Enterprise Architect

Position Description

The Enterprise Architect provides strategic technology leadership guiding the university's modernization and digital transformation efforts. This role partners with executive leadership and business stakeholders to align technology investments with institutional priorities while enabling scalable, secure, and sustainable enterprise solutions.

The architect establishes enterprise architecture practices, governance, and technology standards that improve integration, reduce complexity, and support innovation across academic, research, and administrative operations.

Major/Essential Functions

• Develops and maintains a comprehensive enterprise architecture framework that aligns IT capabilities with university priorities, spanning infrastructure, data, applications, middleware, APIs, front-end, security, and compliance in an AI-enabled environment.
• Establishes and enforces governance models and architectural standards to ensure consistent oversight of technology initiatives; manages enterprise-level exceptions and ensures compliance across projects.
• Partners with business and technology leaders to align enterprise architecture with business processes, capabilities, and strategic goals, translating technical vision into actionable and executable plans.
• Provides architectural leadership for highly complex, cross-domain initiatives, guiding project teams to align solutions with enterprise architecture and evolve standards as needed.
• Leads architectural direction for digital transformation initiatives, identifying opportunities to optimize costs, improve efficiency, modernize application portfolios, and reduce technical debt through lifecycle planning.
• Collaborates with business stakeholders, IT leadership, and executives to ensure progress towards architectural alignment; presents architectural strategies and recommendations to executive leadership, boards, and governance committees.
• Establishes and leads the architecture function, including recruiting, developing, and managing staff; defines required competencies and oversees ongoing training and professional development of the team.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 12 or more years of IT and business/industry work experience including at least 3 years experience in architecture design and deployment (including cloud), systems lifecycle management, and infrastructure planning and operations.

This position is designated as involving access to critical infrastructure systems and/or research, as defined by Texas Executive Order GA-48. As such, candidates must successfully complete a comprehensive background check prior to employment. Employees are required to comply with all applicable state and federal regulations related to the protection of critical infrastructure. Ongoing employment is dependent upon maintaining eligibility for access and successfully passing periodic security and compliance reviews.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with enterprise architecture methodologies (TOGAF, ArchiMate, Zachman) and their application to complex organizations.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP), hybrid architectures, and DevOps principles.
• Experience evaluating and integrating emerging technologies such as AI/automation where appropriate.
• Hands on experience developing AI applications using LLMs.
• Programming experiences using modern computer languages, e.g. C++, Python, Node.js, go, SQL.
• Experience working across multiple teams or organizational units to drive alignment and standardization.
• Experience working in a Higher Education or similarly decentralized, mission-driven organization. Familiarity with higher education domains such as student systems, research computing, ERP, and learning technologies.
• Experience establishing or maturing an enterprise architecture function, including governance, intake processes, and tooling.
• Experience implementing architecture governance processes, including review boards and standards management.
• Knowledge of IT service management frameworks (e.g., ITIL) and project governance alignment.
• Leadership experience in managing multiple, large, cross-functional teams or projects, and influencing senior level management and key stakeholders.
• Industry Certifications, e.g. TOGAF, Cloud certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Experience driving organizational change and adoption of new architectural standards and practices.