Enterprise Architect- Applications (Hybrid)

Selective Insurance Company of America • Hartford, CT

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Enterprise Architect is a senior technical expert responsible for defining, governing, and optimizing the architecture of enterprise applications that include custom-developed solutions, COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf), and SaaS (Software as a Service). The successful architect will accelerate time-to-market, ensure scalability, maximize customer experience, optimize technology costs, and reduce technology risk. The architect will achieve this by promoting reference architectures and ensuring that applications are scalable, secure, compliant, upgradable, and well-integrated with Selective’s business processes and other architectural domains (data, infrastructure, solutions). The Enterprise Architect collaborates extensively with solution architects, software engineers, product teams, and business partners to deliver innovative solutions and align technical strategies with enterprise architecture (TOGAF) to support business goals

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years in software engineering; 5+ years in application architecture leadership within insurance/financial services.
• Deep understanding of enterprise and solution architecture relevant to insurance systems (policy management, claims, underwriting, customer portals).
• Expertise in distributed systems design, cloud platforms, microservices, and event-driven architecture.
• Knowledge of security, compliance, and legal requirements impacting software in the insurance industry.
• Deep expertise in modern application architectures (cloud, microservices, API-first, event-driven, etc.).
• Strong understanding of development processes, DevOps practices, and security standards.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Define, communicate, and maintain application architecture standards, reference architectures, and technology strategy for custom, COTS, and SaaS solutions, ensuring alignment with Selective's strategic objectives and cloud plans
• Partner with platform or developer experience teams to advocate for modern, effective tools, environments, and frameworks needed to deliver applications of all types, with a focus on enabling cloud-based application development and deployment
• Collaborate with solution architects, principal engineers, and software teams to ensure architectural consistency, design integrity, and readiness for evolving business and technology needs
• Advise engineering leadership regarding innovation, modernization, and risk, always considering application lifecycle, tech debt, and compliance requirements specific to COTS, SaaS, and hybrid or cloud custom platforms.
• Maintain an application technology and tech debt roadmap, prioritizing remediation/modernization in partnership with solution architects to advance platform health and scalability
• Oversee application architecture reviews and governance, collaborating with Solution and Enterprise Architects for major initiatives and ensuring business outcomes and NFRs (non-functional requirements) are met. This includes performance, resiliency, security, and integration standards adherence.
• Mentor application architecture, software engineering talent, and application delivery talent, fostering a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee technical risk assessments within the application domain and recommend mitigation approaches, focusing on operational risk, interoperability, technical debt reduction, and currency
• Act as the subject matter expert for application architecture, enabling business and IT teams to deliver business capabilities on secure cloud and hybrid platforms.
• Champion reference architectures, standards (API-first, event-driven, modularity, DDD), and maintainability - enabling implementation of current best practices and support long-term tech debt reduction across all application types

Benefits

• Selective Insurance offers a total rewards package that includes a competitive base salary, incentive plan eligibility at all levels, and a wide array of benefits designed to help you and your family stay healthy, achieve your financial goals, and balance the demands of your work and personal life.
• These benefits include comprehensive health care plans, retirement savings plan with company match, discounted Employee Stock Purchase Program, tuition assistance and reimbursement programs, and 20 days of paid time off.
• Additional details about our total rewards package can be found by visiting our benefits page.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees