Lead Architecture Operations

Empower • Overland Park, KS

2d • $105,700 - $149,275 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Architecture Operations Lead will establish and manage the operational framework that enables the Data Architecture organization to operate as a disciplined, scalable, and execution-focused function. This role will help ensure architecture priorities translate into completed deliverables by driving accountability, enforcing standards, and maintaining visibility into progress, risks, and performance. This position partners closely with architecture leadership and senior architects to align priorities, structure execution, and protect focus on high-value work.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 7 to 10 years of experience in a related area.
• Proven ability to drive accountability across senior contributors without direct authority.
• Strong organizational, prioritization, and follow-through skills.
• Ability to translate ambiguous work into structured plans with clear deliverables and ownership.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience designing and managing intake processes, workflows, governance cadences, and operational routines.
• Ability to develop and interpret operational metrics to assess team performance and risk.
• Working knowledge of data architecture concepts, including data flows, APIs, platforms, governance, and integration patterns.
• Experience working with architecture, engineering, or platform teams in an operations, coordination, or governance capacity.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and tools, including Scrum and Kanban.
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced environments with competing priorities.

Responsibilities

• Define and enforce clear expectations for architecture deliverables, including establishing and maintaining a consistent definition of “done.”
• Track progress across architecture initiatives to ensure completion, proactively identifying and resolving stalled or ambiguous efforts.
• Design, implement, and manage a structured intake process for architecture requests, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities.
• Serve as a control point for incoming requests by filtering, prioritizing, and routing work while maintaining transparency between demand and committed priorities.
• Protect team focus by minimizing unstructured interruptions and enforcing adherence to defined priorities.
• Establish and manage the team’s operating cadence, including standups, roadmap sessions, capability meetings, and governance forums, ensuring meetings are structured and outcome-driven.
• Maintain action logs, decision records, and follow-up items to ensure commitments are documented and driven to closure.
• Own the lifecycle of architecture standards, policies, and design patterns, ensuring they are documented, accessible, and consistently applied.
• Monitor and enforce adherence to governance practices, identifying and addressing gaps in adoption.
• Coordinate updates to standards, policies, and patterns to align with evolving architecture and business needs.
• Develop and track operational metrics, including throughput, cycle time, delivery completion, and work distribution, to assess performance and execution effectiveness.
• Provide concise reporting on progress, risks, and performance, translating activity into actionable insights.
• Maintain visibility into priorities, work in progress, dependencies, and execution risks.
• Collaborate with OCIO, project management, delivery leads, and stakeholders to ensure alignment between architecture priorities and execution.
• Identify misalignment, capacity gaps, or execution risks and drive corrective actions.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• Retirement savings – 401(k) plan with generous company matching contributions (up to 6%), financial advisory services, potential company discretionary contribution, and a broad investment lineup
• Tuition reimbursement up to $5,250/year
• Business-casual environment that includes the option to wear jeans
• Generous paid time off upon hire – including a paid time off program plus ten paid company holidays and three floating holidays each calendar year
• Paid volunteer time — 16 hours per calendar year
• Leave of absence programs – including paid parental leave, paid short- and long-term disability, and Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
• Business Resource Groups (BRGs) – BRGs facilitate inclusion and collaboration across our business internally and throughout the communities where we live, work and play. BRGs are open to all.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree