AVP, Enterprise Chief Architect

Lead and own evolving the enterprise target-state technology architecture for Sammons Financial Group Companies by translating business and technology strategies and priorities into architecture principles, target-state designs, technology standards, and integrated multi-year architecture roadmaps that guide modernization, simplification, interoperability, and investment decisions. Oversee the Enterprise Architecture practice and partner across business-unit technology teams, Security, Data, artificial intelligence (AI), Infrastructure, and Enterprise Platforms to promote architectural consistency, interoperability, reuse, resilience, simplification, and modernization while allowing for appropriate business-unit flexibility.

Establish architecture governance, decision frameworks, standards, and review processes that guide major technology investments and emerging capabilities, including cloud, data, AI, integration, security, and enterprise platforms. Develop the architecture organization and community of practice by defining clear accountabilities, methods, standards, and measures of effectiveness for enterprise, principal, domain, and solution architects.

• Define, maintain, and evolve the enterprise target-state technology architecture, ensuring alignment with business strategies, enterprise technology priorities, and long-term transformation objectives.
• Develop and govern integrated enterprise architecture roadmaps spanning applications, integration, data, AI, cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and enterprise platforms in partnership with accountable functional leaders.
• Establish enterprise architecture principles, reference architectures, standards, and reusable design patterns that promote interoperability, resilience, scalability, simplification, and technology modernization.
• Establish and lead a federated enterprise architecture governance framework, including architecture review processes, decision rights, design standards, exceptions, and escalation procedures.
• Chair the Enterprise Architecture Review Board and lead the architectural evaluation component of technology acquisition reviews, ensuring major technology decisions align with enterprise standards and target-state architecture.
• Partner with business-unit technology and enterprise platform leaders to guide strategic solution designs, evaluate architectural tradeoffs, and balance enterprise consistency with appropriate business-unit flexibility.
• Provide architecture guidance for major technology investments, acquisitions, business integrations, and enterprise transformation initiatives, identifying opportunities for technology reuse, consolidation, and long-term scalability.
• Establish an enterprise technology lifecycle and technical debt framework, identifying and prioritizing modernization, consolidation, rationalization, and retirement opportunities in collaboration with accountable technology leaders.
• Guide architectural evaluation of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, agentic capabilities, cloud-native solutions, integration platforms, and advanced data technologies, ensuring appropriate enterprise readiness and alignment.
• Establish architectural frameworks and reference patterns for secure, scalable, and interoperable adoption of emerging capabilities, partnering with Cybersecurity, Data, AI, and Enterprise Platform leaders on functional requirements and controls.
• Lead and develop the Enterprise Architecture practice, including direct leadership of assigned architects and matrixed collaboration with architects across business-unit technology organizations.
• Establish architecture methods, competency expectations, documentation standards, tools, and a community of practice that promotes consistent architectural quality and knowledge sharing.
• Maintain enterprise architecture visibility through business capability maps, current-state and target-state architectures, technology portfolio information, and architectural decision records.
• Define and report architecture effectiveness measures, including standards adoption, technology reuse, rationalization progress, technical debt trends, and governance effectiveness.
• Serve as a strategic technology architecture advisor to senior technology leaders, business unit technology, and executive leadership, communicating architectural direction, tradeoffs, risks, and implications of major technology decisions.
• Build strong partnerships across…