Lead Enterprise Architect

Position Summary
The Enterprise Architect (EA) in IT will understand enterprise environments through the relationships between people, process, information and the technologies that enable them. Through this understanding, the EA will support the creation of current and future state plans that align with strategic priorities. The EA will be responsible for partnering with the EA Center of Excellence on standards and architecture governance while also supporting the research and development of initiatives to introduce changes in architecture.
The EA will focus and influence digital transformation roadmaps by leading the strategy and approach for how we manage and govern our enterprise architecture practice.The EA will partner closely with other architects and technology leaders to understand and improve how we align with enterprise strategic priorities. The EA will help us understand the state of our enterprise architecture via EA reference models and through data in the architecture repositories, and champion data driven decisions that advance our digital strategy.

Key Responsibilities

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  Leads the development and implementation of enterprise architecture standards and guidelines. Participates in and leads architecture reviews and ensures architecture adherence.


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  Collaborates with executive management to influence and shape strategic initiatives. Defines and drives the domain enabling enterprise architecture vision, strategy, and roadmap. Leads the identification of disruptive forces and investment guidance. Conducts trend analysis and provides strategic direction.


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  Provides a framework for architectural decision-making, modeling the functional domain via capabilities, value streams, processes, including assessment of technology options. Assesses and mitigates risks associated with enterprise architecture decisions. Leading the resolution of complex architectural challenges and conflicts. Oversees innovation tracking and management.


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  Monitors industry trends and emerging technologies to identify opportunities for architectural innovation. Guides the analysis of business and operating models. Takes charge of constructing future-state business models. Drives analysis of future-state capabilities and organizational requirements.


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  Integrates emerging technologies effectively. Develops and manages implementation plans for the portfolio.


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  Guides and mentors other architects and teams on enterprise architecture principles and practices. Leads collaboration with architecture practitioners and leaders. Ensures alignment and coordination of architecture activities. Presents comprehensive IT investment roadmaps and gap analyses.

Education and Experience

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  Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology, related field, or equivalent experience.


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  7+ years of relevant architecture experience required.


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  3-5+ years of business architecture experience preferred


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  2-3+ years of lean six sigma, Certified Green or Black belt, preferred

Skills

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  Analytical Thinking - Strong problem-solving skills to identify architectural challenges, analyze requirements, evaluate options, and propose effective solutions.


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  Architecture Frameworks - Proficiency in widely used architecture frameworks like TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework), Zachman Framework, and/or the Business Architecture Guild's Business Architecture Body of Knowledge to structure and organize architectural artifacts and processes.


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  Artificial Intelligence (AI) - Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning (the acquisition of information and rules for using the information), reasoning (using rules to reach approximate or definite conclusions), and self-correction. AI encompasses a broad range of techniques and approaches, including machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics, and expert systems, among others. The ultimate goal of AI is to create machines that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding natural language, recognizing patterns, making decisions, and solving problems.


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  Business Acumen - Applies knowledge of business, industry, the marketplace, and the application of the business architecture framework to advance the organization's goals. Makes decisions and recommendations clearly linked to strategy.


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  Cloud Computing - Knowing how to manage cloud services, develop cloud applications and use cloud architecture to meet customer needs.


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  Continuous Improvement Mindset - Identifies and leads opportunities for continuous improvement and value creation, both incremental and large-scale.


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  Data Modeling - Skill in designing and implementing data models that align with business requirements, ensuring data integrity, performance, and scalability.


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  Digital Transformation - Digital Transformation is the adoption of digital technology to transform services or businesses, through replacing non-digital or manual processes with digital processes or replacing older digital technology with newer digital technology.


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  Functional Expertise - A strong understanding of various technologies, platforms, and systems relevant to the organization's architecture, such as networking, databases, cloud computing, and security.


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  Machine Learning - Machine learning is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer science that involves the development of algorithms and statistical models that enable computers to progressively improve their performance on a specific task through learning from data, without being explicitly programmed. In essence, machine learning algorithms learn from patterns and relationships in data to make predictions, decisions, or identify patterns, often with the goal of optimizing some objective function or improving performance over time.

Systems Thinking - The ability to analyze complex systems and understand their interdependencies, considering both technical and business aspects, to develop comprehensive and scalable architectures.

Determining compensation for this role (and others) at Vaco/Highspring depends upon a wide array of factors including but not limited to the individual's skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, office location and other geographic considerations, as well as other business and organizational needs. With that said, as required by local law in geographies that require salary range disclosure, Vaco/Highspring notes the salary range for the role is noted in this job posting. The individual may also be eligible for discretionary bonuses, and can participate in medical, dental, and vision benefits as well as the company's 401(k) retirement plan.