Director, Solutions Architect - Excess & Surplus

If you’re passionate about being part of a dynamic organization that enables a Fortune 100 company with nearly $70 billion in annual sales to drive innovation and adopt new technologies that deliver business results, then Nationwide's Technology team could be the place for you! At Nationwide, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care.

This role is the Director, Solutions Architect for the Excess, Surplus & Specialty (ES&S) Business Solution Area within P&C Technology. You will own end-to-end technology strategy and the evolution of the ES&S application suite – Policy Admin, Claims, Workflow/Document Management, Data, and Integrations – directing a ~$40M annual build portfolio and a distributed team across Columbus, Scottsdale, and Des Moines.

• End-to-end accountability for the ES&S application suite, balancing technology currency, risk, and delivery capacity.
• Strategic vision, multi-year roadmaps, and the annual planning cycle — with board‑ready updates to Business Presidents, PMO, and technology leadership.
• IT investment planning across the build‑and‑run portfolio, driving build‑vs‑buy‑vs‑retire decisions through ROI and business case analysis.
• A team of Product Architects and Application Suite Tech Leads, plus strategic vendor and MSP relationships from POC through production.
• Secure‑by‑design, BC/DR, and regulatory reporting integrity (NAIC, claims data, loss‑run) across the portfolio.

• Strong IT architecture skills, with a track record leading architecture teams across large, complex portfolios.
• Experience delivering third‑party package software and integrating vendor platforms into a coherent suite.
• P&C insurance experience — technology and business acumen. Excess & Surplus or Specialty experience is a strong plus.
• Ability to develop and communicate strategic roadmaps to business and technology executives, with investment‑planning fluency across a multi‑tens‑of‑millions portfolio.
• Passion for people leadership, and strong command and communication skills in a broad, complex, ambiguous space.

• ES&S is one of Nationwide's fastest‑evolving business units, giving you architectural reach across a diverse specialty portfolio.
• The suite is coming off major inflection points — 100% policy‑admin modernization, a new consumer‑facing platform with APIs across 29 states, and a Salesforce Financial Services Cloud implementation enabling an Insurance Agent 360 view.
• Agentic AI and spec‑driven engineering are already in motion, with clear runway to shape where AI is applied next across underwriting, claims, and operations.

Work Arrangement:
This role follows a hybrid schedule and requires in‑office presence in Columbus OH, Des Moines IA or Scottsdale AZ two days per week.

• Responsible for the management of associates including but not limited to performance management, salary planning, training, development, workforce planning, hiring, and disciplinary actions; and attracts, hires, engages and develops the team through impactful recruitment, coaching and feedback.
• Leads the development and maintenance of technology strategies, blueprints and application roadmaps for a product domain, a business solution area or business/technology roadmaps for a given infrastructure domain.
• Identifies technical risk, currency and depth of product/applications supporting a business solution area or leads the technologies supporting a given infrastructure domain.
• Oversees the delivery of programs and projects driven by the solution area, product domain or infrastructure domain.
• Implements reusable technology solutions that uses shared assets.
• Harvests intellectual capital that contributes to increased delivery capabilities.
• Leads technical quality through architecture and design reviews.
• Top specialist in the generation of new solutions and designs in support of the needs of the product domain, business area or infrastructure domain.
• Assists business solution area leadership team with estimating costs and technical resource…