Job Description
Position: Chief Architect
Location: Ontario, Canada (Hybrid)
Employment: Full Time, Indefinite
Function: Engineering
About Sitero
Sitero is a clinical research organization (CRO) that delivers technology-enabled solutions for the life sciences industry. Our product portfolio includes Mentor CTMS (Clinical Trial Management System), EDC, RTMS and Payments and a growing suite of AI-assisted tools for clinical operations and drug safety. We operate globally with teams across the United States and India, serving pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device clients.
We are on an exciting growth trajectory — expanding our product portfolio, modernising our engineering practices, and building a world-class AI-enabled development culture. This is a rare opportunity to shape the technical foundation of a high-growth CRO from the ground up.
Role Overview
The Chief Architect is a senior leadership role that owns Sitero's enterprise architecture vision and AI development strategy. This is a hands-on, high-impact role — you will set the standards, govern the decisions, and lead the transformation of how we build and scale our products.
You will chair the Architecture Review Board, govern all AI tooling adoption across engineering, and build a lean but high-impact architecture team. You will work closely with Engineering, Product Management, and Operations leadership to ensure every product Sitero ships is built on a solid, scalable, compliant foundation.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture Governance
- Own the enterprise architecture vision across all Sitero products (CTMS, EDC, RTSM, Payments and emerging platforms)
- Chair the Architecture Review Board (ARB) bi-weekly reviews of significant technical decisions
- Mandate and review Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) for all major design choices
- Define architecture standards, approved patterns, and guardrails across the engineering organization
- Maintain living architecture documentation per product, regularly updated and accessible to all engineers
- Lead architecture audits across all products — identify gaps, risks, and technical debt
AI-Enabled Development & Modernization
- Champion and mandate AI-enabled development as the standard operating model across all engineering teams
- Partner with the Head of Engineering & Product development and roll out the approved AI tooling stack: GitLab, Claude Code, and AI test generation tools
- Drive adoption of AI-assisted coding to ≥70% across all teams within Year 1
- Oversee the migration to modern CI/CD practices: zero-downtime deployments, automated regression suites, rollback capability within 15 minutes
- Build the engineering practices that eliminate manual coding as the default and establish AI-assisted review as the norm
- Own Sitero's AI-enabled development strategy as the organisation-wide AI Development Strategy lead
- Govern AI tooling adoption: approve tools, define usage policies, and maintain the approved AI tooling stack
- Build and maintain the Prompt Standards Library — organisation-wide approved prompts for common engineering tasks
- Establish CLAUDE.md configuration files per repository, encoding Sitero's coding standards and patterns
- Mandate and track AI code disclosure policies: all AI-generated code disclosed in PRs with tool and prompt summary
Engineering Best Practices
- Lead the Best Practices Programme across 6 domains: ARB, Standards Library, PoC Programme, Engineering Guilds, Health Metrics, Tech Radar
- Publish and maintain Sitero's quarterly Tech Radar — Adopt / Trial / Assess / Hold for all technologies and AI tools
- Establish and sponsor Engineering Guilds: Security, Data, Frontend, and AI Engineering
- Oversee quarterly Architecture Health Scorecards per product: test coverage, API conformance, security posture, AI adoption, cloud cost efficiency
- Lead time-boxed Proof of Concept programmes (2–4 weeks) before adopting new technologies or AI tools
Compliance & Security Architecture
- Ensure compliance-by-design across all products: GxP, SOC 2, 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA, and GDPR
- Partner with the Security Architect to embed security and compliance into every architecture review
- Lead technology due diligence for new vendors, tools, and platforms
- Govern data architecture standards: data models, pipeline patterns, and integration security
Team Leadership & Mentorship
- Build and lead the architecture team: Platform Architect, Application Architect, Security Architect, Data Architect
- Mentor senior engineers and fast-track high-performers for architecture and lead roles
- Partner with Engineering Leads, Product Management, and Operations on cross-functional initiatives
- Represent engineering architecture in leadership forums and client-facing discussions where required
Qualifications
Required
- 15+ years of progressive software engineering and architecture experience
- 5+ years in a principal, staff, or chief architect role with organization-wide scope
- Proven experience defining and governing enterprise architecture across multiple products or business units
- Deep expertise in cloud-native architecture — AWS/Azure (AKS, App Service, Azure SQL, Aurora Postgres SQL, Service Bus)
- Strong hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools: GitLab/GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or equivalent
- Track record of building and leading architecture or platform teams
- Experience with regulated-industry software: GxP, SOC 2, HIPAA, 21 CFR Part 11, or equivalent
- Demonstrated ability to define and enforce engineering best practices at scale
- Excellent written and verbal communication — able to translate complex architecture to all audiences
Preferred
- Experience in life sciences, clinical research, or healthcare technology domains
- Familiarity with CTMS, EDC, or drug safety systems (pharmacovigilance, clinical trial platforms)
- Experience building Architecture Review Boards and ADR processes from scratch
- Track record publishing internal Tech Radars or engineering best practice programmes
- Hands-on experience with test automation at scale (80%+ coverage targets, AI-generated tests)
- Master’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or related field
What We Offer
- A seat at the table: direct reporting to CTO — your decisions shape the company's technical direction
- Greenfield architecture mandate: design the engineering foundation from scratch across a growing product portfolio
- AI-first culture: full budget and mandate to deploy best-in-class AI development tools across all teams
- High-impact, low-bureaucracy environment: lean leadership team, fast decision-making, global scope
- Competitive compensation
Sitero is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from candidates regardless of background, location, or experience path.
