Vervoe

How To Hire a Software Architect

IT & Software

Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Software Architect hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.

What does a Software Architect do?

Software Architects are highly technical individuals who are responsible for designing and developing systems and applications. They are the decision makers when it comes to designs, coding, and standards of the software. This role shapes how pieces of technologies are built and function, which as a byproduct influences how well a software developer can do their job.

Day to day tasks of a Software Architect

  • Interacting with stakeholders to understand their needs and wants of software
  • Creating high level design documents for pieces of software
  • Assisting the software developers implement code
  • Reviewing pieces of code from the software developers
  • Staying up to date with the latest technologies
Recruitment guide role overview illustration

Software Architects are highly experienced and technical individuals who create high level designs of software systems and components using industry principles and practices. Software architects will assist developers on a day-to-day basis interrupt their design choices to ensure a continuity between implementation and design.

Role definition illustration

Software Architect Hiring Process

Build the Ideal Candidate Profile​

To find the best person for the role, you need to understand what the role involves. You can complete this with the hiring manager to define the role, its contribution, and the skills needed.

Write A Job Description Based On Skills

Once you understand the requirements for the role, you’ll need to understand the skills for success. You can then write an effective job description to promote your role.

Selecting The Ideal Candidate

See which applicants have the right skills for the role. Send all your applicants a Vervoe skills assessment from the expert library, or customize one for your organization.

Interview Top Performers

Your skills assessment results will identify top performers. Focus your time on interviewing those that have met or exceeded your requirements. Assessment results will also help guide which skill areas to focus on in the interview.

Making An Offer

Once you assess your candidates against these skills, you’re ready to offer the top performer(s). You should base your offer on the value that the candidate would bring to your team and your business as a whole. It is also important to ensure your compensation and benefits packages are competitive in the industry and help you attract and retain the top talent.

Skills needed for a Software Architect

A Software Architect pairs their skills in communication, technical prowess and design in order to create scalable, manageable and reliable software systems for organisations in order to carry out different functions of business.

  • Stakeholder Management
  • UML
  • Software Architecture

How to write a Software Architect job description

Once you’ve determined the skills required for the role, you can write the job description to advertise for your position. Here’s what to include in your Software Architect job description:

Job Title
What position are you hiring for?
Summary
What makes your company unique? What would it be like to work for you?
Responsibilities
An overview of the role’s day-to-day activities, and how the position contributes to the organization
Requirements
Skills a candidate must have to perform the job successfully
Benefits
Details of compensation, benefits, and any perks on offer
Use our sample Software Architect job description
Job description checklist illustration

Sample skill tests for a Software Architect

Create a free account today to access the full assessment and more from our library

Question 1

Stakeholder Management

Question Type: Video

What's an example of a time you had to collect information from a range of stakeholders to solve a problem. How did you do it?

Question 2

Software Architecture

Question Type: Multiple Choice

Object-oriented analysis focuses on finding and describing the _______ or concepts in the problem domain.

Question 3

UML

Question Type: Text

What do the << >> symbols in UML represent?

How to interview a Software Architect

Once your Vervoe skills assessment has surfaced the most qualified people for your open role, you can focus on interviewing these candidates. The interview should focus on any skills that require development that were highlighted from the skills assessment.

Now you know that candidates can do the job, the interview becomes more of a relationship building exercise where you can get to know the candidate on a more personal level, understand their motivations, and how they would fit in with the team.

How much does it cost to hire a Software Architect?

Payscale.com reports that the lowest ten percent of Software Architects who reside in the will have a salary of $89,000 and ninety percent will have a salary of $167,000. Similarly Indeed.com reports the annual median salary as $135,626 with a cash bonus of $10,000 and on Glassdoor.com the average salary is $128,976.

United States

In the USA a software architect can expect a salary between $89,000 - $167,000 (USD). This salary will be heavily dependent on different components the architect will be working on and the location of the organisation.

Source: Source: Payscale USA - Software Architect Salaries

United Kingdom

Software architects based in the United Kingdom will receive a salary from £44,000 - £111,000 (GBP). There are few major factors that affect this, including the location, the seniority and experience of the individual.

Source: Source: Glassdoor UK - Software Architect Salaries

Australia

Software Architects in Australia have salaries ranging between $95,000 and $186,000 (AUD). This salary will be affected by seniority, experience and location of the individual.

Source: Source: Glassdoor AU - Software Architect Salaries