We are seeking an experienced Solution Architect to lead the design and architectural governance of a new Commercial Lines insurance platform, initially focused on Commercial Property. In this hands-on role, you will define the target-state architecture for a modern, microservices-based ecosystem supporting underwriting, rating, policy administration, carrier management, and third-party integrations. You will collaborate closely with product, underwriting, actuarial, engineering, and data engineering teams to translate complex insurance requirements into scalable, reliable technical solutions. Your work will shape the platform's service boundaries, event-driven architecture, API contracts, and financial data models from initial design through production delivery. You will also establish architectural standards that ensure data integrity, auditability, security, performance, and operational resilience. This is an opportunity to influence a greenfield platform, solve challenging insurance technology problems, and establish a robust technical foundation for future growth. The position is remote within Canada and offers a collaborative environment focused on modern architecture and engineering excellence.
- Define the target-state solution architecture for a greenfield Commercial Lines insurance platform, establishing architectural principles, technical standards, and implementation guidance for engineering teams.
- Design service decomposition and bounded contexts across the platform, clearly defining service responsibilities, data ownership, and boundaries between independently deployable microservices.
- Architect the event-driven backbone using Kafka or an equivalent technology, including domain event models, event schemas, versioning strategies, replay semantics, and reliable event processing.
- Develop and maintain OpenAPI 3.1 specifications for internal service-to-service APIs and externally consumed interfaces before implementation begins, ensuring consistent contracts, backward compatibility, and effective version management.
- Design the commercial insurance data model around the Account, Applicant, Policy, Coverage, Location, Building, and Unit/Exposure hierarchy, including industry-specific exposure schema extensions aligned with NAICS classifications.
- Architect an immutable Premium Transaction Ledger that enables detailed reconstruction of every bound premium dollar at the rating-factor level across policies, coverages, locations, buildings, exposures, carriers, and individual factors.
- Establish architectural separation between the stateless Rating Service, responsible for pricing calculations, and the Rules Service, responsible for eligibility, referrals, and straight-through processing decisions.
- Design the Carrier Service abstraction layer to support multiple insurance carriers, flexible carrier integrations, and quota-share allocation models.
- Define integration architecture for single sign-on (SSO) federation, agency management systems (AMS), clearinghouse platforms, third-party data enrichment providers, and payment gateways.
- Establish and enforce non-functional requirements covering performance, availability, disaster recovery, data integrity, and architectural governance, including sub-second rating response times, 99.9% uptime, a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes or less, and a recovery time objective (RTO) of four hours or less.
- Implement architectural standards for immutable transactions, effective dating, financial precision, reconciliation, and the prevention of direct database access across service boundaries.
- Produce and maintain essential architecture artifacts, including C4 architecture diagrams, architecture decision records (ADRs), API contracts, data models, and technical specifications.
- Collaborate with product, underwriting, actuarial, engineering, and data engineering teams to ensure architectural decisions align with business requirements, insurance workflows, and technical delivery priorities.
- Provide architectural oversight throughout implementation, helping engineering teams resolve complex design challenges and maintain consistency with established architectural standards.
Requirements
- At least eight years of experience in solution architecture or enterprise architecture, including hands-on responsibility for designing and delivering complex software platforms.
- Demonstrated experience delivering at least one greenfield microservices platform end to end, from initial architecture and design through production deployment.
- Strong property and casualty (P&C) insurance domain expertise, ideally within Commercial Lines, with an understanding of account and policy hierarchies, coverage structures, rating engines, and underwriting rules engines.
- Candidates whose insurance experience is primarily in Personal Lines may also be considered if they demonstrate the ability to quickly develop the required Commercial Lines domain knowledge.
- Proven production experience with event-driven architectures using Kafka or equivalent technologies, including domain event design, event schemas, event replay, CQRS patterns, and eventual consistency trade-offs.
- Strong API architecture and contract-design expertise, including OpenAPI 3.1 specifications, API versioning, backward compatibility, and integration across independently deployable services.
- Experience designing data architectures for regulated and auditable financial transactions, including immutable ledgers, effective dating, reconciliation processes, and precise financial calculations using appropriate numeric data types.
- Understanding of distributed systems, microservices design principles, data ownership, service isolation, and scalable integration patterns.
- Experience with multi-carrier insurance models, reinsurance, quota-share allocation, or bordereaux reporting is a significant advantage.
- Familiarity with insurance agency management systems and clearinghouse integrations, particularly IVANS, EZLynx, or comparable platforms.
- Strong knowledge of non-functional architecture requirements, including performance optimization, availability, disaster recovery, reliability, and data integrity.
- Experience creating and maintaining architecture documentation, including C4 diagrams, ADRs, API contracts, data models, and implementation specifications.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex architectural decisions to both technical and business audiences.
- Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities, with a practical approach to balancing business requirements, technical constraints, and long-term maintainability.
- The ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams while providing clear technical direction and architectural governance.
- Experience with Microsoft Azure, .NET, and SQL Server is an advantage.
Benefits
- Comprehensive healthcare coverage: Employer-paid extended healthcare benefits, including prescription drugs, dental, and vision coverage, plus a healthcare spending account.
- Life and accident insurance: Employer-paid life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) coverage.
- Disability protection: Short-term disability coverage and long-term disability benefits.
- Employee assistance: Access to an employer-paid Employee Assistance Program and telehealth services.
- Retirement savings: Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) with an employer matching contribution.
- Paid time off: Vacation and sick days to support work-life balance and personal well-being.
- Family support: Maternity, parental, and adoption leave top-up benefits.
- Financial wellness: Access to an employee stock purchase program and critical illness insurance.
- Employee discounts: Access to a range of employee discount programs.
- Continuous learning: Unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning resources for ongoing professional and technical development.
- Remote work flexibility: The opportunity to work remotely from Canada.
- Career development: Opportunities to contribute to innovative technology projects, work with multidisciplinary teams, and expand your expertise in enterprise architecture and insurance technology.
- Inclusive workplace: A commitment to accessibility, diversity, collaboration, and a supportive professional environment.
