An architect CV should show decisions, constraints, and outcomes (delivery, reliability, cost, security).
See the general guide: IT CV template (Romania).
TL;DR
- Architecture is about trade-offs. Show the trade-offs you handled.
- Mention scope: systems, teams, constraints, and operating environment.
- Show enablement: reference patterns, reviews, migrations, workshops.
Quick checklist (before you send)
- Title: “Software Architect” / “Solution Architect” / “Platform Architect” + domain (cloud, platform, enterprise).
- 3–6 strong bullets: decision → constraints → impact (delivery/reliability/cost).
- Mention system size (services, traffic, data), number of teams, dependencies, and operations.
- Include 1–2 migrations/replatforming stories with rollout + risk management.
Recommended structure (Architect)
- Header (clean links)
- Summary (2–4 lines: system types + what you optimize + what you’re targeting)
- Experience (decisions, constraints, outcomes)
- Selected initiatives (2–3, with impact)
- Skills (architecture, cloud/platform, security, observability)
- Education/Certs (short)
What a strong bullet looks like (Architect)
Useful formula: Decision + context (system/teams) + constraints/trade‑offs + result (metric or signal).
Examples:
- “Planned a phased migration from a monolith to services, reducing downtime risk and improving deploy frequency.”
- “Standardized observability and error handling patterns, reducing time‑to‑investigate incidents.”
- “Simplified a critical flow by removing dependencies and reduced latency / failure points.”
No numbers? Use signals:
- more predictable deploys, fewer incidents, better cost control, easier team integration, faster time‑to‑change.
Bullet library (Architect)
Pick 6–10 that are actually true for you, then tailor them to the role.
Migrations & modernization
- “Designed a migration from [old] to [new] with phased rollout and rollback strategy.”
- “Reduced risk using parallel runs and incremental rollout while keeping delivery moving.”
- “Defined a no‑downtime data migration plan (backfill + rolling deploy).”
Reliability & operations
- “Reduced incidents by standardizing service patterns and observability.”
- “Introduced SLOs and alerting for critical flows, improving operational predictability.”
- “Standardized timeouts/retries/circuit breakers for external providers, reducing outage impact.”
Performance & cost
- “Improved delivery speed by simplifying architecture and removing bottlenecks.”
- “Reduced monthly cost by optimizing batch flows and storage retention/archiving.”
- “Brought the system under SLA (latency/throughput) through redesign and caching where appropriate.”
Alignment & governance (enablement)
- “Aligned multiple teams on standards, reducing integration friction.”
- “Created templates/boilerplates and conventions, speeding up onboarding and reducing variance.”
- “Led architecture reviews and prevented fragile solutions, reducing rework later.”
Security (as architecture)
- “Defined access policies (least privilege) and secrets approach, reducing exposure risk.”
- “Improved auditability for sensitive actions, increasing traceability.”
Common mistakes
- Buzzwords without decisions or outcomes.
- “Designed microservices” with no context or results.
- Missing operations story (how the system runs in production).
Useful keywords (use only what you actually did)
- system design, trade‑offs, architecture reviews
- migrations, replatforming, rollout/rollback
- SLO/SLA, observability, incident response
- caching, scalability, cost optimization
- IAM, secrets, audit logs (when relevant)
Scope cheat sheet (what to include)
When you describe work as an architect, add 1–2 lines of scope so the reader can calibrate impact:
- System shape: monolith / modular monolith / services / event‑driven (only if real).
- Scale: traffic ranges, data size, peak periods, or “tens of services” (avoid sensitive numbers).
- Team context: how many teams depend on it and what “ownership” meant.
- Operations: on‑call expectations, SLOs/SLAs, compliance constraints (if applicable).
Architect CV template (copy/paste)
FAQ
How do I avoid sounding like buzzwords?
Write concretely: context, constraints, what you decided, and what improved. Add 1–2 examples of hard decisions if you can.
Should I include hands‑on work?
Yes if relevant, but don’t turn it into an IC CV. Keep the focus on decisions and enablement.
