EBSCO Information Services (EIS) provides a complete and optimized research solution comprised of e-journals, e-books, and research databases — all combined with the most powerful discovery service to support the information needs and maximize the research experience of our end-users. Headquartered in Ipswich, MA, EIS employs more than 3,300 people worldwide. We are the leader in our field due to our cutting-edge technology, forward-thinking philosophy, and top-notch workforce. EIS, a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., based in Birmingham, AL, is ranked in the top 200 of the nation’s largest, privately held corporations according to Forbes magazine. EBSCO is a company that will motivate you, inspire you, and allow you to grow. We are looking for the best. If you are too, we encourage you to explore our unique opportunities.

The Enterprise API Architect role is an important and highly visible position within the EBSCO software development organization. The individual in this role is central to the creation, implementation and continuous evolution of an enterprise API strategy which connects both the internal development organization and our external customer base to EBSCO’s Research Database and Discovery capabilities.

The Enterprise API Architect articulates a deep understanding of how APIs work at EBSCO today and aligns with business and technical stakeholders about how to evolve the API platform to become the unified mechanism for API development at EBSCO.

The API platform supports microservice architecture on AWS. APIs built on the API platform must be consistent, scalable, secure, observable, easy to use. Ultimately, the API platform enables EBSCO to run our APIs in a cost and operationally efficient manner.

The Enterprise API Architect helps the organization realize business opportunities more effectively and faster through the continuous evolution of the API platform. The person in this role will use technical skills, business acumen, and creativity to provide the governance, evangelism, and technical roadmap for the EBSCO API platform.

In this role, the Enterprise API Architect will identify, implement, and socialize best practices in the creation of actionable API capabilities for EIS Products & Business Units. This person will work with numerous product and platform specific ARTs (Agile Release Trains) to identify API capabilities and drive implementation of API features. The successful candidate will utilize leadership skills, big picture vision, and will possess the drive to achieve success.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Contribute to API roadmap, collaborating closely with Platform Product. Socialize and get buy in across all affected stakeholders as inputs to the overall strategy. Present and support presentations to executive stakeholders on a periodic basis.
• Identify industry trends and market problems and where they intersect to inform a comprehensive plan with both inputs.
• Become current with the state of APIs at EBSCO for Research Database & Discovery products to understand historic drivers, unique challenges, and potential roadblocks to future evolution.
• Work with Legal & Security teams to understand regulatory environment in which we are working, stay current with regulatory and compliance issues, and ensure they are built as capabilities into the API roadmap.
• Identify opportunities to utilize vendors to offload complexities of the API platform to the AWS platform that we operate on.
• Work with CIO and PPM leadership to ensure technical debt is visible, measured and appropriate balance struck between go forward feature development and competing refactoring, rearchitecting and sustaining engineering practices.

Competencies:

• Technical proficiency:
  • Understands modern API architecture, especially concerns that are raised implementing and managing microservice architecture.
  • Understands AWS services that can be leveraged to support the API platform.
  • Understands how to support multiple programming languages with associated polyglot development, build and runtime concerns.
• Communication & Presentation: Able to effectively communicate and present technical concepts to technical and non-technical professionals.
• Analytical skills: Able to structure and process qualitative or quantitative data and draw insightful conclusions from it.
• Relational skills: Be willing to help solve problems by listening and connecting people across ARTs and teams and helping them find common solutions.
• Strategic thinking: Ability to think broadly about process and generate new ideas as well as drive the implementation of new workflows. Determines opportunities and threats through comprehensive analysis of current and future trends.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree with a computer science focus
• 6+ years of relevant technology/product experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated ability to understand the customer along with expert-level technical knowledge of software development
• Experience setting long-term strategy for technical solutions
• Solid understanding of key API trends
• Experience working with and designing solutions for cloud-based architectures

EBSCO Industries, Inc.is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws.  EBSCO strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or any other covered persons because of race, color, sex (including pregnancy), age, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.  This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, training, promotion, discipline, compensation, benefits, and termination of employment.

EBSCO complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act, and all applicable state or local law.

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