Systems Architect - LTL Platform Support and Operations

This is an environment unlike anything in the high-tech world and the secret of Costco’s success is its culture.  The value Costco puts on its employees is well documented in articles from a variety of publishers including Bloomberg and Forbes.  Our employees and our members come FIRST.  Costco is well known for its generosity and community service and has won many awards for its philanthropy. The company joins with its employees to take an active role in volunteering by sponsoring many opportunities to help others.  In 2018, Costco contributed over $39 million to organizations such as United Way and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

Costco IT is responsible for the technical future of Costco Wholesale, the second largest retailer in the world with wholesale operations in twelve countries. Despite our size and explosive international expansion, we continue to provide a family, employee centric atmosphere in which our employees thrive and succeed. As proof, Costco consistently ranks in the top five of Forbes “America’s Best Employers”.

The LTL Platforms Support and Operations team is responsible for monitoring, supporting, and maintaining the overall Costco Logistics eCommerce production ecosystem focusing on the health and operation of the environments, platforms, and hardware infrastructure. This area is also responsible for ensuring the security and compliance of the Costco Logistics platform are in alignment with Costco policies, regulations, and industry frameworks. This is a highly collaborative team within Ecommerce as well as other areas of IT to ensure minimal disruption to our members and our business. 

The Systems Architect is responsible for the design and implementation of solutions that align with business goals and objectives. This role will be responsible for managing expectations with application stakeholders; designing, implementing, and collaborating with Infrastructure Architects, Product Managers, and various roles in the organization to deploy solutions in our Costco Logistics business operations. This role will also be responsible for various aspects of infrastructure management including maintenance, performance, and capacity planning, security, and support. Individuals in this role will need to gather, understand, and interpret global technical and business requirements, including participation in the discovery, documentation, validation/refinement of solutions, deployments, and hypercare.

*This position will be filled onsite in Issaquah, WA, Chicago, IL, or Dallas, TX.

If you want to be a part of one of the BEST “to work for” companies in the world, simply apply and let your career be reimagined.

ROLE

• Builds the requirements management plan along with identification of the stakeholders and roles/responsibilities.
• Collaborates with IT architects and IT technical leads to implement and deploy solutions.
• Works with the Delivery Manager/Project Manager, Engineer, technical application leads, and Functional/Business Analysts to develop a high-level project schedule, resource plan for the project, and project costs.
• Analyzes technical risks and advises on risk mitigation strategies.
• Identifies teams needed based on the proposed solution.
• Participates and guides requirements gathering and user story preparation; ensures the appropriate acceptance criteria is included and approved.
• Manages an intake process for business requests and maintains appropriate communication.
• Creates high-level models that guide solution architecture, including component, context, data-flow security, data, services, infrastructure, deployment, and integration viewpoints.
• Creates and maintains an excellent relationship with our Business Stakeholders and IT Team.

REQUIRED

• Possesses good organizational, time, and project management skills, with the ability to multitask, prioritize, and stay well organized.
• Analytical skills and demonstrated ability to effectively improve processes and provide solutions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, which includes excellent customer service skills. Ability to present complex ideas and designs to a variety of technical or non-technical stakeholders and all levels of management. 
• Demonstrated experience effectively managing suppliers.
• Demonstrated strong organizational qualities, being meticulous and detail oriented.
• Positive attitude with good interpersonal skills, a team player; able to work cooperatively with others - sharing ideas and collaborating to obtain team goals.
• Ability to adjust positively to change in direction or assignments; and able to work in a fast-paced and dynamic team environment.
• Demonstrates a logical and structured approach to time management and task prioritization, while effectively teaching and mentoring other members of the teams.
• Good problem solving, analytical, and troubleshooting skills.
• Proven ability to manage priorities and timelines.
• Extremely responsive, with a strong sense of urgency.
• Responsible, conscientious, self-motivated, and able to work with limited supervision.
• Proficient at analyzing data across disparate systems.
• Proficient at Spreadsheet documentation. 
• Responsible for Functional/Non-Functional requirements gathering and documentation.

Recommended

• 2 years’ Business Analyst experience.
• 2 years’ Product Owner experience.
• Costco Logistics operations experience.
• Infrastructure Hardware and WMS experience.
• Successfully working in an Agile environment.
• Knowledge of Smartsheets.

Required Documents

• Cover Letter
• Resume

California applicants, please click here to review the Costco Applicant Privacy Notice.

Apart from any religious or disability considerations, open availability is needed to meet the needs of the business.  If hired, you will be required to provide proof of authorization to work in the United States. Applicants and employees for this position will not be sponsored for work authorization, including, but not limited to H1-B visas.