[Hiring] Principal Architect - Distributed Systems @CVS Health

Role Description

The Distributed Systems Architect is responsible for defining, evolving, and owning the technical architecture of the Vulnerability Services Engine (VSE) platform, the enterprise-wide vulnerability and exposure management platform at CVS Health. This role provides hands-on architectural and engineering leadership across distributed systems, big-data platforms, and application architecture, and serves as a technical owner of a mission-critical, enterprise-scale system that ingests, processes, and analyzes vulnerability telemetry across the entire technology landscape. This is not an advisory role. The successful candidate will operate as an architect-engineer, contributing directly to design, implementation, performance optimization, and operational excellence as an integrated member of the delivery team.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical ownership and architectural leadership for the Vulnerability Services Engine (VSE) platform, including data ingestion, analytics, distributed processing, and application layers.
• Own the technical specifications, data architecture, and evolution of vulnerability and exposure data products.
• Design, document, and enforce:
  • System and solution architectures
  • Component and framework selection
  • Implementation and integration standards
• Lead distributed systems and big-data design for large-scale telemetry ingestion, processing, and analytics using platforms such as Apache Spark, Databricks, and Apache Kafka.
• Define and implement integration strategies for internal CVS Health platforms and external vendor systems across multi-cloud environments (Azure, GCP, AWS).
• Provide hands-on engineering leadership through code contributions, design reviews, and deep technical troubleshooting.
• Establish and lead performance engineering and observability practices, including throughput optimization, scalability testing, and system tuning.
• Serve as technical lead for vendor evaluations and proofs-of-concept, assessing architectural fit, performance, and scalability.
• Act as a senior technical advisor to Exposure Management and broader ISTS teams, influencing standards and platform direction through example and implementation.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience designing and implementing large-scale distributed systems.
• 5+ years of experience with big-data platforms and high-volume data integration.
• 5+ years of experience building web and service-based applications.
• Hands-on coding proficiency in at least one of Java, Python, Javascript.
• 5+ years in senior technical leadership roles such as Architect, Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, or equivalent, with demonstrated hands-on ownership.
• Proven ability to operate in enterprise-scale, mission-critical environments with strong performance and reliability requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep, hands-on experience with Apache Spark, Databricks, and modern data-processing frameworks.
• Experience with high-throughput telemetry, logging, or analytics platforms.
• Strong background in distributed systems performance engineering and observability.
• Experience operating in security, vulnerability management, risk, or compliance domains.
• Knowledge of Apache Arrow or similar data interchange frameworks.
• Hands-on familiarity with contemporary AI/ML concepts and supporting tooling.
• Expert-level proficiency in Java, Python, and ReactJs.
• Advanced degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, or a related field.

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics, Computer Science, or a related field or equivalent experience.

Pay Range

The typical pay range for this role is: $144,200.00 - $288,400.00. This pay range represents the base hourly rate or base annual full-time salary for all positions in the job grade within which this position falls. The actual base salary offer will depend on a variety of factors including experience, education, geography, and other relevant factors. This position is eligible for a CVS Health bonus, commission or short-term incentive program in addition to the base pay range listed above. This position also includes an award target in the company’s equity award program.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of colleagues and their families.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Paid time off.
• Retirement savings options.
• Wellness programs and other resources, based on eligibility.