Enterprise Architect

The Enterprise Architect is responsible for creating the Business, Operations, Systems & Technology Architecture Models by leveraging the business architecture systems, resources, and tools. The Enterprise Architect works with stakeholders, both leadership and subject matter experts, to build a holistic view of the organization's strategy, processes, information, and technology assets linking the business mission, strategy, and processes of an organization to its IT strategy, and documents this using multiple architectural models or views that show how the current and future needs of an organization will be met in an efficient, sustainable, agile, and adaptable manner.

Enterprise Architects operate across organizational "silos" to drive common approaches and expose information assets and processes across the enterprise. Delivered successfully, enterprise architecture has the potential to allow both the Business and IT strategies to enable and drive each other. Effective enterprise architecture is regarded as one of the key means to achieving competitive advantage through information technology. Proactively identifies and crystallizes key opportunities and options for the executive decision-makers.  Defines and sustains the required roles and competencies.

Enterprise architects are like city planners, providing the roadmaps and regulations that a city uses to manage its growth and provide services to its citizens. Using this analogy, it is possible to differentiate the role of the Solution Architect, who plans one or more buildings, and Technical Architects, who are responsible for something like the plumbing within the building or the water and sewer infrastructure between buildings. The enterprise architect both frames the city-wide design and choreographs other activities into the larger plan.

Due to the distinct nature of the architectural models for each view of the Enterprise, the Enterprise Architect role is divided into Business Architect, Systems Architect and Technology Architect.

General Responsibilities

• Facilitate Business-IT transformation planning - Collaborate with Business to understand their IT needs and maintain a list of top IT initiatives.
• Ensure Alignment with IT strategy - Align with CIO directives, plans and drives IT initiatives to support company's business goals.
• Evaluate and Select IT Systems -To maintain vendor relationships and carefully evaluate available technologies in the market to support business initiatives.
• Govern Tools and Shared Infrastructure - Enforce use of identified Enterprise Licensed tools to reduce costs and improve consistency and re-use of skills, thereby promoting faster delivery and greater efficiency.
• Establish Platform Architecture – Establish Local and global architecture for various enterprise tools and technologies to support projects utilizing those tools.
• Standardize Solutions for the Enterprise- Work with the Solution Architect, Data Architects, and Information Architects to review and standardize high impact enterprise solutions that are scalable, adaptable and in synchronization with changing business needs.
• Support Enterprise Risk Management-Manage Information and IT assets through appropriate standards and security policies.
• Control Centralized Architecture Repository- Establish a process to identify and capture enterprise models in an architecture repository.
• Share Knowledge- Present at technology conferences and seek authorship opportunities like writing best practices, whitepaper, presenting in public forums, blogs and sharing further insight to the disciplines of Enterprise Architecture.

Qualifications/Certifications

• Extensive experience in Enterprise Architecture practices
• Industry and specific business knowledge in the domain for which the enterprise architecture is being developed.
• Deep understanding and experience with strategies, technologies and tools in data modelling, profiling, quality management, business process management, performance, and delivery.
• Knowledge of IT governance and operations.
• Comprehensive knowledge of hardware, software, application, and systems engineering.
• Knowledge of enterprise modelling as it pertains to IT investments and business transformation planning.

Organizational

• Proven track record in delivering results, bridging functional silos, and in briefing/recommending to senior executives.
• Experience in influencing key decision makers to help shape information strategies.
• Ability to balance tactical needs and business realities with strategic requirements.
• Strong Business Analysis and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and able to work with all levels of management and staff
• Strong and credible leadership, advocacy, and mentoring skills.
• Systems thinking (seeing through complexity to the underlying structures generating change).
• Effective Communication/Problem-Solving/Team-Building Skills.
• Relationship-Building (Influence) across Organizational Lines.
• Business-person’s approach to tradeoffs, disciplines, and priorities.
• Conflict-resolution: ability to bring an even handed, win/win approach to resolving complex, multi-dimensional mix of business and technology related issues.
• Innovation “outside the box” thinking and a bias for action - not reflection.