ABC Supply-posted 4 months ago
Full-time • Senior
Beloit, WI
5,001-10,000 employees
Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

The Director of Enterprise Architecture (Head of Architecture) plays a critical leadership role in shaping the technical direction of the organization by enabling fast, aligned, and scalable decisions across a modern IT landscape. This leader drives the evolution of architecture from a traditional centralized gatekeeper model to a federated, self-service enablement model, deeply embedded within value streams and product delivery cycles. Reporting to the VP, Strategy and Delivery, this role leads both Enterprise Architecture and Solution Architecture capabilities, guiding the design of robust, reusable, and standards-aligned architectures that accelerate flow and reduce technical debt. The Head of Architecture partners closely with Product, Engineering, Data, Security, and Infrastructure leaders to ensure that architecture empowers teams to self-serve using templates, reference models, and guardrails while enabling speed without compromising cohesion or governance.

  • Translate enterprise and IT strategy into clear technical vision and progressive architectural roadmaps.
  • Build and evolve abstract reference architectures, starter kits, and self-serve playbooks for common solution patterns.
  • Define scalable, minimal viable standards (e.g., cloud-first, composability, API-first) that empower teams to build independently with confidence.
  • Support strategic change by documenting current and future states to inform transformation paths and support decentralized execution.
  • Implement lean governance models that provide automated checks, guidance, and decentralized assurance instead of manual reviews.
  • Make technical debt transparent and actionable, with clear thresholds and remediation patterns.
  • Deliver modular, scalable solution blueprints that align with enterprise patterns and meet localized product needs.
  • Serve as consultants and coaches to delivery teams, embedding architectural practices into their agile workflows.
  • Provide technology evaluation checklists, integration templates, and data flow diagrams as self-serve assets.
  • Ensure architecture enables performance, scalability, and maintainability while supporting time-to-market goals.
  • Work side-by-side with engineering teams to support high-impact design decisions in delivery.
  • Lead a distributed community of architects (Data, Security, Infra, etc.) through architecture guilds and shared backlogs.
  • Maintain integration between domain-specific standards and enterprise-wide guidelines, using self-service registries.
  • Mediate competing priorities through a structured architectural decision-making process.
  • Publish architectural 'how-tos', success patterns, and failures openly to foster learning across domains.
  • Transform architecture into a consultative, self-service, product-aligned function.
  • Lead and coach a team of enterprise and solution architects to operate as enablers and internal advisors.
  • Design EA services as reusable offerings, such as capability maps, platform decision trees, or governance-as-code tooling.
  • Establish a federated model of architecture stewardship, assigning ownership of key patterns to domain or platform teams.
  • Translate strategic imperatives into architectural execution paths across products and platforms.
  • Use architecture to accelerate strategy realization by enabling teams to align autonomously through clarity of direction.
  • Construct and maintain tooling and guidance that connects long-range architectural vision to in-flight initiatives.
  • Support experimentation by publishing emerging tech guides, validating patterns, and providing safe architecture 'sandboxes.'
  • Run lean architecture experiments to validate new approaches before scaling.
  • Incorporate innovation into reusable assets once proven.
  • Position architecture as a trusted partner, not an approver.
  • Enable Product Managers and Engineers to understand the 'why' behind standards through storytelling, decision rationale, and open playbooks.
  • Offer on-demand consultation, embedded advisory support, and open office hours to support teams across the enterprise.
  • Ensure every architectural decision maps back to business value and user impact.
  • Develop business-aligned architectural artifacts, capability maps, maturity models, and platform heatmaps that can be reused by others.
  • Lead architectural reviews only where needed, replacing oversight with tooling where possible.
  • Enable transparent portfolio decisions via roadmaps, architecture debt scoring, and technical health metrics.
  • Ensure architectural considerations are baked into early-stage planning via self-service intake kits for initiatives.
  • Provide high-value input to digital platform investment prioritization.
  • Master's or bachelor's degree in business, computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, system analysis, or a related field of study, or equivalent experience.
  • Ten or more years of experience in at least three disciplines, such as business, information, solution, or technical architecture, application development, middleware, information analysis, database management, or operations in a multitier environment.
  • 10+ years in architecture, engineering, or technology strategy, including leading distributed or matrixed teams.
  • Proven experience shifting architecture practices to modern, federated models in product-centric environments.
  • Experience leading architecture in flow-based delivery environments (e.g., Lean, Team Topologies, domain-driven design).
  • Expertise across SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, APIs, data architectures, and platform services.
  • Enablement-first mindset: Ability to design practices that empower others to execute architecture without waiting.
  • Lean governance: Skilled at implementing oversight models that reduce friction and support decentralized decisions.
  • Architectural storytelling: Able to frame architectural decisions around business value and user impact.
  • Consultative influence: Leads with questions, not commands; prioritizes shared understanding over control.
  • Systems thinking: Understands the broader enterprise implications of localized technical choices.
  • Health, dental, and vision coverage - eligible after 60 days, low out of pocket
  • 401(k) with generous company match - eligible after 60 days, immediately vested
  • Employer paid employee assistance program
  • Employer paid short term and long-term disability
  • Employer paid life insurance
  • Flex spending
  • Paid vacation
  • Paid sick days
  • Paid holidays
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