Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well-being, and work-life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them.

Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself.

An Enterprise Architect is in a leadership role, working with both business and IT teams, to create the technology vision and ensure alignment of the resulting systems and solutions. The role will entail developing technology strategies, reference architectures, solutions, best practices and guidance across the entire IT development organization; all the while addressing total cost of ownership, stability, performance and efficiency.

In this rapidly paced environment, the person must possess a "can-do" attitude while demonstrating a strong work ethic. This person should have a strong aptitude to help drive decisions. He or she will be actively involved influencing the strategic direction of technology at Empower Retirement and Great West Financial. There will be collaboration across all teams including IT Infrastructure, PMO office, Business, and third-party integrators in reviewing, evaluating, designing and implementing solutions.

The Enterprise Architect must understand the available technology options and educate and influence technology teams to leverage them where appropriate. The Enterprise Architect will recognize and propose alternatives, make recommendations, and describe any necessary trade-offs. In some cases, particularly on key initiatives, the Enterprise Architect will participate on the design and implementation of end-to-end solutions directly with the development teams.

The ideal candidate will leverage their technical leadership/direction-setting skills with the development organization to be able to prove technical concepts quickly using a variety of tools, methods, & frameworks.

Responsibilities:

• Help define and execute the business aligned with IT strategy and vision.
• Develop, document, and provide input into the technology roadmap for Empower Retirement and Great West Financial.
• Create Reference Architectures that demonstrate an understanding of significant components and the relationships between them.
• Leverage knowledge of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), including microservices where appropriate, to deliver solutions.
• Maintain a high level of skill in various application deployment and workload architectures, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).
• Ensure that IT understands how to leverage various integration protocols and technologies, such as REST & resource-oriented design, OData and API Gateways.
• Design and modernize complex systems into cloud compatible or cloud native applications where applicable. Create strategies and designs for migrating applications to cloud systems.
• Participate in the evaluation of new applications, technical options, challenge the status quo, create solid business cases, and influence direction while establishing partnerships with key constituencies.
• Implement best practices, standards & guidance, then subsequently provide coaching of technology team members.
• Make leadership recommendations regarding strategic architectural considerations related to process design and process orchestration.
• Provide strong leadership and direction in development/engineering practices.
• Collaborate with other business and technology teams on architecture and design issues.
• Respond to evolving and changing security conditions. Implement and recommend security guidelines.
• Provide thought-leadership, advocacy, articulation, assurance and maintenance of the Enterprise Architecture discipline.

Other Preferred Qualifications:

• 15+ years of experience in the development and delivery of software systems.
• 7+ years of experience creating solution architectures and strategies across multiple architecture domains (business, application, data, integration, infrastructure and security).
• Solid experience with three or more of the following technology disciplines: SOA & Microservices design, Cloud Architectures, Big Data/Advanced Analytics, Data Warehouse systems, Advanced Programming, Modern Integration Methods (API Gateway/Web Services, Messaging & RESTful architectures), NoSQL, Client-side Development (e.g. Web and/or Mobile).
• Expertise in addressing architectural cross cutting concerns and their tradeoffs, including topics such as caching, monitoring, operational surround, high availability, security, etc.
• Demonstrates competency by applying architecture frameworks and development methods.
• Strong knowledge of data modeling, security patterns, and integration methods.
• Experience with DevOps processes and tools.
• Understanding business process analysis and business process management (BPM).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrates continuous learning of new technologies.
• Self-motivated individual that thrives in a team environment.
• Financial industry expertise preferred (Investments, Asset Management, etc.).

Technology skills are not the only skills needed. There are other skills that are highly desirable in the Enterprise Architect, including:

• People Skills - The Enterprise Architect is required to interact with people constantly.
• Motivational – The Enterprise Architect must be able to motivate and inspire. A large part of the job is to influence or evangelize a set of ideals in the enterprise.
• Negotiation - There will be times at the decision-making table when the Enterprise Architect must negotiate to get things accomplished.
• Problem Solving – The Enterprise Architect will face a set of complex and unique problems, so they must be able to evaluate and solve problems.
• Big Thinking – The Enterprise Architect must avoid tunnel vision and be able to look at a problem from multiple angles.
• Business Savvy – Essential understanding of the financial industry, to help comprehend how technology can really affect the business.

We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity.  All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, religion, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable state or local law.