Most companies claim to have the best people. We say to them, "Keep dreaming." Our people are second to none. They set us apart with their entrepreneurial spirit and ambition. They come to us from the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, Nordstrom, Starbucks and the sports world, bringing energy, bold ideas and a willingness to dive into the unfamiliar. It's our people that make BDA the top global Merchandise Agency to work for.
Location:
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This role is based in Woodinville, WA and requires you to work onsite 4 days per week, with 1 day remote.
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To be considered, you must live within commuting distance, as regular in-person collaboration is a key part of the role.
JOB SUMMARY
We are seeking a Solution Architect who acts as the primary connective tissue between business vision and operational reality. In this role, you are a Strategic Orchestrator.
While our Technical Architects focus on how a specific system is built, you focus on how the business wins through the seamless flow of data across our entire ecosystem. You sit at the center of a cross-functional hub, aligning the work of Business Analysts, Product Managers, Technical Architects, and Project Managers to ensure every technical solution delivers measurable business value—from the first line of code to year two of production.
Experience Requirements
- 7+ years in a Solution Architecture or Lead Systems Integration role.
- 3+ Years experience integrating AI technologies, including Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Agentic AI into stable solutions.
- Expertise in Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIP) and orchestrating data across complex SaaS and legacy landscapes.
- Experience in eCommerce or Omnichannel Retail where front-end experience and back-office fulfillment are deeply intertwined.
- Exceptional communication and negotiation skills—you are comfortable challenging a Product Manager’s "What" and a Technical Architect’s "How."
Job Skills & Traits
- API Ecosystem Management: Proficiency in designing and governing RESTful APIs, GraphQL, and Webhooks with a focus on versioning and backward compatibility.
- ECommerce & ERP Ecosystems: Hands-on experience with the "Order-to-Cash" lifecycle, connecting front-end platforms (e.g., Shopify, Salesforce, Magento) to back-office systems (e.g., NetSuite, SAP, Oracle).
- Observability & Monitoring Design: Skill in architecting "health dashboards" using tools like Datadog, or New Relic to track data flow across systems.
- Data Mapping & Governance: Expert-level data modeling to ensure consistency between high-speed web databases and structured financial ledgers.
- Middleware Mastery: Advanced configuration and design experience with iPaaS platforms (e.g., MuleSoft, Boomi, Workato, or Azure Service Bus).
- Cross-Functional Solution Design: The ability to facilitate "Discovery Workshops" that align Product roadmaps with back-office technical constraints.
- Operational Readiness Planning: Skill in defining Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs)—specifically scalability, maintainability, and "supportability" (how easily a non-engineer can troubleshoot an issue).
- Incident Post-Mortem Leadership: Capability to lead root-cause analysis across teams when a complex, multi-system integration fails.
- Documentation for "Day 2": Crafting high-level sequence diagrams and "Source of Truth" maps that BAs and Support teams can use post-launch.
- Strategic Translation: Translating a Product Manager’s "Customer Delight" goal into a Technical Architect’s "Low Latency" requirement.
- Conflict Resolution & Negotiation: Balancing the speed-to-market needs of the PM with the stability requirements of the Back-Office team.
- Systems Thinking: The ability to visualize and communicate how a small change in the web checkout ripples through inventory, tax, and shipping systems.
Duties & Responsibilities
Responsibilities
- Design the technical blueprints for AI systems, ensuring models scale efficiently while aligning with business goals and compliance standards.
- Create current and future state solution documentation
- Maintain solution documentation, process flows, and system maps to support post-launch operations.
- Produce and maintain requirement documentation, integration designs, data mappings, internal systems maps, reference architectures
- Lead discovery sessions to clarify requirements, dependencies, and system impacts.
- Review integration designs, data mappings, and APIs to ensure business and technical alignment.
- Partner across product teams, engineering teams, and operations to resolve blockers and keep delivery on track.
- Identify architectural risks, operational gaps, and cross-system dependencies early.
- Support incident triage and root-cause analysis across integrated platforms.
Cross-Functional Orchestration
Your value is measured by the integrity of the "End-to-End" solution. You take the "What" from Product and BAs and define the "How" across the web and back-office.
- For Product Managers: You validate that their roadmap is technically viable and identify architectural shortcuts or risks to their speed-to-market.
- For Business Analysts: You transform functional requirements into a cohesive system design that accounts for every downstream impact in the back-office.
- For Technical Architects: You provide high-level guardrails, ensuring their deep-dive builds fit into the broader enterprise puzzle.
- For Project Managers: You clarify dependencies and sequence integration milestones for predictable delivery.
Post-Deployment Support
A solution isn't successful if it can't be supported. You are responsible for ensuring that cross-functional support is baked into the architecture, not an afterthought.
- Service Design: Define the supportability requirements during the design phase so that Support and Ops teams aren't left guessing when an order stalls between the web and the ERP.
- Observability Strategy: Design end-to-end monitoring and "source of truth" logging that allows cross-functional teams to quickly identify if an issue is a front-end bug or a back-office data failure.
- Post-Launch Stabilization: Lead the technical transition from project delivery to business-as-usual (BAU), ensuring BAs and PMs have the documentation and visibility needed to manage the solution post-deployment.
- Solution Value Alignment: Ensure every integration point directly supports a business outcome (e.g., reducing order friction, improving data accuracy).
- Architectural Orchestration: Design the "grand logic" connecting our eCommerce front-end to our ERP, Warehouse, and Finance systems.
- Gap Discovery: Proactively identify where business processes break between systems and design the "bridge" to fix them.
- Stakeholder Synthesis: Facilitate sessions to resolve conflicting requirements between the web and the back-office.
- Incident Command
Why This Opportunity is Exciting
BDA is in an exciting stage of digital transformation as we continue evolving how promotional merchandise programs are built, managed, and experienced by our clients and teams. This Solutions Architect role will help connect the dots between client needs, employee workflows, operational processes, and technology solutions.
This is a high-impact opportunity for someone who enjoys simplifying complexity, improving manual processes, and helping a business move from “how we’ve always done it” to smarter, more scalable ways of working. You’ll partner closely across teams to understand the current state, identify opportunities, and help design technology-enabled solutions that improve both the client experience and the internal employee experience.
At BDA, we’re a relationship-driven, creative, fast-moving organization that values collaboration, curiosity, and practical problem-solving. This role is ideal for someone who wants to be part of a company with a strong culture, a growing digital vision, and the opportunity to make meaningful change in a business that connects brands to people through memorable experiences.
Why BDA?
BDA is a place where creativity, partnership, and customer care come together. For more than 40 years, we have helped some of the world’s most recognized brands create memorable experiences through branded merchandise, gifting, and custom programs. We are proud of the work we do, the relationships we build, and the people behind it all. At BDA, you will find a team that values collaboration, innovation, and a “get it done” mindset — while still making space for creativity, growth, and meaningful impact.
Our Core Values:
- BDA is a Team and a Family
- Always Strive to Be The Best
- Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Tigger Attitude
- Work Hard, Play Hard
- Make It Happen the Best Way
- Total Client Affinity & Advocacy
Want to learn more? So much to explore
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We are pleased to share the base salary range for this position is $160,000 -- to $180,000. If you are hired at BDA, your compensation will be determined based on factors that may include geographic location, skills, education, and experience. In addition to these factors, we believe in the importance of pay equity and consider internal equity of our current team members as a part of any offer. In the spirit of pay transparency, the range listed is the full base salary range for the role and hiring at the top of the range would not be typical, in order to allow for future salary growth. The range listed is just one component of BDA’s total compensation and rewards programs, which includes: robust PTO; vacation, a paid volunteer day, holidays and summer Fridays, Benefits; medical, dental, vision, life, and AD&D insurance, 401k; tuition reimbursement, mental health and financial wellness programs and professional development opportunities including tuition reimbursement. Certain revenue-generating positions may be eligible for incentive compensation.
BDA is more than a workplace - it’s a family. For more than four decades we’ve promoted a vibrant and welcoming culture that not only accepts but demands you to be different. The quirky, the bold, the creative and the unique make up the foundation of a company that the most iconic brands in the world look to help tell their story through the power of merchandise.
BDA Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
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