Applications Architect 3 – CAPPS Technical Product Lead | Austin, TX Remote | 12+ Years Texas Public Sector Experience

**Location:** Austin, Texas **Duration:** 1 year (09/01/2026 – 08/31/2027), with up to 2 optional 1-year renewals **Hours:** Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CT; occasional evenings, weekends, and holidays as needed **Overview** A Texas state agency seeks an Applications Architect 3 to join its Fiscal Management Statewide Fiscal Systems team, supporting the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS) Program. The CAPPS Program comprises HR/Payroll (including Recruit functionality), Financials, STARR, and all ancillary systems. The selected candidate will provide highly advanced consultative services and technical assistance, serving as a technical product lead responsible for vision, strategy, architecture, and oversight of managed services vendors. The role requires adaptability to learn and integrate new systems and platforms as needed, such as CGI Advantage. **Key Responsibilities** - Define and evolve the CAPPS Program's long-term product strategy, ensuring alignment with state goals and technical realities - Translate high-level business objectives into clear technical product roadmaps - Prioritize features based on customer value, technical feasibility, and team capacity - Partner closely with Managed Services vendors to shape architecture, evaluate technical trade-offs, and ensure high-quality implementation - Understand system design, APIs, data flows, and platform constraints to make informed decisions - Identify technical risks, dependencies, and scalability considerations early - Ensure that long-term roadmaps for systems, data, and platforms support business goals as the application service provider for the CAPPS Program - Ensure guidelines for solution designs, integration patterns, security, cloud usage, and technical best practices are followed - Review proposed solutions to ensure they fit the enterprise ecosystem and prevent duplication or unnecessary complexities - Provide architectural leadership for digital transformation, cloud migrations, modernization, and large-scale projects - Work with Managed Services vendors to identify architectural risks such as scalability issues, integration weaknesses, and legacy system constraints - Collaborate with functional analysts, solution architects, developers, security teams, and business stakeholders to ensure a cohesive approach - Communicate product decisions and rationale clearly across teams, serving as the bridge between business needs and technical execution - Maintain standards for security, performance, compliance, and architecture - Ensure all digital products and content meet WCAG 2.1 accessibility standards - Assist with contract management oversight responsibilities, including annual IT control audits related to CAPPS Central applications - Ensure contract data security, user permissions, audit trails, and compliance with organizational and regulatory standards - Perform technical reviews of contract templates, metadata structures, workflows, and automation rules - Oversee technical support related to SLAs, system monitoring, environment analysis, hardware/software evaluation, network troubleshooting, migration paths, coding standards, security standards, compare reports, application change management review, and batch scheduling review - Maintain documentation related to architecture, configuration, integrations, and change management - Support reporting and analytics for contract KPIs, compliance metrics, and lifecycle performance - Review and approve assigned Technical Deliverables related to CAPPS Architecture, System Development Lifecycle, Disaster Recovery, Security Plans (SSP), and all CAPPS-related technology plans - Plan and coordinate various technical upgrades (e.g., PeopleSoft image, PeopleSoft Fluid, PeopleTools, other software publisher upgrades) - Participate as a technical advisor during procurement cycles for products or services associated with the CAPPS Program - Serve as a subject matter expert for user role Segregation of Duties (SOD) in multi-tenant software applications - Serve as a subject matter expert and perform Delegated Administration Level 3 for the Texas Digital Identity Services (TDIS) - Serve as the subject matter expert to implement, support, and maintain PathLock products including User Access Review (UAR), Single Sign-On (SSO), Data Masking, and A360 - Gather business requirements for large projects - Complete a minimum of 10 hours of professional training annually in a relevant area of expertise (on personal time, at own expense) **Required Qualifications** - 12+ years of Texas public sector experience, directly working for or supporting a Texas state government agency - 12+ years of experience performing technical activities in support of application systems - 12+ years of experience creating and managing a strategic roadmap by combining strong planning skills, technical insight, and effective cross-functional communication - 10+ years of experience preparing materials for and conducting executive-level presentations - 10+ years of experience performing technical project management activities in support of a CAPPS program - 10+ years of experience interpreting contractual language and integrating it into daily workflows, while consistently holding vendors accountable to contractual requirements - 10+ years of extensive knowledge of/experience with data integration, data quality, and SDLC processes and methodologies - 10+ years of experience in IT security and control practices - 10+ years of technical experience with PeopleSoft FSCM or HCM 9.2, PeopleTools, PeopleCode, Application Designer, SQL, PS Query, SQR, Application Engine, and Oracle 11 or higher - 10+ years of experience with CAPPS Central production and deployment technical support activities for more than 100 agencies and 5 Hub instances - 8+ years of experience with IT service desk functions and knowledge of ITIL framework methodologies and processes - 5+ years of experience with user role segregation of duties (SoD) in multi-tenant software applications - 2+ years of experience serving in a technical product role with responsibility for managing outsourced technical teams and overseeing a Managed Services provider - Strong written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills - Knowledge of project management methodologies - Knowledge of technical and functional attributes of Oracle PeopleSoft - Problem-solving skills and the ability to multitask with readiness to put in extra effort when necessary - Experience with Agile and other SDLC methodologies - Experience with ITIL methodologies - Experience with or knowledge of information security frameworks (i.e., NIST) - Ability to work independently in a diverse team environment with on-site and remote team members **Preferred Qualifications** - 10+ years of experience with software and hardware management industry best practices - 10+ years of experience with legacy Statewide Financial Systems production support activities - 10+ years of experience developing technical specifications to support IT procurements **Work Location & Requirements** - Primary work location is remote (telework); remote location must be within the continental United States at all times - On an infrequent ad-hoc basis, may be required to be on-site at the agency's location in Austin, Texas - May be required to work outside normal business hours on weekends, evenings, and holidays as requested - All travel, per diem, parking, and living expenses are at the candidate's and/or vendor's expense - Must pass a criminal background check prior to award - Must be adaptable and able to learn and integrate new systems and platforms as needed