Job Title: Executive Director, Application Architecture
Position Type: Fulltime
Location: Chicago, IL (Onsite from Day 1, Hybrid Model 3 Days Onsite)
Job Details:
Organizational mandate to define and enforce architecture standards at a SIFMU, with real consequences when they are not followed
Executive sponsorship and a leadership team that treats architecture as a strategic function, not a compliance gate
The opportunity to shape how OCC's application portfolio evolves through one of the most significant technology transformation programs in the organization's history
OCC is consolidating its architecture function under a unified, clarity-of-accountability model. The Executive Director of Application Architecture leads the team responsible for shaping OCC's technology strategy across applications, integrations, APIs, tech stack selection, and software design patterns.
The Role:
This is the role that sets the architectural standard for how OCC builds software, not as a review function that approves designs after the fact, but as an embedded strategic partner that drives resilient design from the start. You will lead a team of experienced architects, align with Platform Architecture and Engineering, and ensure that every system OCC builds or acquires is architected to withstand stress, change, and uncertainty.
The team you will lead includes architects with deep domain knowledge across clearing, risk, data, and integration. Your job is to make that expertise coherent, consistent, and actionable across OCC's application portfolio, spanning the legacy Encore platform and the next-generation Ovation platform under the Renaissance program.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
Lead the Application Architecture Function
Lead, develop, and set direction for a team of application architects, each retaining individual domain focus across clearing, risk, data, APIs, and integrations
Establish and enforce architecture standards across applications, integration patterns, API design, tech stack selection, and software design patterns
Own the Application Architecture vision: shape the technology strategy for OCC's applications and integrations architecting systems built to withstand stress, change, and uncertainty, where resilient design is the standard for every solution we deliver
Ensure consistent application of enterprise standards across all delivery teams
Define and Enforce Standards
Develop and maintain Solution Design documentation standards in collaboration with the rest of the OTSI team
Enforce design patterns and architectural guardrails across teams delivering on both legacy and greenfield systems
Establish non-functional requirements standards: performance, scalability, fault tolerance, observability as first-class architecture concerns
Coordinate with Platform Architecture to ensure application designs reflect infrastructure reality and operational constraints
Partner Across the Organization
Serve as the primary architecture partner to Engineering, Product, Financial Risk
Management, and Quantitative Risk Management
Collaborate with Security, QA, and Governance/Risk to ensure architectural decisions satisfy regulatory requirements including Regulation SCI and CPMI-IOSCO principles
Engage with Product Owners, Technology Leads, and senior leadership to translate business requirements into durable architectural strategies
Provide architecture input and review for vendor selections, technology evaluations, and major program decisions
Drive Continuous Improvement
Conduct architecture and design reviews with enough rigor to catch problems before they reach production
Establish feedback loops between operational incidents, post-mortems, and forward looking architecture decisions
Drive team engagement with industry trends, emerging patterns, and evolving standards ensuring OCC's architecture practice does not fall behind the curve
Track and report on architecture health metrics and standards adoption across the portfolio
Supervisory Responsibilities:
Manage and develop a team
Qualifications:
The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions.
Required:
Demonstrated experience defining and enforcing application architecture standards at organizational scale across complex, multi-system portfolios
Deep hands-on background in application architecture, APIs, integration patterns, distributed systems, event-driven architecture, and microservices
Experience with both legacy/brownfield modernization and greenfield cloud-native development
Strong working knowledge of CI/CD, automated testing, and quality gate enforcement as architecture concerns
Ability to lead through influence as well as authority, building alignment across Engineering, Security, QA, and Governance without losing the ability to make hard calls
Excellent communication skills, able to represent architecture decisions to executive leadership and translate strategy into actionable standards for development teams
Preferred:
Experience in financial services, particularly regulated environments (SIFMU, clearinghouse, exchange, or bank)
Familiarity with Regulation SCI, CPMI-IOSCO, or equivalent financial market infrastructure regulatory frameworks
Technical Skills (Preferred):
Hands-on experience with Java, Kafka, Kubernetes, and cloud-native architectures on AWS or equivalent
Experience with scaled agile frameworks (SAFe) in large enterprise delivery programs
Familiarity with AI-assisted development practices and their implications for architecture and standards
Education and/or Experience:
BS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Mathematics, or a similar technical field.
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