Integrations Architect
About Element451
Element451 is the AI-native CRM and agent platform built for higher education. We help colleges and universities modernize engagement, recruitment, enrollment, and student success with intelligent automation and a product customers genuinely love.
The Role
As an Integrations Architect, you own the integration workstream during implementation and support the reliability of data flows post-launch in partnership with CS and Support. You are the technical bridge between Element451 and campus IT — translating institutional system reality into mappings, validations, and repeatable integration setups.
You're not writing production code, but you are deeply technical: you test APIs, troubleshoot auth and sync failures, validate data integrity, and build the runbooks that prevent repeat issues.
What You'll Own
Integration delivery (API + batch/flat-file)
Configure, validate, and launch integrations between Element451 and institutional systems (SIS/ERP/financial aid/3rd parties)
Implement and maintain batch workflows where APIs aren't available (SFTP, CSV specs, schedules, transformations/normalization, validation)
Partner with Implementation Leads to align integration timelines with go-live milestones and unblock dependencies early
Data mapping & governance
Lead mapping sessions with campus IT and functional stakeholders: field definitions, formats, transformations, and "system of record" decisions
Define data quality standards and validation checks so downstream workflows (automation, segmentation, reporting, AI agents) behave correctly
Document mappings, assumptions, and edge cases in a way that is usable for CS and Support post-launch
Troubleshooting & reliability
Diagnose integration issues using logs, error payloads, and testing tools (e.g., Postman)
Identify root cause across auth, endpoints, payload formatting, source data, or scheduling
Resolve issues independently where possible; escalate to Engineering only when required — with clear reproduction steps, impact, and artifacts
Establish monitoring habits and proactive checks to catch failures before customers report them (no silent failures)
Cross-functional enablement & scale
Build and maintain integration runbooks, troubleshooting playbooks, and "known failure modes" guides
Create reusable integration patterns for common higher-ed ecosystem combinations to reduce time-to-go-live
Surface recurring issues and integration friction as structured signals to Product/Engineering (patterns, not anecdotes)
What You'll Bring
3–6 years in integrations, technical support, data operations, implementation engineering, or similar roles with APIs as a core responsibility
Strong REST/API fundamentals: reading docs, testing endpoints, debugging, handling errors, pagination, rate limits
Comfortable with auth patterns (OAuth2, API keys, tokens) and common failure modes
Experience with SFTP/CSV/batch integration workflows and rigorous mapping/validation practices
Working familiarity with higher-ed SIS/ERP concepts and terminology; experience with systems like Banner, Colleague, PeopleSoft, Workday Student, Jenzabar, etc. is a plus
Strong written communication — clear for campus IT and precise for internal teams
How We Measure Success
Integration go-live success: integrations launch on schedule without blocking go-live
Integration health: fewer silent failures, stale syncs, and recurring data quality issues
Time-to-resolution: faster recovery when issues occur
Engineering escalation rate: high % resolved without Engineering involvement
Documentation coverage: mapping docs and runbooks are complete, current, and actually used
Scalability impact: reusable patterns reduce time-to-go-live over time
What This Role Is Not
Not a software engineering role (you won't build production features)
Not a generalist implementation role (integrations are the core responsibility)
Not passive ticket triage — you prevent repeats and improve reliability
Not documentation-optional — if it isn't documented, it doesn't scale
