Electrochemical performance in reversible solid oxide cells is influenced by the microstructure and dimensions of the components and the transport properties of the constituent materials. In this work, we consider oxygen electrodes in the Nd₂NiO_4+δ- Nd_0.5Ce_0.5O_2-δ materials system. Optimization of the oxygen electrodes in this system has been achieved by considering the tradeoffs in the microstructure and dimensions of the active layer and the current collecting layer. Detailed electrochemical analysis of the symmetrical cells using impedance spectroscopy has led us to an optimized architecture with significantly reduced ohmic and polarization resistance. The optimized architecture, based on symmetrical cells, has been translated into single, complete reversible solid oxide cells. Significant performance improvement has been achieved in both fuel cell and electrolysis mode compared to baseline materials and electrode architecture material.