Principal Architect, API

At Viral Nation, we specialize in building social-first ecosystems for brands to connect with the modern consumer journey. Our integrated solutions align strategy, talent, media, and technology with culturally relevant creativity to scale the world’s fastest-growing digital brands. Viral Nation offers a fluid, creative, and growth-oriented environment that will support your ambitions to apply your talents in an open, collaborative, and fast-paced culture. Our ability to stay at the forefront of the industry has fuelled our success and will guide us in paving the path forward. We’re driven to push boundaries and think beyond today to deliver strategies, and we’re just getting started.

While we continuously exceed our goals, we need your help – our success is only as great as our people. Strong performance leads to high expectations, and we must keep raising the bar!

Viral Nation is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Architect specializing in API development to join our dynamic organization. This role will play a pivotal role in shaping the technical direction of the backend engineering function.  In this position, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams, providing technical leadership, architectural guidance, and ensuring the successful delivery of high-quality, scalable, and maintainable backend solutions.

What You'll Do Here:

• Develop, own and drive API architecture and design;
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define technical requirements and create architectural designs that align with business objectives;
• Select and champion the adoption of appropriate tools, libraries, and frameworks to enhance development efficiency and overall product quality;
• Recommend build, buy/adopt or partner opportunities as part of the solutioning process;
• Establish and enforce standards, best practices, and guidelines for API development for the business;
• Conduct code reviews and provide constructive feedback to ensure code quality and maintainability;
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks in the server-side architecture;
• Create quality tracking metrics & dashboards for performance, standards, and security;
• Implement and advocate for performance optimization techniques to build performant server-side applications;
• Optimize backend systems for performance, reliability, and scalability;
• Work closely with the engineering team to refactor and optimize existing codebase for long-term sustainability;
• Work closely with other architects to ensure end-to-end system consistency;
• Collaborate with product and other teams to understand system requirements and usage;
• Provide guidance and mentorship to backend engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement;
• Lead by example through hands-on participation in development activities.

You'll Need To Have:

• A minimum of 5+ years of experience in backend development with a strong focus on architecture and design.
• Able to demonstrate a high-level of expertise in backend technologies such as Node.js and web frameworks such as Fastify.
• In-depth knowledge of database systems (both SQL and NoSQL), data model design and data access patterns.
• Considerable expertise in web application architecture and design patterns, and performance optimization techniques.
• Strong background in microservices architecture and API design.
• Proven track record of identifying security best practices for RESTFUL API systems.
• Superior expertise in testing tools and frameworks.
• Deep understanding of CI/CD tools and processes, including containerization.
• Experience leading and mentoring engineering teams.
• Clear and concise cross-functional communication and collaboration skills.
• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or relevant experience.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Google Cloud, AWS, Azure.

Viral Nation is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in our agency. Viral Nation welcomes applications from people with visible and non-visible disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the recruiting and selection process.