Chief Architect

Description

Position Summary

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is seeking a Chief Architect to join our team supporting a major state & local government customer. This position reports to the Program Management Director and play a pivotal role in shaping and driving the strategic technology direction for the organization. This leadership position requires a deep understanding of multi-sourcing environments, systems integration, enterprise architecture including security, infrastructure, networking, business, technology/application, and data architecture. This position must have the ability to collaborate with multiple service providers. The Chief Architect and its teams will be responsible for creating and maintaining a comprehensive architectural framework, include infrastructure IT strategy, enterprise and solution design, technology roadmap and plan, System Security Plans (SSP) and Baselines, and capabilities mapping; to support the organization's enterprise architecture goals and ensure seamless integration of diverse enterprise IT services.

Essential duties of this position include:

• Define and develop the enterprise architecture strategy and roadmap aligned with business objectives and emerging technology trends.
• Lead the architecture governance process, ensuring all enterprise IT projects and initiatives align with the overall architectural vision.
• Design and implement robust, scalable, and secure architecture frameworks that support the integration of multiple IT services and platforms.
• Create architectural blueprints, recurring critical deliverables, and detailed documentation for systems integration, data flows, security frameworks, and application interfaces.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to cross-functional teams, including IT, development, operations, and external service providers.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders on multi-cloud designs and Artificial Intelligence.
• Stay abreast of new technologies, industry trends, and best practices to drive continuous improvement and innovation within the architecture domain.
• Act as the primary liaison between internal stakeholders and external service providers, ensuring clear communication and alignment on architectural requirements and standards.
• Oversee the integration of services from multiple vendors, ensuring interoperability, performance, and compliance with architectural standards.
• Establish and enforce architectural policies, standards, and guidelines to ensure consistency and quality across all IT initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with relevant regulations, data protection laws, and security standards.
• Identify and mitigate architectural risks, ensuring the resilience and reliability of integrated systems.
• Develop disaster recovery and business continuity plans for critical IT services.
• Collaborate with finance and procurement teams to manage the architecture budget, ensuring cost-effective solutions and optimal resource allocation.
• Help with creating/designing the appropriate enterprise reports, dashboards, and metrics (ServiceNow, PowerBI) for enterprise OLAs, SLAs, performance, compliance and incidents reviews.
• Ability to resolve complex issues related to enterprise-wide concerns.

Qualifications

Background / Experience

The ideal candidate will have extensive infrastructure experience including solution design; experience in translating business requirements and objectives into IT strategy; and experience with one or more frameworks for best practice delivery including ITIL v4 and TOGAF. Experience must include familiarity with application, platforms, cloud, and infrastructure layers.

Other key attributes include:

• Experience in supporting a very large, complex IT environment for a Federal or State Government
• Excellent communicator and collaborator, capable of working independently, in small groups, or directly with customers.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to see the big picture and anticipate future trends and challenges.
• Collaborative leader who can foster a culture of innovation, teamwork, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage multiple priorities effectively.
• Highly proficient in enterprise architecture tools and technologies, such as EA tools (Ardoq, LeanIX), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, etc.), and integration platforms.
• Experience with Artificial Intelligence technologies, such as text and content generation, code generation, operations, and creating, training, and evaluating/tuning data models.

Education / Certifications / Other

• Bachelors and 17 years or more experience; Masters and 15 years or more experience
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field is preferred.
• 10+ years of experience working in IT Architecture as an Enterprise Architecture, with at least 5 years in a leadership role preferably in a corporate environment.
• Relevant Certifications such as TOGAF, ITILv4, and Cloud Architecture are highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of networking protocols, infrastructure, operating systems, artificial, and cloud technologies.
• Experience with security technologies, such as firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, antivirus software, and SIEM solutions.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyze complex issues and propose effective solutions.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.

SAIC accepts applications on an ongoing basis and there is no deadline.

Covid Policy: SAIC does not require COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters. Customer site vaccination requirements must be followed when work is performed at a customer site.