Application Architect: III (Senior)

Job Title: API Governance Architect

Location: Columbus, OH/ Minneapolis, MN/ Dallas, TX (4 days Onsite, 1 day remote)

Type: 3+ Months Contract to hire

API Standards & Compliance Lead

Position Summary

As the API Standards & Compliance Lead, you will define, implement, and enforce enterprise-wide API governance frameworks that ensure consistency, security, and scalability across all APIs. This strategic role focuses on establishing API design standards, lifecycle governance, and compliance policies aligned with industry best practices and regulatory requirements. You will partner closely with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Platform Engineering, and Developer Experience teams to advance an API-first strategy and enable seamless integration across the enterprise.

You will shape our API strategy by balancing innovation with risk management-creating clear standards, operating models, and guardrails for API design, onboarding, publishing, versioning, and retirement. This role emphasizes policy, architecture, enablement, and oversight rather than hands-on software development.

What You'll Do

Governance Framework & Standards

Define and maintain enterprise-wide API design and governance policies aligned with architecture principles and industry standards (OpenAPI, REST, GraphQL).

Establish naming conventions, versioning guidelines, backward compatibility expectations, deprecation/retirement policies, and documentation standards.

Run the API Governance Board (reviews, approvals, waivers) and maintain the governance operating model and RACI.

Author and maintain reference architecture, standards playbooks, and reusable policy templates. Lifecycle Governance & Platform Integration (Apigee X)

Design and oversee API onboarding workflows via the Developer Portal, ensuring proper documentation, cataloging, and discoverability.

Define governance processes integrated with Apigee X for publishing, runtime policies (e.g., quotas, rate limiting), and analytics.

Ensure consistent use of API products, proxies, and catalogs; promote high-quality API definitions and reusability.

Security & Regulatory Compliance

Implement governance for security patterns (OAuth2, JWT, JWKS, mTLS) using Apigee X and Ping Identity.

Align APIs to regulatory requirements (e.g., Open Banking, PSD2, HIPAA, GDPR) and enterprise security standards.

Partner with Risk, Compliance, and Security Engineering to define control objectives, evidence, and auditability (e.g., NIST, ISO 27001, SOC 2).

Developer Experience & Enablement

Collaborate with the API Gateway and DevEx teams to optimize portal usability, API discoverability, and policy adoption.

Provide training, guidance, and office hours on governance best practices and standards for internal teams.

Create artifacts (cheat sheets, checklists, sample OpenAPI specs, policy catalogs) that accelerate compliant delivery.

Analytics, Metrics & Continuous Improvement

Define and track governance KPIs (e.g., % APIs compliant, time-to-approve, policy adoption rates, security defect trends).

Use Apigee Analytics and GCP monitoring to identify gaps and refine standards based on data insights and evolving business needs.

Conduct periodic maturity assessments; publish roadmaps and quarterly updates to stakeholders.

Risk, Audit & Controls

Establish controls and evidence for audits (design-time and runtime), including conformity checks against policy and standards.

Coordinate remediation plans for non-compliant APIs; manage waivers/exceptions with clear time-bound conditions.

Tooling & Automation

Partner with platform teams to integrate policy-as-code checks (linting, contract validation, auth enforcement) into CI/CD.

Evaluate governance tooling (spec linters, catalog quality checks, portal workflows) to automate compliance wherever feasible.

Qualifications - Required

10+ years in IT, including strong API development/governance experience.

5+ years in API governance or platform leadership roles (enterprise scale).

Deep familiarity with OpenAPI/Swagger, REST fundamentals, GraphQL design considerations, and API lifecycle management.

Hands-on experience with security standards (OAuth2, JWT, JWKS, mTLS) and regulatory frameworks (Open Banking/PSD2, HIPAA, GDPR).

Experience with Apigee X on GCP (or similar API management platforms like Kong, MuleSoft, AWS API Gateway, Azure APIM) from a governance/architecture perspective.

Demonstrated ability to write clear policies, standards, and procedures; facilitate governance forums; drive alignment across stakeholders.

Strong communication, stakeholder management, and change management skills.

Qualifications - Preferred

GCP certifications (e.g., Professional Cloud Architect); Apigee certifications a plus.

Experience with Ping Identity integration and enterprise IAM.

Familiarity with GCP services (Cloud Armor, IAM, VPC networking) and platform security controls.

Background in DevSecOps, CI/CD automation, and policy-as-code for API compliance.

Experience improving API portals, catalogs, and developer experience, including analytics-driven enhancements.

Core Competencies

Strategic thinking and policy design

Enterprise architecture alignment

Risk and compliance mindset

Stakeholder facilitation and influence

Data-driven continuous improvement

Clear, concise technical writing and storytelling

Role Clarity (What This Role Is / Is Not)

This is a governance, standards, and architecture leadership role -focused on policy, enablement, oversight, and measurable outcomes.

Not a day-to-day software engineering or Apigee proxy development role.

Limited hands-on configuration may be required to validate governance controls or demonstrate patterns.