead build vs buy evaluations for commerce and adjacent platform capabilities (commerce engines, CMS, PIM, search, personalization, integration platforms).  

• Define and execute Proofs of Technology (POTs) and technical assessments to validate:  

• functional fit and extensibility 

• integration feasibility and architectural patterns 

• performance and scalability characteristics 

• security posture and identity alignment 

• operational readiness (monitoring, logging, supportability) 

• total cost of ownership (TCO) and longterm sustainability  

• Lead the evaluation and deployment of new technologies to add or enhance commerce technical capabilities.  

• Produce architecture decision artifacts (e.g., tradeoff analyses, decision records) to enable clear and auditable decisions.  

Architecture Governance & Functional Design 

• Translate business and product requirements into cohesive architectural designs with clear ownership boundaries and system interfaces.  

• Oversee and reinforce compliance to architecture principles by participating in architecture reviews and guiding adherence to standards and policies.  

• Direct discussions of issues and considerations for adopting open and composable architectures in the commerce domain.  

HandsOn Technical Architecture (Cloud, APIs, Integration, Data, Security) 

• Design the application technical infrastructure required for commerce platforms (including key technology choices, integration mechanisms, and operability considerations).  

• Guide API and integration strategies, including REST and eventdriven patterns, and ensure interoperability across commerce capabilities and adjacent platforms.  

• Ensure architectural expectations for reliability, security, and operational readiness are defined and embedded (monitoring/logging/tracing patterns, incident readiness).  

Delivery Augmentation & Execution Support (IC Model) 

• Actively augment delivery teams by unblocking architecture decisions, validating implementation alignment, reducing rework through early design clarity, and ensuring nonfunctional requirements are builtin.  

• Provide handson architectural guidance through spikes, reference implementations, and reusable “golden path” patterns that accelerate delivery.  

Critical Skills & Knowledge (SkillsBased JD Alignment) 

Architecture & Functional Skills 

• Requirements analysis and decomposition into executable architectures  

• Tradeoff analysis (build vs buy, cost vs scale, reuse vs customization)  

• Architecture governance, standards alignment, and decision documentation  

• Consulting and influence skills to align crossfunctional stakeholders without direct authority  

Technical Skills 

• Platform architecture knowledge: ability to design processing mechanisms and roadmaps for business application systems in accordance with standards and processes  

• Cloudnative platform architecture (AWS preferred), API and integration design (REST, event patterns)  

• Securitybydesign and operational readiness (observability, monitoring/logging)  

Domain Expertise (Preferred) 

• Commerce / eCommerce platforms (B2B/B2C) and modular commerce capabilities  

• CMS, PIM (e.g., Akeneo or equivalent), and search/experience delivery platforms  

Education & Experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.  

• Typically 18+ years of experience in software engineering or architecture, including enterprisescale platform decisions and technology evaluations.  

Level Expectations – SG26 (Principal Digital Architect) 

• Consults on planning, integrating, and migrating IT architecture; provides architecture solutions based on business and technical requirements.  

• Creates cohesive application and platform architectures; oversees compliance of architecture principles for the organization.  

• Guides other architects and crossteam members on platform architecture processes, standards, and effective architectural roadmaps.  

• Leads technology evaluation and adoption to improve platform capabilities and outcomes.