Author Identifier (ORCID)
Abstract
Context: Software architecture is essential for system quality and long-term sustainability, yet little is known about how the architect role is structured in Brazilian companies.
Objective: This study examines how Brazilian organizations incorporate software architecture into their development processes, focusing on the presence and formalization of software architects, and the activities performed by them.
Method: A survey of 105 professionals from 24 states collected data on organizational profiles, architect roles, compensation, and architectural tasks. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted.
Results: Architectural work is widespread but unevenly formalized. Only 41% of companies employ formal architects, and 68% delegate architectural duties to professionals without the title. Many respondents could not report how many architects their companies employ, indicating low internal visibility. Organizations whose core business is software development tend to have more architects, yet responsibilities are frequently shared across roles. Reported activities span design, technical leadership, mentoring, strategy alignment, and innovation. Formal architects typically receive higher salaries than informal ones.
Conclusions: Software architecture in Brazil is practiced across diverse contexts but lacks consistent role definition. The findings highlight the need for clearer architectural roles, stronger organizational processes, improved educational preparation, and further research on the professionalization of architecture practice in Brazil.
Keywords
Brazilian industry, software architect, software architecture, software professionals
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
E-ISSN
21844992
Volume
2
Publication Title
Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems
Publisher
SciTePress
School
School of Science
Funding Information
Edson Oliveira Jr thanks Fundacao Araucaria/Brazil Grant #PBA2025201000274.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
ISBN
[9789897588341]
First Page
1423
Last Page
1430
Recommended Citation
Neto, V. V. G., Kassab, M., Santos, D. L., França, A. G., Oliveira Jr., E., Frantz, R. Z., Mohsin, A., & Kalinowski, M. (2026). Software architecting in the Brazilian industry: Results of a prior survey. In Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2026) (Vol. 2, pp. 1423-1430). SciTePress. https://doi.org/10.5220/0014573100004018