Chief Architect

Chief Architect As Chief Architect at CatalystOne, you own the architecture of our SaaS HCM platform, set the north star, and enable teams with clear guardrails. Curious? Read on. CatalystOne is building the next generation of HCM products for the Nordic and Northern European market. Our platform is built by 15 product teams across Scandinavia and India, and we are scaling on several fronts at once: product complexity, AI adoption, platform modernisation, and the integration work that follows growth. Each of those is manageable on its own. Together, they need a single architectural owner who can see the whole picture and set the direction. That is why we are hiring a Chief Architect. As a Chief Architect in CatalystOne, some of your day-to-day tasks will be: Owning and evolving the overall product architecture and target state across our HCM platform, including platform direction, domain boundaries, integration patterns and long-term modernisation priorities. Owning, maintaining and evolving our architectural north star, balancing long-term sustainability with near-term delivery needs. Curating our Technology Radar, providing transparency and guidance on technology choices. Taking ownership of our architecture toolset (principles, patterns, reference architectures, ADR practices and decision records) that gives product teams practical guardrails and decision support as they move toward the target architecture. Enabling autonomous, agile teams by setting constraints that increase flow, predictability and compliance. Stepping in where local choices carry system-wide consequences, such as shared platform services, data ownership, identity, security, AI infrastructure or the integration of acquired systems. Acting as a strategic partner for the product trios, collaborating closely with Product and Engineering leadership. Supporting architectural decision-making across teams by enabling fast, well-documented decisions close to where the work happens, and by building architectural capacity within the teams themselves. Representing architectural perspectives in strategic discussions within the CTO leadership group and Executive Management Team. What this role focuses on: You own the long-term, product-wide architecture. Implementation stays with the teams, and your job is to give them the tools and guardrails that make their decisions easier and safer. In practice, that means working across 15 small teams of four to six people, each with a PM, a UX designer and a Tech Lead. You'll spend your time with the Tech Leads on technology choices and trade-offs, and just as much with the Product Owners, because what we build matters a great deal for how it should be built. You lead through principles, clarity and trust rather than approval queues. AI is changing how our software is built and operated, and you help us adopt it in ways that make us more effective without loosening our grip on quality, security and compliance. This is an individual contributor role reporting to the CTO and part of the CTO leadership team, with no direct personnel responsibility for now. Broad impact, close collaboration, and your time spent on architecture rather than admin. How we'll know it's working A year in, we would expect to see: Cross-team architectural decisions being made faster, with fewer unresolved dependencies and a shorter path from proposal to decision. Architectural debt made visible and actively managed, with shared understanding of core risks, modernisation priorities and ownership boundaries. Local team choices staying aligned with the target architecture, with real adoption of principles, reference patterns and ADRs. The platform absorbing more product scope, teams and integrations without a matching growth in coordination overhead. Strategic initiatives surfacing architectural options, risks and trade-offs early enough to influence the decisions being made. We think you will thrive here if you have: • Deep experience designing and evolving large-scale product architectures in a SaaS environment. Strong systems thinking and the ability to reason about complex socio-technical systems. A proven ability to set clear decision rights and principles that make local decision-making faster and safer. Strong domain leadership and execution skills, and the ability to influence senior engineers and leaders through clarity, trust and strong reasoning. Building trust with Tech Leads and Product Owners is central to succeeding here. Experience working through architectural guardrails that increase delivery speed and compliance simultaneously, including for AI-enabled and agentic development. Comfort operating at both strategic and tactical levels, translating vision into actionable guidance. A pragmatic mindset: strong architecture matters, and outcomes matter too. Excellent communication skills and the ability to create shared understanding across disciplines. Bonus points for Experience with architectural integration following mergers or acquisitions. Background from HR tech, HCM or other compliance-heavy domains. Experience working with distributed engineering organisations across several countries. If you're excited about the role but don't meet every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply. We value potential, learning mindset, and collaboration as much as past titles. What it's like to work with us You will join a company with strong Nordic roots, a growing international footprint, and a culture that values both results and people. We are in the middle of an architectural and organisational transformation, moving toward clearer product boundaries, stronger autonomy, and reduced cognitive load for teams. That work is genuinely underway, and this role gets to shape where it lands. Location & Language: This role is based in our Oslo office, and can be performed in a hybrid setup. English is our working language. What you get from us: Time Off That Matters: Enjoy a solid 25 days of vacation per year to recharge and regroup. Financial and Health Security: Benefit from a comprehensive pension and insurance package, plus private healthcare. Your Well-being, Your Way: Take advantage of our wellness contribution to stay on top of your health. Tech Tools for Efficiency: Get the job done with a choice of laptop (mac / PC), mobile phone & subscription, and a home internet allowance.. Easy Commuting: Offset your commute costs with our public transport allowance. Lunch Made Easy: Skip the hassle and grab a bite at our staff canteen. Flexible Work Setup: Hybrid for your life-work balance. CatalystOne does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. CatalystOne will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to the specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to CatalystOne on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary. Department Technology Role Technical Lead Locations Oslo office HQ Remote status Hybrid About CatalystOne CatalystOne is a Scandinavian leader of HCM-software with over 250 employees throughout Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and India. We have, since 2004, built a strong value-based company driven by our customers' success. Our culture is characterized by a unique combination of emphasis on results and on people. We have experienced high growth in recent years and have the ambition to continue this growth both in Scandinavia and in other North-European countries. CatalystOne is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic. Fair Screening in our Recruitment process To promote fairness and reduce unconscious bias, candidates are anonymised during the initial screening stage. This means applications are reviewed based on skills, experience, and relevance to the role – not personal characteristics. Once shortlisted, recruiters review the full candidate profile and engage directly with candidates throughout the process. Use of AI We use AI‑supported tools in parts of our recruitment process to help structure and summarise applications, support screening, and transcribe interviews. These tools assist our recruiters but do not make decisions on their own – all evaluations and hiring decisions are made by people.