Architect: Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realize their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm’s client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Information Technology department in our Chicago office, as an Architect: Risk, Marketing, and Admin Systems.

The Architect: Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems will be a senior technical leader within the Risk, Marketing & Admin Systems team, which serves the Business Services groups across the firm with solutions to achieve productivity, collaboration, and uniformity. This position focuses on enterprise business applications, complex data integration architectures, in-house developed solutions, vended solutions, and cloud platforms to support the firm's evolving technology needs.

The Architect: Risk, Marketing and Admin Systems is responsible for architecting, building, enhancing, integrating, supporting, and managing the Firm's critical business applications and data ecosystems using Microsoft's development stack (.NET, ASP.NET, C#, MVVM and MVC Patterns, Web APIs, and microservices architectures). This role serves as a senior technical authority who partners with management to review code quality, validate deployment strategies, and ensure adherence to engineering best practices across the team's portfolio. This position encompasses a mixture of technical leadership, software architecture, project responsibility, advanced software engineering, data integration strategy, third-party configuration/integration, and senior-level support.

Essential Functions:   

• Serves as the primary technical decision-maker for assigned initiatives, defining technical scope, architecture, and objectives for complex business application solutions with minimal direction
• Designs, develops, and implements enterprise business applications with expertise in cloud-based deployments, API development, and scalable application architectures
• Architects comprehensive data integration solutions connecting business applications with internal and external systems, ensuring data integrity, consistency, and optimal performance
• Leads the design and implementation of data pipelines, ETL processes, and real-time data synchronization using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Azure Data Factory, custom APIs, stored procedures, message queues, and middleware platforms
• Designs and implements data validation frameworks, quality monitoring, and reconciliation processes to ensure accuracy and completeness of integrated data across systems
• Partners with management to conduct code reviews, validate deployment strategies, and provide technical sign-off to ensure adherence to coding standards, security best practices, and production readiness
• Maintains, enhances, and refactors existing business applications while staying current with evolving dependencies and emerging technologies
• Collaborates with engineers and administrators in a DevOps culture to drive efficiency, overcome obstacles, and promote continuous improvement across solutions and team practices
• Develops software solutions in short sprints within an Agile framework, reviewing user stories and providing technical guidance on feasibility and implementation approaches
• Mentors junior and mid-level team members by reviewing code, providing constructive feedback, guiding architectural decisions, and fostering professional development
• Balances individual contribution with leadership responsibilities, executing against the development priority list across multiple projects within the team's portfolio
• Verifies security of third-party vendor applications and collaborates with vendors and internal security teams to meet security requirements and compliance standards
• Maintains the internal System Catalog for responsible systems and integrations, including comprehensive documentation of data flows and dependencies
• Supports application business recovery plans, including disaster recovery testing and documentation
• Evaluates emerging technologies, tools, and frameworks to recommend improvements to the team's technical capabilities and development practices
• Represents the Risk, Marketing, and Admin Systems team, while also serving as a technical representative for peer teams within the Business Solutions Delivery organization, in the IT Architecture Oversight Group—reviewing solution architecture for new technology products across Cloud, SaaS, mobile, and on‑premises solutions.
• Adheres to the Firm's IT Service Delivery standards and Change Control processes, championing compliance and best practices across the team
• Performs other duties as assigned to meet Firm goals and objectives

Education/Training/Certifications:     

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Data Science, or a related technical field. An equivalent combination of education and/or experience may be considered in lieu of the degree when the experience has been directly related to the functions of the job.
• Master's degree in a related field is preferred

Professional Experience:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in software development, with demonstrated advancement into senior technical or lead roles preferred
• Demonstrated experience delivering enterprise business applications using modern web technologies, cloud platforms, and the Microsoft development stack preferred
• Demonstrated experience architecting and implementing complex data integration solutions across multiple systems and platforms
• Demonstrated experience with application support and administration, including patching, maintenance, performance tuning, and log monitoring
• Proven track record delivering solutions using Agile methodologies (Scrum/Kanban, iterative delivery, CI/CD pipelines) as well as familiarity with other SDLC approaches (Waterfall, DevOps)
• Proven experience conducting code reviews, evaluating deployment readiness, providing technical oversight for production changes, and mentoring less experienced developers toward best practices
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional IT teams in a DevOps culture to enhance the technology experience for end users throughout the Firm
• Demonstrated ability to excel both independently and as part of a team, with a strong track record of leading technical initiatives and building consensus on architectural decisions across diverse stakeholders
• Working knowledge of enterprise mobile device and application management (MDM/MAM) using Microsoft Intune, including secure mobile access patterns, identity and conditional access integration, data protection controls, and alignment with firm security and compliance standards.
• Proficient with Windows Operating Systems (client and server), virtualization, cloud platforms (Azure, AWS), network protocols, and overall infrastructure concepts preferred
• Proficient with M365 applications including SharePoint, Outlook, Excel, Teams, and Visio
• Web development (e.g., MCSD, MCPD, MCTS, MCSA) or cloud certifications (e.g., Azure Developer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect) preferred
• Data-related certifications (e.g., Azure Data Engineer, Microsoft Data Platform) preferred

Technical Skills: 

• 8+ years of software development experience with the Microsoft Stack (.NET, ASP.NET, C#, MVVM/MVC Patterns, Web APIs, Entity Framework) and SQL Server (2019+), including advanced T-SQL development, query optimization, SSRS, and SSIS; must have thorough understanding of relational database concepts, data modeling, and database integration required
• 5+ years designing and implementing data integration solutions (ETL/ELT processes, API-based integrations, real-time synchronization) using Azure services including Azure Data Factory, Azure Functions, Logic Apps, Service Bus, and Azure SQL Database required
• 5+ years with Azure DevOps and/or GitHub, including CI/CD pipelines, build/release engineering, infrastructure as code, repository management, and automated testing frameworks required
• 5+ years conducting formal code reviews and enforcing coding standards across development teams required
• 5+ years troubleshooting complex distributed systems, data pipelines, and enterprise applications required
• 5+ years with enterprise integration platforms (IntApp Integrate, BizTalk, MuleSoft, Dell Boomi, Informatica, or similar) and workflow automation tools (Power Automate, Logic Apps, K2) preferred
• 5+ years with Microsoft IIS administration and scripting languages (JavaScript, TypeScript, PowerShell, Python) preferred
• Proficiency with Generative AI tools (Harvey, Claude, GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT) to accelerate code development, query writing, and technical problem-solving preferred
• Experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), microservices architectures, message queuing systems (Azure Service Bus, RabbitMQ, Kafka), and data warehousing/BI concepts preferred

Performance Traits:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills; translates complex technical concepts into clear terms for diverse audiences—executives, vendors, and non-technical stakeholders—while anticipating needs and recommending solutions with sound independent judgment
• Provides technical leadership in diverse team environments; builds consensus, influences without direct authority, and fosters collaboration across stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, understandable terms for diverse audiences
• Self-directed and thrives under pressure; drives projects forward with minimal supervision while managing multiple complex initiatives, shifting priorities, and competing deadlines without sacrificing quality
• Strong customer service skills, able to anticipate needs and exercise independent judgment in recommending solutions
• Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and the ability to handle multiple projects while maintaining quality standards
• Balances strategic thinking with detailed technical analysis; comfortable navigating ambiguity, making sound decisions with incomplete information, and challenging the status quo to drive continuous improvement
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data relationships and troubleshoot data quality issues across integrated systems
• Maintains strict confidentiality and exercises discretion regarding sensitive data and business information
• Proven ability to influence without direct authority and build consensus across team

The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

The typical pay scale for this position in Chicago is between $149,800 and $198,100, although the actual wage or salary could be lower or higher if the candidate’s education, experience, skills and internal pay alignment are different from those specified. 

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, 401(k) savings plan, back-up childcare and eldercare, generous paid time off (PTO), as well as opportunities for professional development and growth.

Thank you for your interest in Mayer Brown. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities and disabled veterans. To request a reasonable accommodation related to the application process and/or job interview, please email uslateralrecruiting@mayerbrown.com. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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