IT Enterprise Architect

Title IT Enterprise Architect

Start date: Immediate

Position Type: Contract

Location: Hybrid in Lincolnshire, IL (onsite 3 days a week)

Job Summary

As the IT Enterprise Architect (Contract), you will spearhead the establishment of the Enterprise Community of Practice (ECOP) within the Architecture Governance workstream of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) practice. Your primary mission is to lead the crowdsourcing of Enterprise Architecture Standards, Practices, Guidelines, Decision Trees, and Guardrails through the ECOP, fostering collaboration, innovation, and alignment with business objectives. This contract position is pivotal in shaping a scalable, agile, and sustainable IT architecture framework to support the company's long-term success.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Community of Practice (ECOP) Leadership: Establish and lead the ECOP to foster collaboration across IT domains, including Enterprise Architecture, DevOps, Infrastructure, and Data Management. Drive the creation of Policies, Standards, Architecture Patterns, Specifications, Practices, Guidelines, Decision Trees, and Guardrails through crowdsourced efforts within the ECOP.
• Architecture Governance: Develop and enforce IT architecture governance policies, standards, and procedures to ensure alignment with enterprise goals, data security, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
• Solution Design and Standards Development: Guide the collaborative design of scalable, sustainable, and agile IT solutions within the ECOP, ensuring adherence to industry best practices and alignment with the enterprise architecture framework.
• Technology Roadmap Contribution: Collaborate with senior leadership and the VP of Enterprise Architecture to contribute to a technology roadmap that aligns IT initiatives with business priorities and future growth.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with cross-functional teams, including IT operations, development, and business units, to ensure seamless integration of IT solutions. Communicate ECOP outcomes and architecture strategies effectively to stakeholders, including executive leadership.
• Mentorship and Collaboration: Mentor architects and engineers within the ECOP, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Emerging Technologies and Research: Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies, recommending their adoption within the ECOP to enhance efficiency and competitiveness.
• EA Program Support: Assist the VP of Enterprise Architecture with the administration, planning, and execution of strategic IT initiatives, ensuring alignment with the ECOP's outputs and enterprise goals.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in IT and Enterprise Architecture, with a proven track record of successful architecture designs and implementations.
• 8+ years of IT governance, risk management, and compliance experience, or 10+ years of verifiable hands-on Technical Solutions Architecture, IT Services Architecture, Technical Product Ownership.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to lead Communities of Practice (COP, COE, C4E) or similar collaborative initiatives, driving the development of standards, practices, guidelines, and patterns.
• Expertise in multi-Cloud architecture and governance (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform), application design, and system integration architecture.
• Working knowledge of ITIL, COBIT, SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), DevOps (DevSecOps), Lean Architecture, and Agile methodologies.
• Expertise in implementing or improving Software/System/Solution/Service Development Life Cycles (SDLC) and IT Service Management (ITSM) processes.
• Strong understanding or experience designing and implementing Agile (i.e., "designed for change") EA-as-a-Service or EA-as-a-Product frameworks.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.