Chief Architect

Chief Architect

As a Chief Architect with OMES you will enjoy:

• Generous leave including 15 days of vacation, 15 days of sick leave and 11 paid holidays annually.
• A comprehensive Benefit Package with a generous benefit allowance to offset the cost of insurance premiums for employees and their eligible dependents.

Job Details

• Full-time 40-hour work weeks.
• Support the Information Services Division.
• Salary is based on education and experience.
• This is an on-site position located in Oklahoma City, OK.

Position Summary

The Chief Architect serves as the lead for the Enterprise Governance Architecture team, contributing to the enterprise architecture strategy and ensuring all architecture initiatives align with statewide agency goals, executive priorities, and OMES technology direction. This role governs cross-domain architecture decisions—spanning solutions, cloud, application, data, and security—and resolves conflicts between areas of expertise to maintain architectural cohesion across the enterprise. The Chief Architect establishes enterprise-wide architecture standards, frameworks, and best practices while managing and mentoring the Architecture team.

As the primary architectural liaison to senior leadership and stakeholders, the Chief Architect communicates complex architectural concepts and the solutions developed across architecture disciplines in clear, actionable terms. Through strategic leadership, governance, and cross-team collaboration, this role ensures OMES delivers modern, sustainable, secure, and cost-effective technology outcomes that support agencies and the mission of IT Enterprise Governance.

Key Responsibilities

• Actively engage in developing the long-term enterprise architecture technical strategy and ensure architectural direction supports statewide agency objectives and executive priorities.
• Govern cross-domain architecture decisions—spanning solutions, cloud, application, data, and security—and resolve conflicts between areas of expertise to maintain architectural cohesion.
• Align all architecture initiatives with OMES technology direction, statewide priorities, and strategic modernization goals; ensure consistent adoption of enterprise architecture guardrails.
• Lead, mentor, and manage the Enterprise Governance Architecture Team, providing oversight and coaching across all architectural domains to ensure consistent standards and solution quality.
• Collaborate with architecture disciplines (Solutions, Cloud, Application, Data, Security) to develop enterprise-wide architectural frameworks, reference architectures, and best practices.
• Serve as the primary architectural liaison to senior leadership and high-level stakeholders, communicating complex architectural concepts and advocating for strategic technology direction.
• Ensure that solutions developed across the architecture team are communicated effectively to stakeholders, providing clear narratives, impacts, and rationale behind decisions.
• Oversee enterprise architecture governance processes, ensuring that architecture decisions, exceptions, and standards are evaluated consistently and documented through mechanisms such as Architecture Decision Records.
• Review major technology initiatives and procurement proposals to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture strategy, cost-effectiveness, risk posture, and long-term sustainability.
• Identify cross-agency architectural risks and opportunities, guiding leadership on modernization trade-offs, transformation pathways, and enterprise-level design impacts.
• Foster collaborative partnerships with executives, agency leaders, program teams, and other enterprise governance functions to ensure architecture informs decision-making at all levels.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support the mission of OMES, partner agencies, and IT Enterprise Governance.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

This position works in a comfortable office setting with a computer for a large percentage of the workday. The noise level in the work environment is usually mild. Occasional travel may be required.

Minimum Qualifications

Requirements include a Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, management…