Principal Architect

Job Description: Lead .NET Architect (Modernization & AWS Transformation)

The modernization of legacy software systems is a critical imperative for contemporary enterprises seeking to reduce technical debt and leverage cloud-native efficiencies. As noted in Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps, the ability to transition from monolithic, legacy frameworks to high-performance, continuous-delivery environments is a primary predictor of organizational success. This role requires a visionary leader capable of navigating the complexities of migrating lower-version .NET applications (such as .NET Framework 3.5-4.8) to modern, cross-platform .NET 8/10 environments using agentic AI and automated refactoring tools.

The Lead .NET Architect will be responsible for the technical strategy, architectural integrity, and execution of the migration roadmap. Drawing on principles from Clean Architecture, the candidate must ensure that the transformation does not merely "lift and shift" technical debt but instead refactors the codebase into a maintainable, testable, and scalable state. This position demands deep expertise in the Common Language Runtime (CLR), asynchronous programming patterns, and the nuances of porting Windows-specific dependencies to Linux-compatible binaries.

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled .NET Architect to lead our technical competency unit for a large-scale application modernization project. You will spearhead the transition of legacy systems to modern .NET versions using AWS Transform for .NET. Your mission is to utilize generative AI and automated deployment pipelines to accelerate the modernization lifecycle, reducing manual effort while increasing the price-performance ratio of our cloud infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Leadership and Strategy

• Modernization Roadmap: Lead the discovery and planning phase, utilizing AWS Transform to analyze codebases, identify private NuGet dependencies, and map cross-repository relationships.
• Decision Making: Determine when to utilize automated code conversion versus manual refactoring for complex business logic that cannot be automatically ported.
• Architectural Governance: Achieve the target state architecture for all modernized applications, ensuring alignment with cloud-native best practices.

2. AWS Transformation Management

• Agentic AI Orchestration: Oversee the deployment and configuration of the AWS Transform agent to automate the conversion of C# projects, including ASP.NET MVC, Web API, and WCF services.
• Linux Readiness: Lead the effort to resolve compatibility issues identified in Linux readiness reports, ensuring applications can run on AWS instances for optimal performance.
• Tooling Integration: Integrate the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio and Amazon Q into the developer workflow to provide real-time insights and suggestions during the porting process.

3. Engineering Excellence

• Refactoring and Patterns: Apply Domain-Driven Design (DDD) principles to decouple monolithic legacy applications into microservices where appropriate during the transformation.
• Testing and Validation: Establish automated testing frameworks (NUnit, xUnit, or MSTest) to validate transformed code, ensuring functional parity between the legacy and modernized versions.
• Performance Optimization: Leverage Kestrel’s high-performance capabilities to run .NET applications as standalone executables on Linux, minimizing reliance on heavy web servers like Apache or Nginx unless specifically required for reverse proxying.
• Proficiency in using GitHub Copilot to assist in code refactoring, automated code upgrades, and improving developer productivity during legacy .NET application modernization

Required Qualifications

Professional Experience

• Extensive .NET Expertise: Minimum of 10 years in software engineering with a focus on the .NET ecosystem, including deep knowledge of .NET Framework 3.5+ and modern .NET 8/10.
• Cloud Architecture: Proven experience designing and deploying applications on AWS, specifically utilizing Amazon EC2, Amazon ECS, and AWS CloudFormation or TerraForm.
• Migration Success: Demonstrated track record of leading large-scale migration projects, ideally involving the transition from Windows-based hosting to Linux-based containers.

Technical Skills

• Languages & Frameworks: Expert-level C# proficiency; experience with VB.NET and WinForms/WPF is a plus for preview-feature transformations.
• DevOps & Automation: Mastery of CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code (IaC).
• Architectural Theory: Deep understanding of the principles outlined in Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, particularly regarding data mapping and concurrency.

Preferred Certifications

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (with a focus on .NET)