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Ascension is seeking an experienced Solutions Architect / Technical Lead to serve as the senior technical authority for a municipal website replacement initiative. This role is critical to ensuring the City’s new website is secure, accessible, scalable, and aligned with best practices for public-sector digital services.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in modern web architectures, content management systems, accessibility compliance, and third-party integrations, combined with the ability to translate business and user needs into clear technical solutions. This individual will guide platform selection, define the technical architecture, oversee implementation decisions, and ensure quality and compliance throughout the project lifecycle.

This role is essential to achieving the City’s goals of launching a modern, multilingual, WCAG-compliant website that is intuitive for residents, maintainable by City staff, and capable of supporting future growth and integrations.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Solutions Architect / Technical Lead is responsible for designing and governing the overall technical solution for the City of Lancaster’s website replacement. The role requires a hands-on yet strategic technologist who can balance architectural rigor with pragmatic delivery.

The ideal candidate is a detail-oriented and analytical problem solver who thrives in environments where requirements evolve and stakeholder input is iterative. They are self-directed, comfortable working with minimal supervision, and skilled at anticipating risks before they become issues. This role is expected to resolve complex technical decisions related to CMS selection, multilingual support, accessibility, integrations, analytics, and security while supporting the broader project team.

The candidate will work closely with Ascension’s Project Manager, UX designers, developers, and City stakeholders to ensure the technical solution fully supports user experience goals, content workflows, and long-term maintainability.

Key tools and processes include modern CMS platforms (open source or proprietary), cloud-based collaboration tools, accessibility testing utilities, version control, analytics platforms, and structured technical documentation practices.

Position Day-to-Day Activities (Expected / Anticipated)

• Define and document the overall website technical architecture and solution design
• Evaluate and recommend the most appropriate CMS platform based on City needs, security, scalability, and usability
• Lead technical decision-making related to hosting compatibility, performance, and maintainability
• Establish standards for code quality, accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1 AA), and security best practices
• Oversee implementation of multilingual functionality and translation workflows
• Design and guide integrations with third-party platforms such as Everbridge, CivicClerk, Mailchimp, and SeeClickFix
• Support setup and migration of analytics and SEO tools, including Google Analytics
• Review technical deliverables for quality, compliance, and alignment with approved architecture
• Collaborate with UX and content teams to ensure technical feasibility of design concepts
• Identify technical risks and develop mitigation strategies early in the project lifecycle
• Support CMS user training planning and development of technical documentation
• Participate in technical discussions with City stakeholders and respond to technical questions
• Provide guidance during testing, launch readiness, and post-launch stabilization