Your creative fieldWe are looking for a full-time , permanent Lead Architect - Engineering Practices & AI Enablement (all genders) in Germany to start as soon as possible . We live remote-first, but you have the freedom to choose whether you want to work hybrid or completely on-site due to your proximity to one of our locations.

Your mission is to build pragmatic architecture governance for our products, raise engineering effectiveness across teams, and actively introduce and support modern AI-supported development practices into our software organization. This role is not about abstract enterprise architecture. It is about creating standards, ways of working and guardrails that teams actually use in day-to-day delivery. You lead primarily through influence rather than hierarchy: by creating clarity, defining standards, facilitating alignment and enabling teams to succeed. In this role, you work closely with our COO and act as a key sparring partner for Product and Engineering Leads.Three major areas will define your impact:Architecture Governance (Product & Software Architecture)
• Design and operate a pragmatic governance model (e.g., Architecture Council, Design/Architecture Reviews, ADR/RFC processes)
• Define and maintain architecture principles, standards, and guardrails (patterns, integration standards, NFRs)
• Establish clear boundaries within which teams can make autonomous decisions (decision rights), while ensuring structured escalation and resolution of cross-cutting topics
• Guide target architectures and modernization paths (legacy/monolith to modular or service-based architectures, strangler pattern, stabilization and decoupling)
• Create architectural transparency through clear communication and visualization, enabling Product, Engineering, and Operations to speak the same language (C4 models and ADRs instead of “PowerPoint archaeology”)

Practice Management (Engineering Effectiveness)
• Drive engineering effectiveness in practice: improve release discipline, review quality, rollback capability, observability standards, post-mortem quality, and developer experience across teams.
• Introduce AI-supported and agentic development capabilities into engineering teams in a pragmatic, secure and measurable way.
• Focus on enablement rather than control: introduce templates, “golden paths,” practical guidelines, mentoring, and communities of practice
• Build a repeatable improvement cycle based on measurement, feedback loops, and continuous adaptation

Security & Compliance by Design
• Embed security and compliance considerations directly into architecture and delivery standards (e.g., OSS/license hygiene, SBOM approaches, audit requirements in software delivery)
• Collaborate closely with Security, Legal, and Compliance teams without becoming the formal audit owner

How will we measure the success of your role?
• Architectural decisions are transparent and traceable (e.g., through ADRs), conflicts are resolved more quickly, and defined standards are actively applied across teams
• Teams deliver with less rework and fewer production incidents
• Clear release and rollback processes are established and consistently followed
• Modernization and product development follow defined architectural paths, with technical debt actively managed rather than merely documented
• Practice Management is perceived as enablement and support — not as gatekeeping

What convinces usYour personality, combined with:

Must-Haves
• Several years of experience (5+ years) in Software or Solution Architecture within complex, distributed systems (experience in cloud, hosting, internet-scale or IoT environments is a plus)
• Proven ability to drive impact without formal authority — leading laterally, moderating trade-offs, preparing decisions, and managing stakeholders effectively
• Experience in establishing and operating architecture governance frameworks (reviews, ADRs, standards, decision processes) — pragmatic and outcome-focused rather than bureaucratic
• Strong communication skills: you can explain architecture in a way that enables teams to implement it and allows Product and Business stakeholders to understand it
• Deep understanding of non-functional requirements (reliability, security, performance, cost) and the ability to operationalize them through standards, reviews, and measurable criteria
• You have already helped development teams adopt modern AI-supported or agentic coding practices in a real delivery environment.
• You have improved how engineering teams work in practice, not only through governance, but through measurable changes in delivery quality, release reliability, testing, observability, and/or developer experience.
• Excellent English skills and professional fluency in German

Should-Haves
• Experience in modernization and decoupling of legacy systems (monolith to modular services), including migration strategies and risk management
• Experience in Developer Experience and enablement initiatives (tooling, templates, standards, platform “golden paths”)
• Solid understanding of common cloud and container ecosystems, Infrastructure-as-Code, and automation (at least at a contextual level)

Awesome ProspectsAt Contabo, we are constantly evolving. Our growth creates space for new ideas, ownership, and real impact for people who want to make a difference.What defines us is trust, direct communication, and an open feedback culture. We believe the best solutions are built together and that everyone has the opportunity to contribute, grow, and leave their own footprint.Additionally, we offer:
• Work the way that fits your life – Remote or hybrid with flexible hours for a healthy work-life balance and the same technical equipment at home as in the office
• Experience real freedom – Workation across the EU and in our summer office in Mallorca
• Stay active and healthy – Access to EGYM Wellpass and thousands of fitness and wellness facilities
• Enjoy exclusive pe