Senior Technical Lead and Principal Architect

Senior Technical Lead & Principal Architect – client

Modernization Programs

Location: Remote

Type: Full-Time

Seniority: Principal Engineer / Lead Architect**

Reports to: Executive Technical Sponsor 
 

Role Summary

Our client is embarking on a multi-year modernization of its dental technology ecosystem to create a unified, secure, scalable, and interoperable digital experience for practices, DSOs, and

partners.
 

We are seeking a Senior Technical Lead & Principal Architect to own the end-to-end technical direction, architecture, and engineering execution for all modernization workstreams, including:

●Platform Architecture Modernization

●Postgres migration (SQL Anywhere EOL 2028)

●API expansion and de-coupling from release cycles

●Token deprecation & partner integration redesign

●“One-Agent” cloud service & writeback model

●DataCore / Data Lake (Bronze → Silver → Gold) modernization

●Cross-product unified schema ( + + )

●Doc manager modernization

●Release engineering, quality engineering, and CI/CD uplift

This role is the technical brain of the modernization effort—defining patterns, building

reference architectures, reviewing implementation, making the critical go/no-go decisions, and

ensuring client’s future platform aligns with enterprise-grade scalability, extensibility, and

interoperability expectations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Architectural Ownership Across All client Modernization Tracks

● Define the end-state architecture for modernization, Data Platform/Data Lake

integration, agent strategy, and multi-product interoperability.

●Establish architectural guardrails, coding standards, and modernization patterns for legacy C++, PowerBuilder, WCF, and .NET Framework components.

●Design the future state of:

○SOA/API layer

○Version-agnostic, independently deployable API

○Partner integration layer (REST, event-driven, potential FHIR entry points)

○Real-time bidirectional sync model via sockets or event streams

○Data ingestion, replication & transformation pipelines

○Unified cloud marketplace & vendor access architecture

2. Lead the Architecture Transformation

●Guide the migration from SQL Anywhere → Postgres.

●Define how legacy WCF services evolve into 3-tier services, REST endpoints, or new microservices.

●Establish validation rules, dependency mappings, and object relationships for safe

writeback operations (currently undocumented and embedded in code).

●Architect the deprecation and retirement of the shared database token used by

partners.

●Oversee modernization around installation, self-updating mechanisms, telemetry, and

performance monitoring.

●Serve as the primary architectural reviewer for SmartDoc modernization.

3. Architect the Data Lake + Microsoft Fabric Data Platform
●Define ingestion patterns and eServices data.

●Build transformation models to move data from Bronze → Silver → Gold, ensuring a unified schema across legacy systems.

●Design patterns for PHI-safe handling, separation of sensitive data, and identity-based access.

●Align with Azure Data Factory, OneLake, DataBricks, and Synapse tooling.

●Define “developer-friendly” integration endpoints above the lake (REST, events, websocket patterns).

● Guide long-term interoperability strategy, including future phase HL7/FHIR enablement.

4. Design & Lead the Agent / Cloud Connectivity Strategy

Define and architect the “ Admin Agent” including:

●Unified last-mile connector for updates, telemetry, scripts, health checks, and data sync

●Real-time or near-real-time bidirectional sync mechanism

●Socket-based, event-based, or relay-based communication patterns

●Reduction of multiple vendor-installed agents to a single secure agent

●Handling of PHI, encryption, and secure identity modeling

●Agent-managed writebacks into via API or controlled DB gateway

5. Partner Integration Architecture

●Design how external partners (RCM, imaging, scheduling, etc.) integrate with client via:

○REST API

○Event-driven messaging

○Cloud-based partner integration layer

○The new vendor marketplace

●Define versioning strategy, API evolution, and deprecation pathways.

●Build a robust developer experience (Swagger, examples, validation rules).

●Ensure writebacks from partners are safe, validated, and performant.

6. Drive Quality Engineering, Test Coverage, and CI/CD Modernization

●Architect test automation frameworks aligned with modernization (unit, service, API

contract, integration tests).

●Define CI/CD pipelines compatible with multi-version on-prem deployments.

●Introduce coverage gates, performance budgets, and security gateways (SAST/DAST).

●Ensure legacy areas (PowerBuilder, mixed C++/.NET codebase) are testable through seams and adapters.

7. Cross-Product Schema Alignment ( + + )

●Lead design of a unified data model enabling cross-product analytics and platform interoperability.

●Leverage client’s existing conversion mapping logic to build a canonical schema.

●Define domain-driven boundaries, patient/provider/entity definitions, and data normalization standards.

8. Technical Leadership & Mentorship

●Lead senior engineers, data engineers, and API developers across all workstreams.

●Act as chief problem solver for hard technical constraints (legacy code, real-time sync, performance bottlenecks, security concerns).

●Conduct architecture reviews, code reviews, and system design sessions.

●Mentor client engineers undergoing skill transitions (e.g., PowerBuilder → .NET, SQL

Anywhere → Postgres).

9. Security, Compliance & Interoperability by Design
●Ensure architectures support HIPAA, PHI encryption, auditing, and least-privilege access.

●Implement FHIR/HL7 readiness in future phases.

●Design logging, tracing, and monitoring frameworks across all services.

Required Experience

Technical Expertise

●10+ years in architecture roles leading multi-system modernization or enterprise platform rebuilding.

● Deep expertise in:

○.NET Framework → .NET Core migration patterns

○Service-oriented architecture and microservices
○Legacy systems modernization (C++, PowerBuilder strongly preferred)

○SQL database migrations (SQL Anywhere → Postgres ideal)

○REST API design and API lifecycle management

○Event-driven architectures (Kafka, EventHub, socket communication)

○Cloud data lakes (Azure preferred)

○ETL/ELT pipelines, data normalization, and data governance

●Experience architecting integrations for vendor ecosystems or marketplaces.

●Architectural experience with real-time data sync, agents, relays, or hybrid-cloud connectors.

Industry Expertise

(Not mandatory but strongly preferred)

●Healthcare / dental / medical software

●Familiarity with PHI, HIPAA, HL7, and FHIR

●Experience with on-prem → cloud transition patterns

Soft Skills & Leadership

●Ability to collaborate closely with client leadership, engineering managers, product owners, and external vendors.

●Exceptional communication—able to simplify complex technical topics for executive audiences.

●Skilled in architectural decision-making and balancing pragmatism vs. ideal design.

●Proven ability to lead modernization initiatives in environments with legacy code, missing documentation, and partial APIs.

●Comfortable owning high-risk, high-visibility technical initiatives.