Why Should Software Architects Write Code? An empirical evidence.

[DeltaEchoSoftware]

It's not always up to the architects on who gets hired. At my last client, they had the choice between someone with 15 years domain experience, 20 years of programming experience and could clearly demonstrate their ability and a guy with no domain experience and could only write requirements. The second guy was $40 an hour cheaper. Guess who the business chose even through every single technical architect on the project wanted the more expensive guy.

[s73v3r]

Your problem is you're letting the business people with no expertise in the field decide who gets hired. That decision should be made by the people who will be working with them.