Principal Architect

We’re building a world of health around every individual — shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Join us and be part of something bigger – helping to simplify health care one person, one family and one community at a time.

Position Summary

Do you wake up each day eager to discover the next AI breakthrough that will transform your industry? Do you love tinkering with AI tools after hours to explore the art of the possible? We are seeking T-shaped Archineers (Architect + Engineer) who can navigate from high-level conceptual ideas to the delivery of groundbreaking products that will disrupt the healthcare industry. Does this sound like you? Join our organization of passionate, hands-on technologists on a mission to innovate Healthcare!

What you will do

• Be part of a team responsible for enabling the technology solutions that meets our business strategy and drives business value.
• Define and collaborate on the creation of roadmaps, architectures, standards, best practice documents and starter code reference implementations that will accelerate delivery for our technology teams to execute on the future direction of CVS Health including a focus on applied AI.
• Evaluate market trends, execute buy vs. build decisions and assess cost and the impact on targeted business outcomes.
• Define future state architecture that enables and adopts the strategy for Artificial Intelligence, APIs, data stores, cloud infrastructures, cloud services, and microservices.
• Collaborate and consult with technology and business partners to optimize business applications and systems that adopt modern architecture and technologies especially around AI.
• Develop and maintain a strategic vision to support capabilities aligned to the CVS Health platform based on key business drivers and technology trends.
• Define and collaborate on the creation of frameworks for the enterprise that promote reuse, reduces cost, manages risk, and increases speed to market.
• Effectively build and maintain strong relationships with technology and business partners to establish trust and influence key business outcomes and decisions.
• Provide guidance, direction and mentorship to engineers and other stakeholders regarding the architecture and design of the respective applications.
• Ensure all Non-Functional Requirements (e.g. performance, availability and fail-over, scalability, security, etc.) are properly articulated, and work with all parties to guarantee that the software products that are delivered meet these objectives.
• Participates in high-level estimation.
• Mentor and coach junior architects and seek the opportunity to bring in continuous improvements to implement.

Required Qualifications:

• 15+ years of relevant work experience (8+ years in architecture)
• 10+ years of experience building large scale business applications using modern technologies and architecture.
• 10+ years of experience designing complex integrations with a focus on performance engineering and loose coupling using APIs, microservices, and event-driven architecture.
• 8+ years of experience and proficiency with modern languages, frameworks, and technologies.
• 6+ years of experience facilitating implementation of north star architectures by delivery teams through mentoring and building POCs, starter code, and other collaborative activities.
• Expert-level understanding of architectural methodologies/best practices, business climate, and/or regulation that affect architecture decisions.
• Recognized technical leader with full stack technology knowledge and recognized as an expert in one or more technical subjects.
• Experience recognizing the impact architectural approaches can have on strategic business decisions.
• Substantial experience with requirements analysis, estimation, systems and application design, and testing.
• Experience with defining architecture using the C4 model or equivalent with a focus on system context, container, and component diagrams.
• Expert understanding of architectural methodologies and the development of standards, architectural governance, design patterns and best practices.
• A diverse technical background with key areas of depth around AI/ML/Agentic AI, cloud, data platforms, hybrid solutions and operating at scale.
• Experience with requirements analysis, estimation, systems design, and application design.
• Excellent collaboration, influencing, negotiation, coaching and coalition-building skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience developing architecture using agile methodology or SAFe practices.
• Experience in AI architecture and practical application of AI technologies.
• Experience with the concepts and practical application of Generative AI, Agentic AI, the future of Ambient Agents and beyond.
• A self-starter that is naturally inquisitive.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field.

Pay Range

The typical pay range for this role is:

This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls.  The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography and other relevant factors.  This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above.  This position also includes an award target in the company’s equity award program. 
 

Our people fuel our future. Our teams reflect the customers, patients, members and communities we serve and we are committed to fostering a workplace where every colleague feels valued and that they belong.

Great benefits for great people

We take pride in offering a comprehensive and competitive mix of pay and benefits that reflects our commitment to our colleagues and their families.

Additional details about available benefits are provided during the application process and on Benefits Moments.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state and local laws.