Solutions Architect jobs: skills, pay and how to get hired
Updated 5 Nov 2026. Figures from the jobs in our search, not the whole market.
Contents
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What a solutions architect does
A solutions architect, in German a Solution Architect or Lösungsarchitekt, owns the design of one solution: a new customer portal, the move of a billing system to the cloud, the link between a shop and a warehouse. The work starts with what the business needs and what must not break, goes through options and their trade-offs, and ends in a design the engineers can build, with the decisions written down. During delivery the architect answers the hard questions and keeps the solution true to its design.
The title covers two kinds of job. Inside a company, the solutions architect designs for its own projects next to the software architect, who shapes how one application is built, and the enterprise architect, who plans the whole landscape. At cloud providers, software vendors and service firms, the solutions architect designs with customers, close to the sales engineer but with the delivery in mind. The cloud engineer builds and runs much of what is designed. The steps from associate solutions architect to head of solutions architecture are in the career paths of this role.
Designs also have to respect where data may live and who may run it, and those rules differ by country; each country's section names its own. This page describes the work; it is not legal advice.
The skills the ads ask for
We read a sample of the ads every day and count the skills they name. On a computer, hover a skill in the text to see its share; on a phone, the table has the same figures.
| Skill | Share of ads | What is expected |
|---|---|---|
| Solution Architecture | 28% | Turn a business need into a design that fits the systems around it, and defend each choice. |
| Cloud Architecture | 5% | Design for the cloud with its services, limits and costs, not a data centre moved as it is. |
| AWS | 22% | Know the main AWS services well enough to pick, combine and price them for a design. |
| Azure | 19% | Know the main Azure services well enough to pick, combine and price them for a design. |
| Microservices | 6% | Know when to split a system into services and what that costs in operation and testing. |
| Integration Architecture | 1% | Connect systems through APIs, events and files so that each can change without breaking the others. |
| REST APIs | 6% | Design and review the interfaces between systems: contracts, versions, errors and security. |
| Google Cloud | 16% | Know the main Google Cloud services and when they suit a design better than another choice. |
| Kubernetes | 10% | Know what running containers on Kubernetes asks of a team before putting it in a design. |
| Pre-Sales | 18% | Shape a solution with a customer before the contract, and keep promises the team can deliver. |
Shares of the solutions architect ads we read in the last 7 days, as of 5 Nov 2026. Our ads, not the whole market.
The core leads: solution architectureAsked in 28% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Turn a business need into a design that fits the systems around it, and defend each choice. as a craft, then the clouds, cloud architectureAsked in 5% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Design for the cloud with its services, limits and costs, not a data centre moved as it is. and integrationAsked in 1% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Connect systems through APIs, events and files so that each can change without breaking the others. through APIsAsked in 6% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Design and review the interfaces between systems: contracts, versions, errors and security. and events. MicroservicesAsked in 6% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Know when to split a system into services and what that costs in operation and testing. and KubernetesAsked in 10% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Know what running containers on Kubernetes asks of a team before putting it in a design. come up where the solution is built in-house; pre-salesAsked in 18% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Shape a solution with a customer before the contract, and keep promises the team can deliver. work where the architect designs for customers before a contract.
The clouds are named side by side and none is a must everywhere: AWSAsked in 22% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Know the main AWS services well enough to pick, combine and price them for a design., AzureAsked in 19% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Know the main Azure services well enough to pick, combine and price them for a design. and Google CloudAsked in 16% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Know the main Google Cloud services and when they suit a design better than another choice. each have their own services and their own architect certifications, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect, the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert and the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect, and some ads add TOGAFAsked in 6% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Know the vocabulary of TOGAF well enough to work with the enterprise architects who use it. from The Open Group. Ads list them as AWSA cloud provider's architect certificate shows the ground covered; projects show the rest. or Azure certificationA cloud provider's architect certificate shows the ground covered; projects show the rest.; a certificate shows the ground covered, a delivered design shows the rest. Bringing people to one designAsked in 7% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Bring business owners, engineers, security and suppliers to one design they all accept. and explaining it at every levelAsked in 21% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Explain a design to an executive in five minutes and to an engineer in full detail. are in most ads. EnglishAsked in 69% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).The language of most design documents, cloud documentation and international project teams. is the working language of most design documents; GermanAsked in 54% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Asked for in most German ads, for workshops with business owners and customers. matters in German-speaking countries.
Where the jobs are, country by country
Each country below has its own figures: which cities have the most jobs in our list, whether the number is going up or down, how often ads offer remote or hybrid work, the titles used in the country, and pay ranges from published research, in the local currency.
Germany
11% of the ads offer hybrid work, and 43% are fully remote.
Pay (Base salary)
- Entry level: €59,000 to €66,216 a year
- Mid-level: €66,216 to €88,711 a year
- Senior: €88,711 to €118,849 a year
Total pay: Payscale gives bonuses of about €3,000 to €20,000 for solutions architects in Germany. None is certain.
Entry level runs from the low end of Payscale's base range to the low end of Indeed's range; mid-level from there to Indeed's average. The senior range runs from that average to the top of Indeed's range and rests on 743 salaries from job ads. StepStone's estimates, about €64,000 to start and about €93,500 with experience, fall inside these ranges.
Sources: Indeed: Solution Architect (Oct 2026), Payscale (Jun 2026), StepStone: Solution Architect (2026).
Pay researched on 29 Oct 2026.
Cloud and data rules: German designs often have to show where data is kept under the EU GDPR, and German public bodies and health insurers often ask cloud providers for a C5 attestation, the cloud criteria of the German BSI. Ads say Solution Architect in English or Lösungsarchitekt in German.
Language: German ads ask for GermanAsked in 54% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Asked for in most German ads, for workshops with business owners and customers. for workshops and EnglishAsked in 69% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).The language of most design documents, cloud documentation and international project teams. for documents and international teams.
Job figures as of 5 Nov 2026.
United States
5% of the ads offer hybrid work, and 59% are fully remote.
100% of the ads that say are full-time.
Pay (Base salary)
- Entry level: $89,000 to $108,450 a year
- Mid-level: $102,317 to $137,129 a year
- Senior: $106,000 to $189,000 a year
Total pay: Payscale gives bonuses of about $3,000 to $30,000 and profit sharing of about $2,000 to $26,000 for solutions architects; jobs close to sales add commission. None is certain.
Entry level runs from the low end of Payscale's base range to its figure for one to four years of experience; mid-level from the low end of Indeed's range to Payscale's average; senior is Payscale's base range for senior solutions architects.
Sources: Payscale: solutions architect (Oct 2026), Payscale: senior solutions architect (Oct 2026), Indeed (Oct 2026).
Pay researched on 29 Oct 2026.
Cloud and data rules: designs for US federal agencies need cloud services authorised under FedRAMP, the US government's cloud programme; health and finance projects add rules of their own, which the customer's legal team interprets.
Job figures as of 5 Nov 2026.
United Kingdom
16% of the ads offer hybrid work, and 48% are fully remote.
Pay (Base salary)
- Entry level: £49,061 to £65,000 a year
- Mid-level: £75,000 to £100,000 a year
- Senior: £77,500 to £118,750 a year
Total pay: neither UK source gives a bonus figure for solutions architects.
Entry level runs from the low end of Indeed's range to the salary below which ITJobsWatch puts a tenth of permanent jobs; mid-level is the middle half of ITJobsWatch's salaries for solutions architects; senior runs from the lower quarter to the top tenth of its salaries for senior solutions architects.
Sources: ITJobsWatch: solutions architect (Oct 2026), ITJobsWatch: senior solutions architect (Oct 2026), Indeed (Oct 2026).
Pay researched on 29 Oct 2026.
Cloud and data rules: UK public sector projects often follow the NCSC's cloud security principles, from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, and the UK GDPR, the UK's version of the EU rules, for personal data.
Job figures as of 5 Nov 2026.
Switzerland
Pay (Base salary)
- Entry level: CHF 87,221 to CHF 99,975 a year
- Mid-level: CHF 99,975 to CHF 113,639 a year
- Senior: CHF 113,639 to CHF 154,000 a year
Total pay: Payscale gives bonuses of about CHF 3,000 to 26,000 for solutions architects in Switzerland, from few salaries. None is certain.
Entry level runs from the low end of Indeed's range to Payscale's figure for one to four years of experience; mid-level from there to Indeed's average; senior from that average to the top of Payscale's base range. Payscale's Swiss page rests on few salaries and was last updated in 2025, so the senior figures are thin.
Sources: Indeed: Solution Architect (Oct 2026), Payscale (Feb 2025).
Pay researched on 29 Oct 2026.
Cloud and data rules: Swiss banks and insurers follow the outsourcing rules of FINMA, the Swiss financial supervisor, when work moves to a cloud provider, and the Swiss FADP for personal data. Many Swiss roles ask for German or French next to EnglishAsked in 69% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).The language of most design documents, cloud documentation and international project teams..
India
Pay (Base salary)
- Entry level: ₹5.5 lakh to ₹10 lakh a year
- Mid-level: ₹11.18 lakh to ₹16.58 lakh a year
- Senior: ₹28.74 lakh to ₹40 lakh a year
Total pay: Payscale gives bonuses of about ₹97,000 to ₹7.6 lakh for solutions architects in India. None is certain.
Entry level runs from Payscale's figure for the first year to its figure for one to four years; mid-level is Indeed's range from its low end to its average; senior runs from Payscale's average to the top of its base range. Indeed's Indian page rests on few salaries from 2025.
Sources: Payscale (Oct 2026), Indeed: Solution Architect (Oct 2025).
Pay researched on 29 Oct 2026.
Cloud and data rules: Indian government projects use cloud providers empanelled by MeitY, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and personal data falls under India's DPDP Act. Many Indian solutions architects design for clients abroad, in EnglishAsked in 69% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).The language of most design documents, cloud documentation and international project teams..
The rules a design must respect are named side by side, each with its place: the GDPR for personal data in the EU, the C5 cloud criteria of the German BSI, FedRAMP for US federal agencies, the cloud security principles of the UK NCSC, the outsourcing rules of the Swiss financial supervisor FINMA, and the cloud providers empanelled by MeitY in India.
A solution, step by step
- Understand: the business goal, the users, the systems around it and what may not change.
- Pin down the qualities: load, availability, security, cost and the time the solution must last.
- Compare options: two or three designs, with their trade-offs, risks and costs, and a recommendation.
- Decide and write it down: a diagram for each audience and a short record of each decision.
- Guide delivery: answer the teams' questions, review the build and change the design when the facts change.
Much of the day is talk: workshops with the business, reviews with security and operations, calls with suppliers. A good solutions architect is trusted because the design still makes sense a year later, not because it looked clever on the first day.
Your CV for a solutions architect job
A solutions architect's CV is read first by hiring software that looks for the ad's words, then by an architecture lead who wants to see what you designed, for whom, and how it held up. Give both: the keywords and the evidence.
Use the keywords the ads use
- Use the ad's own words for the work: "solution architecture", "solution design", "integration", "cloud migration", and the clouds you designed on. The skills table above shows which keywords the ads use most.
- Say what kind of solutions architect you are: in-house, for customers of a vendor, or in a service firm.
- Show results as the business measured them: cost, time to market, availability, users served.
- Write a certificate you are still studying for as in progress, with the exam you are aiming at.
Prove each skill
An architecture line proves itself with a system, a decision and a result that lasted.
| Skill | Weak line | Strong line, with proof |
|---|---|---|
| Solution designAsked in 28% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Turn a business need into a design that fits the systems around it, and defend each choice. | Designed solutions. | Designed the order platform linking the shop, the warehouse and invoicing; it carried twice the expected load at launch. |
| MigrationAsked in 5% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Design for the cloud with its services, limits and costs, not a data centre moved as it is. | Moved systems to the cloud. | Led the design for moving a billing system to the cloud and cut its running cost by a third. |
| IntegrationAsked in 1% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Connect systems through APIs, events and files so that each can change without breaking the others. | Built interfaces. | Replaced nightly file transfers with events between six systems; orders now show in minutes. |
| DecisionsAsked in 7% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Bring business owners, engineers, security and suppliers to one design they all accept. | Worked with stakeholders. | Took the build-or-buy decision for customer support to the board with three options; the bought tool went live in four months. |
| Customer designAsked in 18% of solutions architect ads (as of 5 Nov 2026).Shape a solution with a customer before the contract, and keep promises the team can deliver. | Supported sales. | Designed the solution for a customer tender with the account team; the design was signed as proposed. |
Keep confidential details out: no customer names without permission and no internal diagrams.
How we read our data
- The jobs: the solutions architect jobs in our job search (solutions and solution architects, and the German title Lösungsarchitekt), matched by their titles the way the search matches them; cloud architects, software architects and presales solutions engineers are counted on their own pages. Our list is not the whole market, so we give shares and rankings, never counts.
- The skills: every day we read a sample of these ads and count the skills in them with a fixed word list. Only the counts are kept, never the text of an ad.
- Pay: from published salary research, each source named with its date, as a range from entry level to senior. Our ads are not used for it.
- Dates: every figure is worked out again each day and shows the day it was worked out.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a solutions architect do?
- Designs how systems together solve one business problem, records the decisions and guides the teams that build it.
- Is a solutions architect the same as a cloud architect?
- Not quite. Many solutions are in the cloud, but the role starts from the business problem; a cloud architect starts from the cloud platform.
- Do I need a cloud certification?
- Many ads name one, and no single one is asked for in every ad; a design you delivered and can explain counts for more in an interview.
- How do people become solutions architects?
- Most come from development, engineering or consulting after several years, by taking on design work beyond one application.
- What should a solutions architect's CV show first?
- The solutions you designed, the decisions you took and what they achieved for the business.
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