Research, design and develop enterprise-wide architecture and solutions to meet business needs… Pyramid Consulting Group has a Pittsburgh client with an immediate need for an experienced APPLICATION ARCHITECT for a CONTRACT-TO-HIRE opportunity.

Responsibilities and expectations of the position include:

* Identify new technologies with intrinsic value for application solutions;

* Lead activities with external vendors and internal team to identify, evaluate and recommend system hardware and software;

* Define and leads proof of concept activity associated with technology assessment;

* Work with IT and business representatives to identify opportunities leading to the design and development of tools and applications in support of business operations;
* Document the desired future state of application architecture, and document the gaps between current and future states;

* Define transition plans to close the gaps;.
* Design, document and drive adoption of enterprise-wide architectures and frameworks;
• Assume a leadership role in establishing and insuring compliance with IT governance policies and initiatives including standards, best practices and policies;
* Assure that solution designs meet requirements for scalability, performance and quality in accordance with negotiated service level agreements;.
* Participate in the assessment and resolution of software defects discovered during the quality assurance process; and .
* Work with software engineers, QA engineers, technical writers, configuration management and infrastructure, as needed, to ensure quality and the successful implementation of new applications or features.

The client is looking for the following background and skills:

* Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related years of experience.
* At least 10+ years experience in software or applications engineering and/or technical operations.
* Work and/or academic experience building applications employing the following:
- Java, Java, JSP, Servlets, Common Java frameworks and approaches such as J2EE, EJB, XML(JAXB), etc., Java Application Servers with IBM Websphere products and services preferred, .Net, Extensive background in the .Net Framework with emphasis on version 2.0 – 3.5, Experience architecting ASP.Net web and web service solutions, Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation a plus, Relational database with emphasis Oracle 10g+ and Sql Server 2005+, XML, XSL, XSD and XPath, Common web protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, SOAP, etc..,  Object relational mapping tools
o Internet and hardware technologies such as load balancers, firewalls, clustering, encryption devices or accelerators, Detailed knowledge of operating systems or components such as transaction processing, asynchronous implementation and load balancing is a plus, operating environments emphasizing Windows and Linux and experience with design tools, design patterns and familiarity with application of UML and class diagram representations preferred.

QUALIFIED CANDIDATES: Please submit your resume directly to Lkeay@pyramid-group.com for immediate consideration.