Distinguished Architect - Passenger Travel Experience - Remote

Amtrak

11d•$179,300 - $232,416•Remote

About The Position

The Distinguished Architect - Passenger Travel Experience provides visionary, companywide architecture services to align portfolio technology investments with corporate goals and the organization’s ability to adapt to an evolving business environment. As a Digital Technology expert, the role uses communication, influence, guidance, and governance to maximize returns on technology investments, reduce time to capability, and minimize operating costs. The architect selects and develops technology capabilities to deliver business-relevant change. As part of the Digital Technology architecture team, this role communicates target-state architecture, roadmaps, and change progress to portfolio leaders and stakeholders. It promotes understanding of architecture principles, champions strategic enterprise change, and provides technical leadership and guidance. The role focuses on passenger-experience architecture across stations, digital channels, onboard services, and operational environments. It addresses complex, cross-domain enterprise initiatives and systems of systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, performant, and maintainable. The architect works with Solution Architects, engineering leads, business teams, and stakeholders to translate requirements into technical designs and align technology decisions with business strategy. The position is remote optional, with travel requirements of up to 25%. Relocation is not offered. The listed salary range is $179,300–$232,416, with pay dependent on factors such as education, work experience, and certifications. Additional incentive and pay programs may be available, including a short-term incentive bonus based on individual and company performance.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data and intelligence, or a related field, with 13 or more years of relevant experience; alternatively, equivalent work experience with at least five years in a Principal or Senior Principal Architect role within a large, complex enterprise.
Repeated success directing significantly complex architecture initiatives valued at more than $7 million, involving varied stakeholders, multiple lines of business, diverse solution types, highly regulated environments, and large-scale business transformations.
Expertise driving passenger-experience architecture across stations, digital channels, onboard services, and operational environments.
Architecture experience with unified communications, public address, intercom, emergency communications, and passenger information displays.
Architecture experience with passenger Wi-Fi and onboard connectivity, including cellular or satellite backhaul, bandwidth management, observability, and cybersecurity.
Experience architecting onboard information systems for journey status, service alerts, announcements, crew communications, telemetry, and centralized content.
Experience with food and beverage technology, including point-of-sale, mobile ordering, payments, inventory, loyalty, and offline processing.
Ability to manage multiple architecture engagements and plan and use collaborative cross-functional teams effectively.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills; ability to work collaboratively in an integrated team environment and be self-motivated.
Relationship-building and collaboration skills across diverse, matrixed stakeholders and customers.
Ability to surface, prioritize, and balance priorities across multiple stakeholders.
Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, including experience using data to inform decisions.
Technical and critical-thinking expertise to break complex processes and products into modular, modern architectures.
Proven ability to align resources, processes, and technology initiatives with business strategies across multiple lines of business or business units.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent applied experience.
At least 13 years of relevant industry experience.
Strong understanding of architecture best practices and value methodology.
Knowledge of IT, OT, domain, and business architecture.
Experience with Agile processes for business value realization.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in business or a related field.
17 or more years of progressive experience in technology and architecture, including at least 12 years in a Principal or Senior Principal Architect role within a large, complex enterprise.
Travel and transportation experience or relevant technology domain experience.
Experience with governance, risk, regulatory, and compliance matters.
Skills and knowledge spanning multiple architecture domains, such as business architecture, application/solution architecture, technical/infrastructure architecture, and information/data architecture.
Experience with onboard fleet technology, including rolling-stock networks, edge computing, gateways, remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and lifecycle management.
Contributions to the architecture profession or industry, such as publications, research, intellectual property, innovation, training development, or work with standards bodies or professional organizations; contribution to developing professional architects through knowledge sharing.

Responsibilities

Set the architectural vision for core capabilities and align patterns to support consistency and reuse.
Define enterprise principles, patterns, and guidance for technology, data capabilities, platforms, infrastructure, and application development, deployment, and maintenance.
Provide oversight and governance for current, interim, and potential future states of key architecture domains, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
Ensure technology reference architectures, standards, and guidelines support safety, security, stability, and compliance with industry standards.
Drive adoption and reuse of preferred resources, processes, and technology across portfolios and functions.
Mentor architects and Digital Technology teams, providing guidance and fostering a culture of excellence.
Communicate effectively with senior leadership and stakeholders throughout the company.
Create strategic roadmaps and plans for evolving Digital Technology architecture, supporting business strategy, organizational change, and prioritization of initiatives by business value and strategic importance.
Guide investment decisions by aligning technology plans and investments with business vision and strategy.
Envision architecture patterns and strategies that support competitive differentiation and business transformation.
Resolve complex and ambiguous architectural challenges spanning domains, systems, and business units, providing definitive technical direction.
Design, govern, and oversee implementation of robust, scalable, and efficient architectural solutions for cross-domain business problems.
Translate complex technical concepts into understandable terms for technical and non-technical audiences.
Act as a liaison between engineering and business teams to promote alignment and understanding.
Help identify, evaluate, and adopt emerging technologies and architectural patterns that support differentiation and business transformation.
Work with Solution Architects and engineering leads to translate requirements into robust technical designs for complex solutions.
Ensure products in major enterprise initiatives and complex systems of systems are scalable, secure, performant, and maintainable.
Provide expert technical guidance and contribute to the evolution of architectural standards.
Manage multiple architecture engagements and plan and use collaborative cross-functional teams to achieve architecture objectives and key results.
Contribute to the architecture profession and develop other professional architects by sharing knowledge.

Benefits

Health, dental, and vision insurance
401(k) with employer match
Generous paid time off
Wellness programs
Railroad Retirement benefits
Paid caregiving days and backup care
Health Savings Account
Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness
Fertility and family building benefits
No-cost Personal Health Advocate
Student Loan Assistance
Adoption and surrogacy assistance
Medical plan opt-out credit
Tuition and education reimbursement
Paid family leave
Life insurance
Rail pass privileges
Short- and long-term disability insurance
Employee Assistance Program
No-cost financial advisor sessions
Commuter and Flexible Spending Accounts
Potential short-term incentive bonus based on individual and company performance