Systems Architect Principal

Who are we looking for?

Choice Hotels, one of the world's largest lodging franchisors, is seeking a Solutions Architect Principal to join our Distribution & Revenue Management team. This individual will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our core hospitality platforms-driving innovation, mentoring engineers, and engaging directly with stakeholders to modernize and optimize the systems that power our global hotel network.

You'll work in a dynamic environment where your technical leadership, customer empathy, and consulting mindset will directly influence strategic initiatives and next-generation platforms. If you're a full-stack architect with a passion for distributed systems, cloud-native design, and solving complex business challenges at scale - this is your opportunity to #MakeItYourChoice.

Your Responsibilities

• Architect and evolve solutions for the Revenue Management and Distribution domains, including onboarding hotels, managing rate plans, and distributing availability and pricing across internal and external channels.
• Define and communicate solution architectures that align with business, systems, security, and technology requirements.
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architects and Technology leaders to define roadmaps for platform evolution and application portfolio strategy.
• Establish architectural principles, guidelines, and reusable patterns to guide development teams and ensure alignment with enterprise architecture.
• Lead tradeoff analysis, functional decomposition, and system modeling to formalize requirements into scalable, resilient, and observable systems.
• Serve as a technical advisor on projects, ensuring adherence to architectural standards and guiding implementation from concept to deployment.
• Mentor engineers and evangelize best practices across teams, fostering a culture of architectural excellence and continuous improvement.

Your Experience, Skills & Competencies

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field; Master's or equivalent experience preferred.
• 10+ years in software development or technical environments, including 4+ years in architecture or technical leadership roles.
• Deep experience in distributed systems, cloud platforms (AWS preferred), and API-based architectures.
• Proficiency in Java 21, Spring Boot, JDBC, and Maven.
• Experience with cloud-native tools and platforms including AWS, Spot.io, RDS (Aurora, MySQL, Oracle), and CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Harness).
• Strong understanding of messaging systems (ActiveMQ, Kafka), observability tools (Prometheus, Micrometer, OpenTelemetry), and REST/SOAP web services.
• Familiarity with internal and external hospitality systems such as CRS, PMS (e.g., Oracle Opera), GDS (e.g., Sabre), OTAs (e.g., Booking.com), and meta partners (e.g., Google).
• Skilled in defining non-functional requirements (e.g., scalability, availability, security) and conducting tradeoff analysis.
• Exceptional communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to influence across technical and business teams.

Your Team

This is a strategic individual contributor role reporting to the Director, Software Engineering for Distribution & Revenue Management. You'll work closely with product managers, engineers, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable, high-impact solutions across Choice's global hotel ecosystem.

Your Work Location

As our Solutions Architect Principal, you will be based in our Scottsdale, AZ technology hub-a collaborative, state-of-the-art facility designed to enable creativity, innovation, and technical excellence.

About Choice

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world, with nearly 7,500 hotels across 46 countries. Our brands span upscale to economy, all supporting the dreams of our franchisees-entrepreneurs who bet on themselves. At our Scottsdale technology center and global headquarters, we're united by a belief in building a better tomorrow, and we're looking for leaders like you to make it happen.

PLEASE NOTE: This role is not eligible for sponsorship.

The pay range listed is for this position and is what Choice Hotels reasonably expects to pay. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee's pay position within the pay range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, and business or organizational needs.

Choice prioritizes our associate wellbeing by offering a comprehensive benefits program that is both competitive and flexible to help you achieve your wellbeing goals - here are just a few:

• Competitive compensation and benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Leave and paid time-off for holidays, vacation, personal, family, volunteer, sick, jury duty, bereavement, military, and religious observance
• Financial benefits for retirement and health savings
• Employee recognition programs
• Discounts at Choice hotels worldwide

About Choice

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. With 7,500 hotels in 45+ countries and territories, we offer a range of high-quality lodging options in the upper upscale, upper midscale, midscale, extended stay, and economy segments. We're the hotel company for those who choose to bet on themselves - the striver, the dreamer, the entrepreneur - because that's who we are, too.

At Choice, we are united by the simple belief that tomorrow will be even better than today - for associates, our company, and our franchisees. At our worldwide corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, Maryland, at our technology center in Scottsdale, Arizona, and through our associates around the globe, every voice is heard and every idea is listened to, no matter what area of the company they come from. We are united in supporting the entrepreneurial dreams of our thousands of franchise owners, which propels us forward - giving our work at Choice a purpose larger than our business.

Our corporate office locations:

North Bethesda, MD - Located at Pike & Rose, our worldwide headquarters is less than 15 miles from Washington, D.C., one block away from the North Bethesda Metro station, with easy access to I-495, complimentary parking, electronic charging stations, restaurants and retail.

Scottsdale, AZ - Located at the northwest corner of Loop 101, the Scottsdale office is home to our technology, eCommerce and customer service organizations, with easy access to complimentary parking, electronic charging stations, restaurants and retail.

Minneapolis, MN - Select roles are based in our Minneapolis office on Highway 394, near the intersection with Highway 100, only five minutes from downtown.

Field/Remote - Select roles designated as field/remote will require associates to work from a home office, connecting virtually with Choice team members and leadership on Zoom, with possible required travel depending on the role.

Choice's Cultural Values

Welcome and Respect Everyone | Be Bold | Be Quick | Listen | Be Curious | Show Integrity

Choice's Leadership Principles

Act with Intention | Lead with Authenticity | Grow & Deliver