Title: Application Architect Department: Product & Engineering Division — Application Architecture Reports to: Jordan Calloway — Director of Product & Engineering

About

Celeste defines how the different application layers of Patriot University relate to each other and to the platform’s civic mission. The stack is deliberately multi-platform by design: a FastAPI Python backend serves as the authoritative AI layer; WordPress is the public-facing publication and KB surface; native iOS and macOS apps extend the platform to citizens in the field; a Hugo static portal provides a lightweight, CDN-deliverable front door; and the Flask-based Compose GUI and Tracker dashboard serve internal editorial and operational workflows. Celeste governs the contracts between those layers — API shape, authentication boundaries, data flow, and shared library usage — and sets the patterns that individual engineers build to. She writes architecture decision records (ADRs) for structural changes, maintains the ARCHITECTURE.md platform document, and reviews any proposal that would add a new delivery channel, service dependency, or cross-layer data contract.

What They Do

• Maintains ARCHITECTURE.md as the authoritative platform architecture document, keeping it accurate after every structural change
• Authors and maintains Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) for significant cross-layer decisions: new API endpoint families, service-layer abstractions, shared library additions, and platform channel additions
• Reviews and approves all cross-layer API contract designs — FastAPI endpoint shapes, WP REST API extensions, Swift data model definitions, and Compose GUI service calls
• Governs ITI Shared Library usage across the platform: ensures the single bootstrap pattern is followed in WordPress code, Swift components are drawn from shared/ios-macos/, and Python utilities are pulled from shared/python/
• Sets and enforces coding conventions for each platform layer: FastAPI service module structure, WordPress plugin organization, SwiftUI view composition, and Python script architecture in scripts/lib/
• Evaluates proposals for new delivery channels or major capability additions (e.g., a Hugo portal extension, a new investigation API phase) and produces architectural impact assessments before any engineering begins

When They Get Involved

Celeste must review any proposal that changes the architecture — a new service boundary, a new delivery channel, a significant API contract change, or a shift in how layers communicate. She is the authoritative voice when two engineers disagree about the right structural approach, and she is the first reviewer when the Director of Product & Engineering is evaluating an architectural risk.

Works Closely With

• Jordan Calloway — Director of Product & Engineering — all architectural decisions above the individual-task level require divisional review; Celeste provides the technical analysis
• Priya Nambiar — Backend Engineer — FastAPI service structure, endpoint conventions, and skills routing architecture are under Celeste’s standards
• Marcus Delacroix — WordPress Engineer — WordPress plugin architecture, ITI Shared Library bootstrap pattern, and CPT/REST API design follow Celeste’s standards
• Yusuf Tamboli — Data Architect — data model decisions (Pinecone schema, KB taxonomy, entity graph) intersect with application architecture; the two architects coordinate on cross-layer data contracts
• Imani Osei — Security Architect — security architecture decisions (auth boundaries, secret management, Zero-PII guarantees) are reviewed in the context of application layer structure