Practice
TOGAFcapability modellingtarget state and roadmaparchitecture review boards
ITOM and architecture · screened by Ace8
Hire enterprise architects vetted by an Ace8 practitioner
Conntal places enterprise architects who have carried a decision through delivery rather than stopping at the diagram. Candidates are screened by Ace8 practitioners on a real estate decision with real constraints — cost, residency, existing debt — and on whether they can say no to their own preferred architecture.
Indicative rate: from $80/hr nearshore or offshore and $120/hr onshore. See what moves it.
Contract, contract-to-hire or direct · onshore, nearshore, offshore · reviewed 31 October 2026
- Screen owner
- Platform engineering lead · Ace8Kubernetes and DevSecOps delivery across EKS.
- Titles we place
- Enterprise architect · Solution architect · Integration architect · Data architect · Cloud architect
- Platforms we screen on
- TOGAFcapability modellingtarget state and roadmaparchitecture review boards
Rates
What a contract enterprise architect costs
Senior contract enterprise architect rates start at $80/hr nearshore or offshore and $120/hr onshore. These are indicative from-rates, last reviewed 31 October 2026.
| Location model | From (USD per hour) | Where engineers are based |
|---|---|---|
| OnshoreHighest rate | $120/hr | US-based, on client time zones, cleared where the engagement requires it. |
| NearshoreOur default recommendation | $80/hr | Latin America and Canada, four hours or less of overlap loss, same working day. |
| OffshoreLowest rate | $80/hr | Europe, India and South East Asia. |
What moves the number
- Platform scarcity. The fewer engineers who have run Enterprise architect in production, the higher the rate.
- Seniority. The figures are for senior engineers; staff and principal levels cost more.
- Clearance and residency. Cleared or on-site work narrows the pool and sits in the onshore column.
- Term. Length, hours and the engagement model change the rate; contract-to-hire and direct placement are priced differently.
Indicative from-rates for senior contract engineers, USD per hour. The final rate depends on platform scarcity, seniority, clearance and term.
The screen
How we vet enterprise architects: the published screen
Every enterprise architect is screened on the scenario below by the Platform engineering lead at Ace8. The senior and mid answers are published so you can judge our bar before you engage us, and candidates know what they are walking into.
The screen · Enterprise architect
Conntal Vetting Standard
Scenario put to the candidate
A client wants an event-driven rebuild of a batch settlement process. Their team has never run a broker in production and the regulator requires replayable audit evidence. What do you recommend?
Vetted by
Platform engineering lead · Ace8
A senior answer contains
- Asks what breaks today before designing what replaces it, and whether batch is actually the problem.
- Names the operational cost honestly: a broker the team cannot run is a new outage source, not an upgrade.
- Treats replayable audit evidence as an architectural constraint with retention and immutability implications, not a feature.
- Is willing to recommend not rebuilding, and can say what would change that answer.
Where a mid answer stops
- Starts from the target architecture and works backwards to justify it.
- Treats the regulator's requirement as a logging question.
- Cannot describe who operates the thing after go-live.
What we screen on
Enterprise architect skills we screen for
Enterprise architect candidates are screened on practice, integration and platform, among others, against the stack you actually run rather than a generic checklist.
Integration
event-driven architectureAPI managementWSO2MuleSoftApigee
Platform
Kuberneteshybrid cloudAWSAzureGCPmicroservices
Regulated
data residencymodel risk governanceaudit evidenceFIPS constraints
Titles this covers
Enterprise architect job titles we place
We place 6 titles in this area, from Enterprise architect to Principal architect. They overlap and are used inconsistently between companies, so tell us the outcome you need and we will tell you which title actually fits it.
- Enterprise architect
- Solution architect
- Integration architect
- Data architect
- Cloud architect
- Principal architect
The platforms, run in production by our network
Engagement
Ways to hire enterprise architects
Platform work usually starts with a defined piece of change and becomes ongoing ownership, which is why most enterprise architects engagements begin on contract. All three models are available, in any location model.
Contract
A vetted engineer embedded in your team for a defined term.
Hourly, billed against an approved SOW. Most common for migrations, upgrades and capacity surges where the work has an end date.
Contract staffingContract-to-hire
Work together first, convert when it is obviously working.
A defined conversion window and a pre-agreed fee, so the decision to hire is a business decision rather than a negotiation.
Contract-to-hire staffingDirect placement
A permanent hire, screened to the same standard.
One-time fee against first-year base. Used where the role is a long-term platform owner rather than project capacity.
Direct placement staffingNot a fit if
When to look elsewhere for enterprise architects
We are the wrong choice if any of these describe your role, and we would rather say so on the first call.
- You need a hands-on developer; architects are screened on decisions and delivery, not on writing code.
- You want a strategy deck with nobody accountable for delivery.
- You need an architecture review delivered as a consulting project; Ace8 does that work, we place individuals.
How it works
How hiring enterprise architects through Conntal works
- 01
Scope
A practitioner scopes the role
An engineer who runs this technology reads your brief and tells you what is missing from it. Most briefs we receive ask for the wrong seniority or the wrong title. - 02
Screen
We screen, then shortlist
Sourcing is ours; the technical decision belongs to the vetting practitioner. You only see candidates who passed the scenario on this page. - 03
Start
Start, convert or replace
Contract, contract-to-hire or direct. If the fit is wrong we say so first and replace rather than defend the placement.
Screen owner
Who vets our enterprise architects: Platform engineering lead, Ace8
Kubernetes and DevSecOps delivery across EKS, AKS, GKE and OpenShift; incident response with a 15-minute commitment.
FAQ
Enterprise architects: what buyers ask
Something not covered here? Send the requirement and a practitioner answers it, not a sales queue.
How much does a contract enterprise architect cost per hour?
Indicative senior contract from-rates are $80/hr nearshore or offshore and $120/hr onshore (USD, reviewed 31 October 2026). The final rate depends on platform scarcity, seniority, clearance and term. Contract-to-hire and direct placement are priced differently, and the delivery models page sets out how.
How fast can a enterprise architect start?
We do not promise a start date before we have seen the brief. A practitioner reads it, usually within one business day, and tells you whether we can staff it. Timing after that depends on the stack, the seniority and the location model.
Do you place enterprise architects on a direct-hire basis?
Yes. Enterprise and solution architects are placed as direct hires, on contract, or contract-to-hire. Direct placement suits a long-term architecture owner; contract suits a time-boxed target-state or migration programme.
Can we hire a fractional enterprise architect?
If the need is part-time or time-boxed, a contract engagement is usually the right vehicle for a fractional architect. We scope the hours and the decisions the architect will own before sourcing.
What does an enterprise architect actually do?
They own the shape of the estate: how capabilities map to systems, which decisions are reversible, and what the target state costs to operate. The useful ones stay attached through delivery, because an architecture nobody implements is a document.
How do you screen enterprise architects?
On a real estate decision with real constraints. The strongest signal is whether a candidate will argue against their own preferred architecture when the constraints do not support it, and whether they know who operates the result.
Is this consulting or staffing?
Staffing. Conntal places an architect into your team. If you want the architecture delivered as an engagement rather than a hire, Ace8 does that work directly and we will point you there instead.
Do you place architects on contract?
Yes. Contract is common for a defined target-state or assessment phase; direct placement is common where the role owns the review board and the roadmap on an ongoing basis.
Do your architects have regulated-industry experience?
Many do. The parent practices deliver into banking, healthcare and public sector, so candidates are routinely screened on residency, auditability and the governance constraints those sectors impose.
Can an architect be staffed nearshore?
Often yes, though architecture roles carry more stakeholder time than most, so we look harder at working-day overlap. Nearshore usually works; offshore is situational for this role and we will say so.
Related
Related roles
Need enterprise delivered as a project or supported as a service instead of staffed? Ace8 does that directly.
Need enterprise architects? Start with the brief.
Send the requirement and an engineer who runs this technology will tell you what is missing before we source anyone.