Appian Development Lead

We are seeking a senior Appian Development Lead/Application Architect to lead an Appian delivery team building scalable, secure, and high-performing enterprise applications. This role is hands-on and technical, combining Appian solution design, development leadership, and technical mentorship to ensure high-quality delivery and long-term maintainability.

You will work closely with program and product leadership to translate business requirements into effective Appian solutions while applying Appian and industry best practices to reduce risk, maximize reuse, and minimize technical debt.

This role is expected to provide technical thought leadership by identifying improvement opportunities and bringing practical, actionable ideas to both internal leadership and client stakeholders.

This position is Hybrid, with a preference for an on-site presence in Washington, DC. Remote candidates will be considered with the ability to travel quarterly. 

What You’ll Do

• Lead the design, development, and implementation of Appian applications, including interfaces, process models, records, integrations, and data structures

• Proactively identify opportunities to improve Appian delivery practices, architecture, or platform usage, and bring clear, actionable recommendations to program leadership and clients

• Translate business and functional requirements into clear technical designs and Appian implementations

• Provide hands-on technical leadership to an Appian development team, overseeing day-to-day development activities and delivery execution

• Review Appian designs and configurations to ensure adherence to Appian best practices, performance standards, scalability, and security expectations

• Coach and mentor developers on Appian platform capabilities, reusable patterns, and development best practices

• Perform design and code reviews to improve quality, consistency, and maintainability

• Support performance tuning, scaling, and root-cause analysis for complex technical issues

• Partner with program leadership to identify and resolve technical risks, dependencies, and delivery challenges

• Create and maintain technical documentation such as architecture diagrams, interface designs, and implementation guidelines

Drive Delivery Efficiency & Platform Innovation

• Continuously evaluate team delivery performance and introduce improvements that reduce cycle time, rework, and technical debt

• Identify opportunities to modernize existing Appian solutions using newer platform capabilities (e.g., AI Composer, Process HQ, Intelligent Document Processing)

• Proactively bring forward innovation ideas, proof-of-concepts, and platform optimization recommendations to internal and client leadership

• Champion reuse of components, automation of repetitive tasks, and simplification of overly complex workflows

• Establish measurable improvements in release stability, performance, and maintainability

Drive Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Stay current on Appian platform releases and emerging capabilities, and actively evaluate their applicability to existing solutions

• Identify modernization opportunities within legacy Appian implementations and develop practical, phased improvement plans

• Challenge existing delivery patterns and drive improvements that reduce complacency, increase efficiency, and improve long-term maintainability

What We’re Looking For

• Strong hands-on experience designing and building solutions on the Appian platform

• Experience leading Appian developers in an enterprise delivery environment

• Solid understanding of BPM concepts, application architecture, and integration patterns

• Experience implementing development and testing best practices across the software development lifecycle

• Experience working in agile delivery environments, with a solid understanding of Scrum, Kanban, or scaled agile frameworks (such as SAFe)

• Ability to collaborate effectively within large, multi-team delivery programs and align technical work to sprint, release, and program-level planning

• Demonstrated ability to proactively drive platform innovation, challenge existing delivery patterns, and introduce measurable improvements in efficiency, quality, and scalability

• Ability to balance hands-on development with team leadership and technical oversight

• Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Required Experience:

• 7+ years of application development experience, including 5+ years of deep, hands-on Appian platform experience in complex enterprise environments

• 5+ years of experience leading Appian development teams, including accountability for delivery outcomes, code quality, and release stability

• 5+ years of experience designing BPM and workflow-based solutions in large-scale environments

• 5+ years of experience building and supporting Appian integrations (APIs, services, data exchanges)

• Solid understanding of application architecture, performance, scalability, and security considerations

• 5+ years of experience identifying and implementing platform or delivery improvements that resulted in measurable gains in efficiency, stability, or scalability

• 5+ years of experience modernizing legacy Appian implementations and reducing technical debt through refactoring, reuse strategies, and improved design patterns

• 5+ years of hands-on experience designing, optimizing, and supporting enterprise database systems used in Appian applications

• 5+ years of experience working in agile delivery environments, including multi-team programs or large initiatives

• Appian Certified Lead Developer (or ability to obtain within a defined timeframe)

Preferred/Optional Experience & Certifications:

• Experience operating within scaled agile delivery environments (e.g., SAFe), including cross-team coordination, release planning, and enterprise-level backlog alignment

• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Demonstrated track record of staying current with Appian platform releases and proactively introducing new capabilities into enterprise solutions

• Experience leading performance testing, tuning, and scaling of large, production Appian applications environments with high user volumes

• Experience designing or supporting Appian solutions in cloud-based environments (AWS, Azure), including secure integration patterns and data architecture considerations

• Experience evaluating and implementing newer Appian platform capabilities (e.g., AI features, Intelligent Document Processing, Process HQ) in enterprise solutions

• SAFe or other agile certification