This role pays more than
86%
of similar roles. Most pay
$184,143–$247,221
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$275k
versus about
$216k
for comparable roles.
Based on 240 similar postings.
Employer
About Adobe
Adobe Inc. is a global software company known for creative and multimedia software products including Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, and its cloud-based Creative Cloud and Document Cloud suites. Industry: Creative & Digital Experience Software
Adobe currently has
176 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$150,150–$273,175
across 176 roles with salary data.
As the Principal Architect for Adobe Stock, you will serve as the architectural authority responsible for the end-to-end architecture of systems supporting content search, discovery, delivery, licensing, and generative AI workflows. You will define long-term technical direction, establish standards for APIs, microservices, frontend architecture, event-driven systems, and data platforms, while translating strategic objectives into scalable production plans. The role requires expertise in distributed systems, networked architectures, cloud-native technologies, and systems integration to ensure performance, reliability, and security. You will manage the integration of AI-native and agentic capabilities into production environments while mentoring other technical leads. This position addresses the complex challenge of evolving content discovery and licensing through generative and agentic AI, ensuring that high-quality creative content remains accessible across various products and workflows within a large-scale media ecosystem.
Establish long-term architectural and technology direction aligned with product and business strategies.
Assess the feasibility of strategic objectives by identifying risks, dependencies, and investment needs.
Architect large-scale systems for content search, discovery, delivery, licensing, and generative AI workflows.
Integrate AI-native and agentic capabilities into production environments.
Define architectural standards for APIs, microservices, frontend architecture, and event-driven systems.
Identify systemic technical risks and develop mitigation plans with leadership.
Communicate architectural decisions and investment requirements to senior executives.
Mentor architects and technical leads in systems thinking and technical judgment.
What we're looking for
20 or more years of experience in software engineering and platform architecture.
Expertise in distributed systems, networked/event-driven architectures, APIs, frontend architecture, data platforms, cloud-native technologies, and systems integration.
Experience designing for performance, scalability, reliability, security, privacy, observability, and operational efficiency.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills to explain complex decisions to technical and nontechnical audiences.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, engineering, or a related technical field.
Agentic AI
Distributed Systems
Microservices
APIs
Platform Engineering
Kafka
Spark
Data Management
Real-time Processing
System Architecture
Observability
Scalability
Data Governance