Lead Software Architect

Why Groupama?

For over 15 years, Groupama has been a driving force on the Bulgarian insurance market through our two highly successful entities: Groupama Zastrahovane EAD and Groupama Zhivotozastrahovane EAD. As a proud part of the international Groupama Group—a leading French insurance giant boasting 12 million members and 32,000 employees across Europe, Asia, and Africa—we blend global stability with local innovation.

In Bulgaria, we are the exclusive insurance partner of DSK Bank AD, delivering top-tier Credit Protection, Accident, Property, and Motor insurance solutions to millions of customers. We leverage advanced technologies and digital transformation to provide personalized, modern protection in an ever-changing world.

At Groupama, we believe our people are our greatest asset. We cultivate an environment that celebrates innovation, fosters team spirit, and rewards collective success.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Software Architect to take ownership of the software architecture and provide technical leadership for the development of a new enterprise software platform.

This is a key leadership position within our technology organisation, combining strategic architectural responsibility with hands-on technical guidance, engineering excellence.

The successful candidate will lead the architectural direction of the platform, guide multiple internal development teams comprising 20+ engineers, establish consistent engineering standards and play a central role in building sustainable internal technical capabilities.

We are looking for an experienced technology professional who combines deep software engineering expertise, strong architectural judgement and a genuine passion for mentoring and developing others.

Key Responsibilities

1. Software Architecture & Technical Strategy

● Own and drive the end-to-end software architecture of a new enterprise platform, from initial design through production implementation.

● Translate business and functional requirements into scalable, secure, maintainable and reliable technical solutions.

● Define architectural principles, application structure, component boundaries, integration patterns and technology standards.

● Lead architectural and technology decisions across Python and .NET-based solutions.

● Design and oversee APIs, data architecture, system integrations and communication between application components.

● Evaluate architectural alternatives and make pragmatic decisions balancing technical quality, business requirements, delivery timelines and long-term sustainability.

● Establish and maintain architecture documentation, technical design guidelines and Architecture Decision Records.

● Ensure alignment with enterprise security, infrastructure and regulatory requirements.

2. Cross-Team Technical Leadership

● Provide overarching technical leadership across multiple internal software development teams comprising 20+ engineers.

● Guide teams in translating architectural designs into high-quality software solutions.

● Lead complex technical discussions, resolve cross-team technical challenges and support critical implementation decisions.

● Establish and maintain consistent coding standards, design principles, testing practices and technical quality expectations.

● Conduct architecture reviews and critical code reviews.

● Identify and manage technical risks, architectural dependencies and technical debt.

● Promote alignment, collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams.

● Establish effective architecture governance without creating unnecessary approval bottlenecks.

● Remain actively engaged in technical problem-solving and implementation guidance.

3. Mentoring & Engineering Capability Development

● Act as a senior technical mentor and trusted advisor to developers and emerging technical leaders.

● Identify and develop high-potential engineers capable of progressing into Technical Lead and architectural roles.

● Provide coaching through technical workshops, architecture reviews, pair programming and regular knowledge-sharing sessions.

● Assess technical competency gaps and contribute to individual and team development plans.

● Support the establishment of clear technical roles, responsibilities and career development paths.

● Foster a culture of engineering excellence, technical ownership, collaboration and continuous learning.

● Build sustainable internal architectural capabilities and progressively delegate technical ownership to developing leaders.

4. Delivery & Cross-Functional Collaboration

● Work closely with Product Owners, Business Analysts, Engineering teams, UI/UX Designers, QA, DevOps, Infrastructure and Information Security specialists.

● Ensure effective translation of business needs and UI/UX designs into technically feasible solutions.

● Support technical planning, estimation, prioritisation and delivery decisions.

● Collaborate with engineering and delivery leadership to ensure architectural decisions support delivery objectives.

● Contribute to technical roadmap development and platform evolution.

● Communicate architectural decisions, technical risks and trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

● Ensure alignment between architectural vision and actual software implementation.

Required Qualifications & Experience

● 10+ years of professional experience in software engineering, including significant experience in software architecture and technical leadership.

● At least 4–5 years of architectural or senior technical leadership responsibility, preferably across multiple development teams.

● Proven experience designing and successfully delivering complex enterprise software platforms from scratch.

● Strong hands-on software development background, with in-depth expertise in .NET/C# and/or Python and solid architectural understanding of both technology ecosystems.

● Extensive knowledge of software architecture principles, design patterns, modular systems, distributed architectures and API-driven development.

● Strong understanding of database design, data modelling, integration patterns and system performance optimisation.

● Experience with cloud and/or on-premises architecture, CI/CD, automated testing and secure software development practices.

● Proven ability to provide technical leadership across multiple teams and influence architectural and engineering decisions.

● Demonstrated experience mentoring developers, developing technical leaders and improving engineering capabilities.

● Strong analytical thinking, architectural decision-making and problem-solving skills.

● Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

● Ability to balance strategic architectural thinking with practical, hands-on technical leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

● Experience in the insurance, banking or broader financial services industry.

● Experience designing software platforms in complex or regulated enterprise environments.

● Experience establishing or transforming internal software engineering capabilities.

● Experience with legacy system integration and enterprise application modernisation.

● Familiarity with architectural modelling approaches such as C4, UML and relevant enterprise architecture frameworks.

● Experience working in Agile software development environments.

● Familiarity with Figma-based UI/UX design and development workflows.

Key Success Indicators

During the first 6–12 months, the successful candidate is expected to:

● Establish and document the target software architecture of the new enterprise platform.

● Define and implement consistent architectural and engineering standards across development teams.

● Enable effective technical decision-making and cross-team architectural alignment.

● Establish clear technical governance and code review practices.

● Develop structured mentoring and knowledge-sharing activities.

● Identify and actively develop potential Technical Leads and future architects within the organisation.

● Improve technical autonomy, collaboration and engineering quality across teams.

● Support successful delivery of the platform’s initial production-ready components.

● Build a sustainable architectural foundation supporting future platform development and organisational growth.

Ideal Candidate Profile

We are looking for an experienced architect, technical leader and mentor who can combine long-term architectural vision with day-to-day engineering leadership.

The ideal candidate is someone who:

● Has successfully designed and delivered complex enterprise software systems.

● Maintains strong technical credibility with senior and experienced developers.

● Can make and defend architectural decisions while remaining open to constructive challenge.

● Enjoys mentoring engineers and building strong technical teams.

● Understands that effective technical leadership means enabling teams rather than becoming a bottleneck.

● Takes ownership of architectural quality from initial design through implementation.

● Can operate effectively in a growing engineering organisation undergoing technical and organisational development.

What We Offer in Return

• Rewards: Competitive salary and performance-based bonus system.

• Health & Wellness: Premium additional health insurance, food vouchers, and an extra paid day off to celebrate your birthday.

• Work-Life Balance: A flexible, modern hybrid work model and a progressive paid annual leave policy that increases with your tenure.

• Growth: Access to specialized leadership academies and international training programs.

• Environment: A vibrant, conveniently located office and a collaborative team culture that feels like family.

• Referral Program: An attractive internal referral bonus scheme.

This is not a purely conceptual or documentation-focused architecture role. It is a hands-on technical leadership position with responsibility for software architecture, engineering standards and the long-term development of internal technical capabilities.

If our offer is interesting for you and you feel that you meet the above requirements, please apply by sending your CV. Only short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview.

All applications will be treated with strict confidentiality under the provisions of the Law for Protection of Personal Data.