To understand the role of an Enterprise Architect (EA), it is crucial to first determine whether Enterprise Architecture (EA) itself is a well-defined concept. There are contradictory definitions and interpretations, and I am not convinced by all of them. Just because the role of an EA exists does not necessarily mean we should attempt to prove the existence of Enterprise Architecture at any cost.
Definitions
Let’s first examine how others define Enterprise Architecture:
Wikipedia Definition
According to Wikipedia (not to be taken as the ultimate authority but worth considering):
Enterprise Architecture is an ongoing business function that helps an 'enterprise' figure out how to best execute the strategies that drive its development.
(Source: Wikipedia)
This definition primarily focuses on business and emphasizes improving business processes. Does this suggest that EA is an IT function? Or is it a business-oriented role that supports process improvement, optimizes IT resource utilization, and aligns IT strategy with business goals?
In practice, most job postings for Enterprise Architects are within IT departments, which contradicts the business-centric definition above.
CIO.com Perspective
CIO.com quotes Jim Lanzalotto:
An enterprise architect (EA) takes a company's business strategy and defines an IT systems architecture to support that strategy.
(Source: CIO.com)
This definition positions EA as an IT-focused role, aligning IT strategy with business objectives.
Enterprise Architecture Blog (Brad Meyers)
According to Brad Meyers:
Most Enterprise Architecture programs are housed within IT departments. Many IT executives do not fully understand Enterprise Architecture or consider it purely as Technical Architecture.
(Source: Enterprise Architecture Blog)
This suggests that while EA resides in IT, it should ideally be driven by business requirements and vision.
Gartner Definition
According to Gartner:
Enterprise Architecture (EA) is the process of translating business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change by creating, communicating, and improving the key requirements, principles, and models that describe the enterprise's future state and enable its evolution.
The scope of EA includes people, processes, information, and technology, as well as their relationships within the enterprise and with the external environment. Enterprise architects create holistic solutions that address business challenges and support governance.
(Source: Gartner)
This definition expands EA beyond IT, including people, processes, and relationships. However, does EA really control or influence how businesses run, improve, or define processes?
In my experience, business decisions—such as defining processes and responding to market needs—are not dictated by EA. Instead, sales, competition, and customer demands drive these changes.
What Does the Job Market Say?
Enterprise Architect roles in the job market are highly varied. Companies often look for EAs specializing in specific domains, technologies, or focus areas (e.g., infrastructure, applications, customer experience).
Some companies hire EAs to influence clients—offering strategic guidance that ultimately leads to selling products or services.
Common Skills of Enterprise Architects
Despite role variations, some common EA skills appear across most job descriptions:
- Communication Skills – Strong written and verbal communication.
- Leadership, Negotiation, and Interpersonal Skills – Ability to manage stakeholders, teams, and conflicts.
- Time Management & Organization – Prioritization of tasks and efficient resource allocation.
- Business Process Modeling & Design – Understanding and improving business workflows.
- System Integration – Ensuring seamless interaction between IT systems.
- Knowledge of Industry Standards & Best Practices – TOGAF, Zachman, etc.
- Architecture Principles & Frameworks – Ability to design enterprise-wide solutions.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis – Assessing ROI and impact of technology investments.
- Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Change Management – Aligning IT with business objectives.
- Awareness of Infrastructure, Networking, Security & Compliance – Ensuring holistic IT governance.
Common Responsibilities of an EA
- Aligning IT strategy with business objectives.
- Defining and enforcing IT policies, standards, and guidelines.
- Preparing long-term IT strategy for the organization.
- Managing risks related to IT and business processes.
- Coordinating with stakeholders, including IT teams, vendors, project teams, and business leaders.
Enterprise Architect Job Titles in the Industry
EA roles vary significantly, with titles such as:
- Enterprise Architect
- Lead Enterprise Platform Architect
- Chief Enterprise Infrastructure Architect
- Cloud Computing Enterprise Architect (TOGAF)
- Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Architect
- SOA Enterprise Architect
- Enterprise Application Architect
- Enterprise Security Architect (Banking)
- Enterprise Mobility Architect & Presales Consultant
This variety highlights that EA is not a one-size-fits-all role—its meaning differs by industry, company, and technology focus.
Final Thoughts
The ambiguity surrounding Enterprise Architecture and its responsibilities has led to multiple interpretations. Some argue that EA is purely business-driven, while others emphasize its IT focus. In reality, different industries and companies define the EA role according to their specific needs.
Many buzzwords and jargon are associated with EA, but few sources present a comprehensive and structured comparison of these roles. If you come across a well-organized list of EA-related terms and definitions, let me know!
Appendix
Required skills and responsibilities of EA in job posts:
Some are listed on this page bellow but there are many other specific EA roles as published in job postings for example: Enterprise Cloude Architect, Enterprise Infrastructure Architect etc. These examples of job posts are attached in this page at the bottom of the page as a pdf file.
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: Demonstrated Enterprise Architecture and or Consulting experience (15+ years) in design and implementation of IT services, quality processes, EA Governance models and Industry standard frameworks
Required skills:
Prior responsibility for leading Enterprise Architecture initiatives within large and complex environments on large scale transformation activities with highly complex multi faceted program implementations
Broad understanding of technology/infrastructure domains with the ability to work holistically to orchestrate solutions across them
Conversant with and able to apply multiple architectural and operational methodologies (e.g. TOGAF, ITSM)
Broad knowledge of IT and business standards and best practices and how to apply them appropriately in solutions
Demonstrated experience in being able to communicate very effectively both in spoken and written word and development of strategic proposals (RFI and RFPs) and designs (strategy presentations, architectures)
Experience in working with large distributed multi-cultural teams in a highly dynamic environment, preferably involving an onshore/offshore model
Responsibilities:
Articulate technical or operational problems into understandable business terms appropriate for the audience
Define and implement architectural governance at the program, enterprise or operational level
Develop and maintain long-term, strategic relationships with Senior Management and CEO/COO/CIO levels
Systematically gather and assess information to strategically consider all sides within the contexts of time, breadth, cost and execution
Maintains pulse on future technology or operational trends as they relate to and support customer business directions (“trusted advisor”)
Provide project and program support and help the account management team develop new opportunities within the customer space
Articulate company-wide portfolio offerings into meaningful, relevant and cost effective options for the customer
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: 5-10 years of related technical and business systems design experience with demonstrable strength in analysis, design and architecture. Managerial experience a plus
Skills:
Experience with or demonstrates an understanding of the capabilities and functionality provided by major ERP systems, development environments, technical platforms, architectural patterns, data center infrastructure components and network infrastructures.
Demonstrable experience in project management, planning and estimation.
Must have deep knowledge (5-10 years) of enterprise integration implementation strategies including but not limited to Enterprise Message Bus Architecture, Message Queues for guaranteed delivery of messages, Broker technology for information syndication, Directory Services for the management/monitoring of interfaces, designing highly scalable and fault-tolerant messaging solutions, and establishing/governing standard catalogs of interfaces.
Must have 2-3 years hands-on experience with business process analysis (BPA) solutions (specifically ARIS) that will help drive standard process and EA modeling across the enterprise. Candidate should also have hands-on experience with business process management (BPM) which includes the orchestration and deployment of process models to an executable format.
5-10 years of SAP experience is required with a focus on ECC (Order Management, Financials, WMS, and Business Warehouse) BI/BW, BOBJ Data Services, CRM, XI, PI, and Solution Manager ( SOL MAN).
Candidate must have a deep understanding of the SAP Architecture to ensure technical designs will meet Avon's Service Level requirements.
Responsibilities:
Establish and maintain a professional and constructive rapport with executives, business partners, and colleagues. Must be capable of communicating technical issues, options and design alternatives within the context of business fundamentals, processes, options and issues.
Act as a primary point of contact for strategy, architecture, and governance.
Responsible for the strategy, guidelines, blueprints, and communication plans to effectively create and promote consistent EA models, process designs, architecture frameworks, information architecture definitions and linkage to processes, technology roadmaps and emerging technology trends
Develop and maintain policies, standards and best practices for all matters related to Enterprise Architecture.
Responsible for the optimization of business investments in technology and the solutions portfolio
Leverages technical expertise, tools and intellectual property across the global enterprise to enable reuse, reduce costs and increase the quality of solutions provided to the business. Proponent of LEAN,
Agile Development and Service Oriented and Event Driven Architectures. Experience with EA frameworks like Zachman and TOGAF a plus.
Ensures that designed solutions, services and processes follow corporate standards and guidelines
Responsible for the planning, estimating, tracking and management of medium to large and complex projects undertaken by the Enterprise Architecture team. Provides architectural advice and design consulting during a project's lifecycle.
Act as one of the primary contacts for the creation and promotion of an Enterprise Information and Integration Strategy and an Enterprise Process Management Strategy (which includes the creation of a model enterprise framework to capture Avon's transformational activities).
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: 10+ years of progressive experience in the design and delivery of large, complex, mission critical applications (preferably in the healthcare IT field). 3+ years of experience having primary responsibility for Enterprise Architecture related activities within a large organization. 5+ years in a Senior Architecture position in a large organization (preferably healthcare or public sector), including leadership responsibility for other Architects.
Skills:
Superior communication and facilitation skills
Exceptional knowledge of concepts and practices in several of the following areas:
Enterprise Architecture frameworks and methodologies (such as Zachman, TOGAF).
Service Management, Control frameworks (such as ITIL, PMBOK, COBIT), IT Security standards and principles applicable to the healthcare sector.
Broad knowledge on a variety of Architectural disciplines (such as Privacy & Security, Application, Infrastructure, Network etc.).
Defining governance, principals, policies and procedures and leading business and/or IT transformation initiatives.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and SOA Governance.
Information architecture concepts and principles
Application architecture concepts and principles
Common integration patterns and architectural styles
Demonstrated experience defining and leading Solution and/or Enterprise Architecture projects
Knowledgeable about FIPPA and PHIPA and how it applies to IT solutions
Proven ability to build strong tactical plans.
Expertise in liaising with external and internal clients and project teams (including experience presenting to management).
Superior facilitator, negotiator and communicator - both orally and written, and be able to produce clear and concise documentation including: presentation material, design/architecture documents and training material.
Strong analytical skills.
Strong knowledge of IT services and offerings.
Experience working with the broader healthcare and healthcare IT sector is a strong asset.
Responsibilities:
Contribute to the definition and execution of the architecture checkpoint review process, balancing architecture review rigor with project needs and timelines
Provide guidance and assistance to initiatives throughout the architecture checkpoint review process
Generate architecture artifacts as required by the business
Contribute to the development and evolution of the Company architecture development methodology
Help to define, maintain and enforce organization wide Enterprise Architecture practices and standards to ensure that solution architectures:
address Conceptual, Logical and Physical Architectural views
support vertical/horizontal integration across other areas within the Enterprise Architecture
Create, maintain, and/or enhance the Reference Architectures for Company
Participate in architecture checkpoint review of Company solutions Develop and maintain templates for architecture artifacts
Play a leadership role in developing and reviewing emerging and existing architecture standards
Maintain awareness of industry practices related to IT architecture
Take part in strategic and tactical decisions related to architecture, in order to maximize overall outcomes by balancing the conflicting goals of cost, quality and time to production
Contribute to the evolution of the eHealth Strategy and Blueprint
Act as the escalation point for issues related to architecture checkpoint review, reference architectures, and architecture standards and templates
Work collaboratively: with internal and external stakeholders in the development and adoption of Company architecture standards with other domain Architects as well as privacy, security and policy areas as required ith solution vendors and/or development groups to ensure solutions conform to architecture standards and practices with external organizations (e.g.: Ministry of Health, Canada Health Infoway, etc.) to ensure alignment of architecture practices where appropriate
Champion Enterprise Architecture approaches/considerations within eHealth
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: 10-15 years progressive experience in design and development of software applications or products support, design, engineering and architecture.
Skills:
Experience designing and architecting complex enterprise solutions, delivering technical strategies and full life-cycle implementations in support of a business solution.
Must have understanding and formal experience in engineering of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Middleware solutions (MQ Series, Biztalk), and Enterprise Application Integration methods and principals
Must have very strong business strategy knowledge as well as very strong technical skills
Understanding of Websphere and other IBM products would be a plus
Ability to serve as a technical leader, with coordination of technical services across local and regional organizations.
Excellent oral and written communication skills, including writing/editing of technical documentation and effective presentation skills.
Must have the ability to coordinate multiple tasks, status actions items, respond to changing priorities, and react to short deadlines
Analyze the use of available assets (frameworks, reference architectures, etc.) to bridge the gap between the as-is architecture and the to-be architecture.
Responsibilities:
Architect, design, develop, and test proof of concepts (POC)/technical solutions that enable business applications to perform in an efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable manner
Set policy and governance for the implementation of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Framework
Serve as a point person for the business enterprise architecture framework, driving the creation of architectural principles and standards across all enterprise application lifecycle
Work with stakeholders, both leadership and subject matter experts, to build a holistic view of the organization's strategy, processes, information, and information technology assets
Use a broad base of technical skills to develop and maintain a health scorecard for critical application environments.
Serve as a subject matter expert for architectural frameworks, methods, design patterns, and tools
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: Bachelor’s Degree in MIS, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering from an accredited institution and 4 years of specialized experience in the design and development of production ready technical information technology solutions, or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience. Or, Master’s Degree in MIS, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or Business Administration from an accredited institution and 2 years of specialized experience in the design and development of production ready technical information technology solutions, or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience.
Skills:
Experience with programming languages: Java (strong Java knowledge is preferred).
Javascript PHP XML technologies (e.g., XSD, XPATH, XSLT).
Working knowledge of HTML and Ruby on Rails
Experience with SQL server, Oracle, Teradata
Demonstrated proficiency in messaging technologies (especially JMS).
Strong working knowledge of UNIX, LINUX and Windows operating systems.
Proficient knowledge of networking protocols, architectures, and systems.
Understanding of evolving industry trends, practices, and standards.
Skill to participate in IT strategic planning and new solutions development.
Ability to manage multiple projects and tasks.
Ability to communicate professionally and effectively verbally and in writing (including the ability to negotiate credibly and persuasively and to resolve sensitive issues) with a variety of “stakeholders.”
Responsibilities:
Assist in the development of enterprise-wide technology standards & Publish Enterprise Architecture.
Coordinate and formulate the IT strategy through interaction with all information technology functions and affected business units.
Preserve current state and future state architectural models, keeping them up-to-date and relevant for active technology portfolio management.
Design, develop & deliver production-ready technical solutions / services / specifications to speed-to-market new capabilities leveraging XP and other agile development methodologies.
Design, develop and implement information technology solutions/services that satisfy business needs and run efficiently and effectively in production. These solutions must be developed with testing, supportability and high availability foremost.
Design and develop solutions/services with enterprise re-use in mind to inculcate 30-60-90 day delivery and speed-to-market cultural shift.
Update Architectures to reflect developed, delivered and implemented solutions/services to ensure the enterprise architecture models remain current and reflective of the install-base.
Analyze system performance, making recommendations where necessary, to assure optimal performance of business applications across the technology stack.
Stay current of new technology developments and examine opportunities to apply the new technology advancements where appropriate.
Cross-pollinate/institutionalize technical concepts to all layers within the technology organization.
Continue to extend knowledge of technologies and their interplay/interoperability, with a true open-systems standards-based services oriented architecture.
Assist with the development of exit strategies to replace aging technology offerings with current new market capabilities to ensure currency, relevancy to business direction and prevent re-engineering of the enterprise architecture and technology models/strategy.
Translate business strategy into technology strategy and maintain currency of Enterprise Architecture Models.
Continue to develop understanding of the business and successfully translate to the business technology concepts/capabilities in understandable business speak.
Update Enterprise Architecture models to ensure currency of the business.
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: 10+ years enterprise architecture experience. Healthcare strongly preferred.
Skills:
Proven ability to deploy Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in a complex environment.
Experience in managing and driving enterprise architecture within a large corporation
Demonstrated experience in architecting enterprise applications across the application, data, and infrastructure domains
Experience with Internet delivery architecture, messaging and web service architecture, sales delivery platform architectures, and mobile architectures
Ability to understand and architect capabilities required for developing Health Information Exchange (HIE)
Experience with evaluating, selecting and deploying Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy
Exceptional communication skills and ability to influence across all levels. Ability to speak the technical language, then transition to language of business managers
Strong interpersonal skills to interact positively and productively with teams across organizational lines
Responsibilities: Plans, orchestrates, and contributes to the development and execution of strategic technology initiatives. Develops relationships with key stakeholders to help them achieve their business goals while promoting innovative solutions. Translates early business needs and insights into actionable IS&T strategy, and assists IS&T in driving these initiatives to early results and business value. Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience:
Skills:
Strong consulting experience with TOGAF or other frameworks, ten years of overall experience, eight years of RUP or similar SDLC methodology and four years of Enterprise Architecture experience
Ability to create Enterprise wide Current state and Target State Architecture
Ability to create Enterprise IT Roadmaps
Ability to conduct and Application Portfolio rationalization and Legacy Modernization Projects
Previous experience in consulting services performing deep analytical and business process analysis Ability to develop and provide guidance for EA and IT business strategy development
Responsibilities:
Integrate IT architectural components to support IT and mission-related strategies and goals
Integrate EA processes with other planning and control processes
Perform segment architecture analysis leading to the development of a modernization blueprint following industry best practice
Provide expert technical services and guidance concerning the EA Maturity Program
Strong experience in establishing and managing IT/EA governance structures, with an emphasis on integrating various CIO processes (Strategic Planning, EA, CPIC, PM, SDLC)
Provide a mix of project management experience, progrma and IT governance development and Enterprise and Segment Architecture experience and should have a group facilitation and communcation skills
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: 10 years minimum Architect experience with at least 7 years in an Enterprise Architect role
Skills:
Expert level along with substantial practical experienceand applied knowledge in at least 3 of the IT domain areas: Business Architecture, Process Architecture,Software Architecture, Data Architecture or Infrastructure Architecture.
Proven, hands-on SOA experience in complex IT environments(legacy, Open source, COTS, custom systems, data and BI services, etc.).
5+ years demonstrated experience in guiding large organization (+$1B) in establishing and deploying an enterprise architectureusing EA frameworks such as TOGAF or Zachman.
Expert level experience in multiple technology areas – IDEs, waterfall and agile development (SCRUM), java, C+, databases, data warehouse, SOA, and BPM.
Proven abilities to set a strategic technology direction and the drive, passion, and skills to implement that strategy.
Proven abilities to translate business needs into compelling technology solutions.
Excellent interpersonal communication and coordination skills with both business and IT communities.
Ability to gain the trust and respect of Sr. Executive Managementin the business and technical communities.
Demonstrated ability to communicate and influence at alllevels.
Responsibilities:
Responsible for ensuring that the organization's 3 Year IT Architecture Roadmap is compiled, communicated, and executed according to the funded plans.
Perform gap analysis between current architecture and the targeted architecture. Plan and lead initiatives to migrate to thetarget architecture.
Partner with the Demand Managersto cultivate relationships with business stakeholders and IT management.
Maintain in-depth knowledge of strategic business plans.
Initiate and deliver architectural programs that align IT with business strategy.
Design and oversee implementation of end-to-end integrated systems.
Deliver architectural initiatives that drive revenue and improve efficiency in-line with business strategy.
Maintain in-depth knowledge ofthe organization's technologies and architectures.
Communicate architecturaldecisions, plans, goals and strategies.
Gain organizational commitment for enterprise level architecture and infrastructure initiatives.
Oversee assigned teams of Solutions Architects and Architects. Provides architectural direction to other Enterprise Architects,Solutions Architects and Technical Architects. Develops staff technical skills through training and mentoring.
Work as a team member with other organization EAs.
Develop architectural metricsand reports for the executive team, business and IT management.
Maintain in-depth knowledge ofIT industry best practices, technologies, architectures and emerging technologies.
Provide architectural consulting to programs, projects and initiatives.
Act as the focal point forenterprise architecture and IT standards.
Develop, communicate and deploy Enterprise Architecture Governance processes.
Develop and communicate enterprise technology standards and policies.
Review new and existing program/project architecture for compliance with IT standards, policies andarchitectural plans.
Review IT procurement plans for compliance with IT standards and architectural plans.
Document exceptions to architectural standards.
Ensure that project documentation captures significant architectural decisions.
Ensure that architectural governance is a fair, consistent and transparent process.
Develop, communicate and deploy Enterprise Architecture processes.
Deploy and maintain an Enterprise Architecture repository and tool set.
Title: Chief Architect, Enterprise Architecture
Experience: 10+ years overall IT experience including 8+ years of strong progressive IT experience in the application development and/or architecture space, with 6 years hands-on Solutions Architecture and /or System Architecture design experience 8+ years experience in developing web-based applications using Java, JDeveloper, Core Java API, JSP, Servlets, and HTML
Skills:
Experience working in Portals on platforms like WebLogic Portal, WebCenter Portal
Experience with various content management systems. Oracle UCM, Fatwire, Autonomy are all a plus.
Experience working on Enterprise-wid Identity Management Implementations. Oracle IDM knowledge is a plus.
Experience with .Net architecture, Autonomy Teamsite, SDL World Server is a plus.
Knowledge of search tools like Google Search Appliance or Oracle Secure Enterprise Search.
Considerable experience implementing iterative system development solutions in a lead position
Has led a team of technical developers either project based or organizationally
Extensive experience using SQL, PL/SQL and front end J2EE technologies
Extensive experience with systems development utilizing an Oracle database with ADF/UIX (or later) Java components
Knowledge and utilization of the tool set (e.g. Java, Eclipse, DROOLS) required for completion of BPA activities. Experience overseeing a tech refresh
Experience integrating multiple systems
Broad knowledge in all aspects of the Software Development Lifecycle
Full application / system development lifecycle knowledge and experience
Expertise in interoperability standards and methods
Expertise with Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) methods and implementation technologies such as web services
Knowledge of frameworks, architecture patterns and design patterns
Previous experience as lead architect on multiple large-scale product or enterprise initiatives, preferred
Ability to work closely with application developers ensuring the goals of the business are achieved
Experienced in Architecture governance processes and conducting Architecture reviews and evaluations Outstanding and proven leadership skills in working with senior-level management helping in decision making
Experience with making presentations to business and senior management
Ability to articulate the effect of technology on business
Exceptional communication skills (both verbal and written)
Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills; including the ability to work with both business and technical representatives at all levels
Experience working in or with a Marketing or Customer Support organization understanding their business processes, issues, and common challenges
Ability to function effectively in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously
Responsibilities:
Evaluate and propose architecture, design and technology alternatives
Propose recommendations to infuse new technology and serve as a resource for the Strategic Technology team in evaluating and proposing technical alternatives for resolving project issues
Work within the team to research, analyze, and document recommended solutions
Produce and obtain agreement on design specifications; clearly articulate to the client the pros/cons of evaluated solutions and be able to support recommendations
Architect and design new solutions in conjunction with the EA team & process, as well as the development team.
Engineer new code, work with and enhance existing code base
Ensure architected solution is tightly integrated (technology stack, workflow, and data) with the existing solutions
Design technology enhancements & improvements
Collaborate with the IT Architecture and Integration team to review recommended solutions to ensure compatibility with IT's architecture strategy
Title: Enterprise Architect
Experience: 8 - 10 years related business and IT consulting experience
Skills:
Solid understanding of interoperability issues and the strengths and weaknesses of platforms and products, and able to provide a trusted voice at the decision-making table
Candidates must have a deep understanding of markets, industries, business, customers, and technology.
Experience: Mix of business and technology consulting across the lifecycle of Information Technology (examples may include assessment and analysis, design, business case development, architecture, envisioning, planning, deployment, benefits analysis, and management)
Responsibilities:
Deliver advisory and planning services to company's top enterprise customers, enabling our customers to achieve their most challenging business and organizational goals while leveraging value from their investment in our platform. Through a pragmatic approach and objective assessment of the customer’s existing business imperatives, organizational capabilities and IT investments, you will systematically plan, orchestrate, and contribute to the development and execution of their strategic technology initiatives.
With IT sponsorship, you’ll develop relationships with key business executives, enabling the customer to translate business needs and insights into actionable IT strategy, and assist IT in driving these initiatives to early results and business value.
You will also share industry-proven architectural and planning practices and promote successful integration of Microsoft technologies in a heterogeneous environment. You’ll be provided an extensive network of professional colleagues with complementary competencies and expertise, bringing the best of Company to customers.
Key Focus Areas: Relationship-driven differentiation, Business-driven portfolio value management, Teaming to accelerate value, Practice development, Business development
Title: Senior Enterprise Architect (Marketing/Technology Focus)
Experience: At least 8 – 10 years progressive experience in technology strategy development, preferably with one or more specialized areas of focus.
Skills:
The ideal candidate has a proven track record of developing and executing technology strategies and programs for successful growing companies and has a passion for new and emerging technologies and their applicability to business models
An MBA or other graduate degree from a leading program and strategic business acumen or perspective; a technical undergraduate degree preferred
Technical and/or business certifications a plus
Leadership for strategic engagements for Web, e-Commerce, CRM and/or Social Media related experience inside and/or outside the restaurant industry a plus
Prior consulting experience a plus
Experience managing and influencing vendors and consultants
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills both written and oral
Strong leader, able to ramp up and add value quickly
Self starter
Ability to multi-task in high pressure environment
Responsibilities:
STRATEGIC IT LEADERSHIP
Provide recognized thought leadership and points of view on technology strategies in a broad range of areas to include, Retail, e-Commerce, Social Media, Digital Marketing, Collaboration, Content Management, Business Intelligence, Cloud and Infrastructure
Remain up-to-date on relevant news, best practices and trends within the technology ecosystem and share this knowledge to drive action
Create inspirational and action provoking presentations on technology capabilities that demonstrate how brand growth and consumer adoption / experience can be enhanced through technology – often interacting with senior business leaders
Develop position papers on new and emerging technologies and regulations with applicability to our business strategies and efforts
STRATEGY DEVELOPMENTDefine technology strategy to guide development, execution, and to move people to action
Develop sound business cases for new technology strategies that improve customer loyalty and increase brand and company value
Create digital technology roadmaps to guide execution of programs and initiatives in collaboration with internal and external colleagues
Produce models and artifacts to describe principles, frameworks and strategy
MULTI-CHANNEL AND CUSTOMER/EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE VISIONProvide assessment and vision of the ideal ‘customer and employee experience’ by defining key capabilities that differentiate brands and meet consumer needs
Define potential impact to brands of new and emerging technologies
ANALYSIS AND EVALUATIONDrive fast, decisive processes to evaluate and execute on opportunities
Create strategic and financial models to articulate business value and build business cases and ROI models of high complexity
Summarize findings in a way that supports a clear and compelling story
Research emerging trends in technology to determine, assess and communicate the impacts, trade-offs, risks, costs, benefits and opportunities of IT solutions
SERVICE DELIVERYUnderstands and analyzes business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals
Defines and recommends solutions to address business needs and software solutions to satisfy business and customer requirements
Leads strategic reviews of solution development; provides clear and timely feedback to ensure experiences, technology and solutions are delivered on-strategy
Develops integrated project and program plans; identify program-level risks; prepare options to manage risks; articulate risks and impact on schedule
Participates in project post-mortems; capture key learnings and develop case studies as appropriate
Work directly with technology managers and vendors/partners in developing and managing projects from inception to deployment, including transition to support and maintenance
Facilitate workshops, ideation sessions, decision-making
MEASUREMENT & EVALUATIONWork with team members to define success metrics and evaluate business impact of technology strategies and projects over time
Define targets for identified metrics
Develop processes for collecting and analyzing necessary data
PEOPLE & TEAM MANAGEMENTCreate career development opportunities for staff - develop, mentor and engage talent
Build strategy team expertise by mentoring team members and offering training in relevant methodologies, techniques, frameworks, etc.
Proactively work to improves process for strategy engagements and team workflow
Demonstrates extensive abilities as a team leader: supervising teams to create an atmosphere of trust; seeking diverse views to encourage improvement and innovation
Title: Enterprise Solutions Architect
Experience: 15 or more years of relevant work experience in large enterprise environments with at least 5 years work experience in enterprise architecture, information architecture, or application architecture.
Skills:
Extensive experience architecting technical solutions to business problems
Experience developing and communicating information models Deep understanding of database, data warehouse, and business intelligence concepts and technologies
Demonstrated experience delivering sophisticated business intelligence solutions with a high user adoption rate
Hands-on experience with business requirements gathering/analysis
Proven experience in design, development, implementation, and support of enabling information architectures for ERP and/or CRM environments
Experienced in presenting in compelling, practical and inspiring ways to senior business and IT executives, large audiences, customers and partners, and multidisciplinary groups
Extensive experience with information architecture development and implementation across the ERP, CRM, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence domains
Extensive experience with integration of on-premise, externally hosted, and Cloud-based solutions is required
Direct experience with Salesforce.com and/or other CRM applications is a plus
Direct experience with SAP or other ERP applications is a plus
Proven history of development and delivery of information architectures in large enterprise environments
Strong understanding of enterprise architecture principles, frameworks, methodologies, and practices
Solid grounding in enterprise information architecture management
In depth technical knowledge of information architecture and design principles
Working technical knowledge of current application development platforms, frameworks, software, protocols, and standards
Strong knowledge of software evaluation principles and practices
Proven ability to apply architectural principles to define practical and effective business solutions
Successful history of acting as technical lead on full life-cycle information architecture development and application/data integration projects
Proven track record of success in large scale distributed, web, and n-tier development projects - qualifying opportunities, devising the solution, developing proposals, presenting to clients, and implementation
Broad understanding of various technologies including: dimensional and normalized data modeling; Apex, J2EE, Java, .NET, HTML and Web Page Design; C/C++, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Internet technologies; Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) standards and protocols; web services architecture and design
Exceptional understanding of alignment of organizational goals and objectives with business process improvements and technology initiatives
Proven ability to recognize structural issues within the organization, functional interdependencies and cross-silo redundancies
Working knowledge of applicable data privacy practices and laws
Excellent architecture and technical support documentation skills
Ability to conduct research into emerging technologies and trends, standards, methodologies, and products as required
Ability to analyze operational data to make fact based decisions that improve the business
Proven ability to plan and accomplish goals with a significant degree of innovation, creativity, and independence
Strong situational analysis and decision making abilities
Experience with SAP R/3, SAP Business Warehouse, and SAP NetWeaver is a plus
Demonstrated experience developing system design/specification documentation
Master’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent technical discipline highly preferred
Responsibilities:
Provide technical leadership for a global team of IT professionals, to define, plan, evangelize and implement an information management program
Conduct strategic planning to align information architecture development and management with the overall business and IT planning efforts. The end result is the activities and deliverables the information management program must deliver for the strategy and mission of the company to be reached
Continuously gather business requirements and work them into an information model and portfolio followed by timely and flawless project execution
Lead the development of, and provide execution oversight for, a business function-driven Enterprise Data Warehouse/Data Mart/Business Intelligence strategy and architecture, to include data definitions, data sourcing, migration, quality, reporting, analytics, dashboarding, and implementation; selection, design, and deployment of supporting technologies; integration design for data propagation, translation, external data, legacy data, and 3rd party products; and resolution of gaps
Lead definition, documentation, and communication of policies and guidelines on data warehouse architecture approaches and solutions, and on the use of data warehousing methodology
Identify and prioritize business information needs, and define and communicate business benefits of data warehousing
Drive development of a data dictionary and metadata framework to provide a standardized taxonomy for enterprise data domains, data elements, and data attributes
Lead development of an architecture and strategy for ensuring data quality
Identify and coordinate implementation of “master data” elements, in partnership with the Enterprise Data Management group
Designate authoritative source systems/repositories for data elements, and ensure information and integration architectures effectively leverage authoritative sources to deliver maximum data consistency across the enterprise
Develop and implement data management policies, processes, and practices to ensure data correctness, consistency, and completeness
Develop data integration methodologies, processes, technologies, and infrastructure requirements
Provide technical leadership to projects focused on introducing system enhancements, re-engineering, and evolution, along with tactical projects which support broader strategic programs
Act as lead architect for full life-cycle data design, warehousing, and integration engagements, leading to successful delivery of solutions
Monitor industry trends, identify relevant technologies and solutions, and lead evaluation and selection of data and application tools for business intelligence, data population, data management, metadata management, and warehouse administration
Review project work products, including project work plans, business activity and information models, test plans, content storage design, architecture blueprints and specifications, and application component designs for compliance with Information Architecture policies and standards
Work with the business to propose, influence, define, evangelize, and address the implementation of information workers, data stewardship, single-sources of truth, master data management, meta-data, data conversion, business analytics, reporting and other business use dimensions
In concert with the IT Strategic Plan, divisional CIOs, and IT support groups, address architecture, information modeling, meta-data, ETL, and information management infrastructure
Provide the team with strategic leadership, maintain visibility and accessibility, build professional working relationships and promote communication and innovation. Regularly conduct meetings, encourage an open exchange of ideas and information. Instill excellence in employee development and performance to attain the highest level of productivity for long-range success
Strengthen relationships across the business by engaging business leaders to establish credibility, solve problems, build consensus and achieve objectives. Map, measure and improve the underlying processes to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. Implement corrective action plans, as needed
Ensure readiness for change across the enterprise by ensuring effectiveness of change management programs that will result in the early adoption of new business processes and solutions. Collaborate with key stakeholders to champion the change throughout the organization, incorporate lessons learned into future projects to ensure desired results
Research best practices within and outside the organization to establish benchmark data, and use continuous process improvement disciplines to achieve results
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