Software Architect

OVERVIEW

Live the experience. From professional empowerment to continual learning opportunities. From ongoing investment in new and emerging technologies to a career of self-determination. At Ulta Beauty, our tech team is critical to our scalability—and is recognized that way. We've been defined as a "mature start-up." A place where interdepartmental exposure, open doors, and genuine collaboration is ubiquitous. Where challenges come fast and furious, requiring agility, mental dexterity, and creativity. Where our passion for better solutions drives us and is core to who we are.

We're engineering for the future of retail, and it's no-holds-barred. But for those motivated by continual change and ambiguity, by superior leadership, by whip smart colleagues who will press you daily for your very best, you'll find that virtually nothing's impossible at Ulta Beauty.

THE IMPACT YOU CAN HAVE: 

The Architect is responsible for providing the overall technical solution for digital initiatives in our strategic focus areas, help evaluating the solution design process through technology implementation. They contribute to the practice of designing, describing, and managing the solution engineering in relation to solving business problems or developing MVPs. The role of Architect is a critical position within the Consumer Technology (CT), which will work closely with all CT teams within the AI space to understand requirements and participate in design discussions in a highly collaborative, dynamic, and fast paced environment. This individual constantly strives to raise the bar on engineering excellence, lead the way, staying up to date with tools, trends, technologies, and frameworks both industry-wide and within Innovation Architecture.

The Architect is a highly skilled technical resource who collaborates with cross-functional internal business & technology teams, as well as external partners, to drive the overall architecture and designs of Ulta Beauty digital products and capabilities. This role is a hands-on technical contributor who anticipates implementation risks, defines appropriate mitigation plans, and implements them as appropriate.

The Architect will have a passion to discover & evaluate innovative digital solutions, drive the process to experiment with new digital solutions to gain key insights, and be able to analyze the output of those experiments to determine potential viability for a larger scale implementation with the organization. The Architect will also mentor other developers on best practices and identifying and determining design patterns to deliver high quality maintainable codebase.

YOU'LL ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS BY: 

1. Backend Architecture & System Design

• Architect and evolve secure, scalable backend platforms (APIs, microservices, event-driven systems) to support AI and non-AI workloads.
• Ensure systems are reliable, observable, and extensible for future AI integrations.

2. AI Platform Enablement

• Collaborate with data science, ML engineering, and product teams to define backend interfaces, data pipelines, and integration patterns for AI/ML models and real-time analytics.
• Lead the adoption of AI-first engineering practices for model deployment, inference, and monitoring.

3. Innovation & Rapid Prototyping

• Rapidly prototype and pilot test innovative solutions, transitioning successful pilots into production with delivery teams.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and frameworks to accelerate business capabilities and impact.

4. Integration & Orchestration

• Architect seamless integration between backend systems and AI platforms (e.g., Vertex AI, Databricks, AgentSpace).
• Champion modern integration patterns such as event streaming, serverless functions, and service mesh for intelligent orchestration.

5. Technical Leadership & Standards

• Define and enforce programming and architectural standards, including secure development practices.
• Mentor teams on scalable architecture, AI enablement, and platform operations with an innovation-driven mindset.

6. Governance, Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure backend and AI systems comply with enterprise security, regulatory, and responsible AI standards.
• Continuously assess new technologies, trends, and methods to drive business process improvement and digital transformation.

ESSENTIALS FOR SUCCESS: 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience
• 7+ years of digital technology or information technology including architecture, design, and development.
• Proven experience as a backend architect or lead engineer (Java, Python, , Go, or similar)
• Strong knowledge of API design, distributed systems, microservices, cloud-native architectures (GCP, AWS, Azure)
• Deep experience building scalable, production-grade systems with modern DevOps and CI/CD practices
• Familiarity with database technologies (both SQL and NoSQL), and an understanding of data modeling and management strategies.
• Experience partnering with ML/AI teams and architecting backend systems to support AI/ML workflows
• Understanding of AI/ML model serving, monitoring, and integration (bonus: hands-on with platforms like Vertex AI, Databricks, or similar)
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication skills
• Ability to translate complex backend and AI needs for both technical and business stakeholders
• Exposure to agentic AI, conversational AI, or intelligent automation frameworks
• Experience in retail, ecommerce, or other high-scale consumer digital environments
• Knowledge of observability, telemetry, and AI governance best practices
• Possess a strong work ethic; takes pride in producing a quality product.
• Must be driven, self-motivated, and passionate for technology.
• Self-starter requiring minimal supervision.

#LI - ML

#LI - Hybrid

The pay range for this position is $119, $170,000.00 / Year with the opportunity for eligible associates to earn additional compensation pursuant to the Company's bonus plan. Exact pay will be based on factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, level, shift, geographic location, and business and organizational needs. Full-time positions are eligible for paid time off, health, dental, vision, life and disability benefits. Part-time positions are eligible for dental, vision, life, and disability benefits. For additional information concerning our benefits, visit our Benefits and Career Development page:

ABOUT

At Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA), the possibilities are beautiful. Ulta Beauty is the largest North American beauty retailer and the premier beauty destination for cosmetics, fragrance, skin care products, hair care products and salon services. We bring possibilities to life through the power of beauty each and every day in our stores and online with more than 25,000 products from approximately 500 well-established and emerging beauty brands across all categories and price points, including Ulta Beauty's own private label. Ulta Beauty also offers a full-service salon in every store featuring—hair, skin, brow, and make-up services.

We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest records, conviction records, or other criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of any applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the New York City Fair Chance Act.

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