Senior Principal Architect - 1 year fixed-term conract
We are Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS) - the trusted provider of software that enables our customers to develop, deploy and manage responsible, AI-powered applications and experiences with agility and ease.
We’re proud to have a diverse, global team where we value the individual and enrich our culture by considering varied perspectives because we believe people power progress.
Chef Software is the industry leader in IT automation and DevSecOps solutions, enabling organizations to manage applications and infrastructure at scale with speed, security, and consistency. We empower enterprises to modernize, secure, and automate their technology environments, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or across hybrid architectures.
As part of Progress Software, Chef delivers best-in-class automation platforms used by many of the world’s largest companies to innovate faster, reduce risk, and deliver better customer experiences. Our Senior Principal Architects are recognized industry leaders—trusted advisors, strategic thinkers, and expert practitioners who help shape the future of automation for our customers.
The Senior Principal Architect is the highest-level field consultant in Chef’s Professional Services organization. This role goes beyond project delivery—it is about architecting transformative solutions, leading strategic engagements, and influencing both customer roadmaps and Chef’s own product direction. Senior Principal Architects combine deep technical mastery of Chef and associated DevOps tooling with exceptional consulting, leadership, and business acumen. They act as thought leaders in the industry, drive large-scale automation programs, and mentor both customers and internal teams. They frequently engage at the C-suite and enterprise architecture level to align Chef solutions with broader digital transformation goals, and they are the “go-to” experts for our most complex and high-impact customer initiatives.
The role:
Strategic Leadership & Architecture:
- Serve as the lead architect for enterprise-scale Chef implementations, driving automation strategy, design, governance, and adoption across multi-cloud and hybrid environments.
- Lead large, multi-workstream transformation programs, often involving multiple vendors, complex security requirements, and global operations.
- Partner with customer executives and enterprise architects to align Chef adoption with strategic IT and business objectives.
- Define technical roadmaps, automation patterns, and best practices that become reference architectures for both customers and the broader Chef community.
Advanced Technical Delivery
- Design, implement, and optimize complex Chef-based automation solutions that integrate with CI/CD pipelines, cloud platforms, security/compliance frameworks, and IT service management tools.
- Lead migration and modernization efforts for legacy configuration management estates to Chef.
- Create and publish reusable cookbooks, policyfiles, habitat plans, and automation templates for advanced enterprise use cases.
- Troubleshoot and resolve the most challenging technical issues, including performance, scalability, and security concerns.
Thought Leadership & Enablement
- Act as a Chef evangelist—speaking at industry conferences, leading webinars, and publishing technical whitepapers, blogs, and reusable solution assets.
- Mentor and coach other consultants, partners, and customer technical teams, raising the overall capability within the ecosystem.
- Deliver advanced training sessions, workshops, and executive briefings tailored to enterprise audiences.
Collaboration & Influence
- Provide strategic product feedback to Chef Engineering, influencing product direction and roadmap.
- Collaborate with Sales, Customer Success, and Partner teams to scope, propose, and win strategic Professional Services engagements.
- Serve as a trusted technical advisor during pre-sales cycles for complex opportunities.
Your background:
- 20+ years in systems engineering, software development, or IT architecture, with at least 7+ years in DevOps, infrastructure automation, and cloud-native solutions.
- 10+ years of hands-on experience architecting and implementing Chef solutions at enterprise scale, including policyfiles, InSpec, Habitat, and Chef Automate.
- Proven success leading large-scale transformation programs with Fortune 500 or global enterprise clients.
- Expert-level knowledge of automation, CI/CD pipelines, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), container orchestration (Kubernetes), and security/compliance automation.
- Demonstrated experience in executive-level consulting and influencing technology strategy
- Recognized contributor to the Chef community or broader DevOps/open-source community.
- Significant public speaking experience at industry events and conferences.
- Advanced scripting/programming skills (Ruby, Go, Python, PowerShell, Bash) and deep knowledge of Infrastructure as Code frameworks.
- Experience working in regulated industries with strict compliance requirements (e.g., PCI, HIPAA, FedRAMP).
Other Requirements
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills with the ability to engage both deeply technical teams and executive stakeholders.
- Ability to travel globally up to 50%.
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field—or equivalent professional experience.
If this sounds like you and fits your experience and career goals, we’d be happy to chat.
What we offer in return is the opportunity to experience a great company culture with wonderful colleagues to learn from and collaborate with and also to enjoy:
- Compensation: Competitive salary, bonus, and best-in-class Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP) with a 27-month lookback.
- Benefits: Premium Collective Health Insurance Plan with a monthly employer contribution and Premium Collective Pension Scheme fully funded by Progress
- Time-off and Leave: Generous vacation allowance, an additional day off for your birthday, and days off for volunteering
- Well-being: A global well-being program focused on physical, mental, and financial health.
- Focus on Employee Experience: We aim to create an environment where people view their time at Progress as their best career chapter by seeking your feedback, partnering with you and recognizing and celebrating the moments that matter.
- Career Growth: We empower you to own your career and personalize your growth with career development tools, internal career mobility, knowledge sharing, and learning opportunities
