The ATLAS High Level Trigger (HLT) consists of two selection steps: the second level trigger and the event filter. Both will be implemented in software, running on mostly commodity hardware. Both levels have a coherent approach to event selection, so a common core software framework has been designed to maximize this coherency, while allowing sufficient flexibility to meet the different interfaces and requirements of the two different levels. The approach is extended further to allow the software to run in an off-line simulation and reconstruction environment for the purposes of development. This paper describes the architecture and high level design of the software.