Senior Business Architect

American Engineering Testing•St Paul, MN

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Business Architect is a senior individual contributor in AET’s Strategy and Growth function and reports to the VP of Strategy and Growth. The role owns the business process design for AET’s strategic plan and partners with IT to translate that design into working systems. AET is undertaking a multi-year enterprise transformation to scale the organization, standardize delivery, and build the systems, processes, and leadership capabilities needed for the future. The Senior Business Architect connects decisions made by the Senior Leadership Team with functional workstreams, IT teams, and vendors, shaping strategy into processes, capabilities, and technology and keeping the program on track. The position owns future-state process and capability design for Road to 2030 initiatives; partners with IT on technology outcomes and roadmaps; leads requirements work and vendor evaluations; and oversees program planning, tracking, governance, and cross-functional facilitation. The role also supports executive and Board-level program updates. The position primarily operates in a professional office environment and uses standard office equipment. A hybrid work schedule is available in accordance with AET’s hybrid work policy, provided daily responsibilities do not require onsite presence. Physical demands include regularly talking and hearing; frequently standing, walking, using hands or fingers, handling or feeling, reaching, and lifting or moving up to 10 pounds; and occasionally sitting, climbing or balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling, and lifting or moving up to 25 pounds. Required vision abilities include close, distance, color, and peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in business, information systems, engineering, or a related field.
At least 8 years of experience in business architecture, business analysis, transformation, or strategy execution, including significant experience partnering with IT on system or process change.
Hands-on experience with at least one enterprise system implementation, such as ERP, project management, or CRM, from requirements through go-live.
Experience leading vendor evaluations and selection.
Proficiency in process and workflow modeling and requirements documentation tools.
Authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. without requiring visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

Experience in professional services, engineering, or project-based organizations.
Ability to move fluently between business and technical language and accurately translate between stakeholders.
Ability to surface stakeholder needs through effective questioning.
Ability to design and defend solutions to business and IT leaders.
Ability to facilitate productive working sessions that move groups from discussion to decisions and follow-through.
Ability to manage multiple workstreams and identify risks or misalignment early.
Clear, concise writing skills.
Ability to build trust across functions and levels and achieve results through influence.
Ability to create structure in ambiguity and adapt to shifting priorities while maintaining momentum.
Attention to detail in requirements and decision documentation.

Responsibilities

Own future-state process and capability design for Road to 2030 initiatives.
Document current-state processes and design future-state workflows, identifying opportunities to standardize, simplify, or automate.
Set business architecture standards for initiative teams, including process-mapping conventions, requirements templates, and design documentation.
Identify incomplete, conflicting, or unclear design decisions and drive them to resolution before implementation is affected.
Define data and reporting requirements behind program KPIs.
Serve as the primary business-side partner to IT leadership on transformation-related technology, translating business processes into actionable technology outcomes.
Co-own the business-to-technology roadmap with IT, sequencing which processes are automated, replaced, or integrated and when.
Lead requirements elicitation through interviews, workshops, and working sessions with subject matter experts, producing detailed requirements for IT and vendors.
Act as business design authority on system implementations by reviewing and signing off on solution designs, defining acceptance criteria, and confirming delivered solutions reflect requirements.
Identify gaps between requirements and delivered solutions and work with IT to resolve them before go-live.
Lead vendor evaluations end to end, including scoring criteria, demonstrations, fit-gap analysis, and recommendations to the Senior Leadership Team.
Maintain the integrated program roadmap, initiative work plans, dependency log, and RAID log across active Road to 2030 initiatives.
Partner with initiative leads to maintain realistic work plans and track progress against milestones.
Surface risks and dependencies early and escalate proactively.
Define project management templates, standards, and operating rhythms for initiative teams.
Document design decisions, scope changes, and key outcomes throughout the program lifecycle.
Support monthly program updates, executive briefings, and Board-level materials with the VP of Strategy and Growth.
Design and facilitate cross-functional working sessions, including readiness reviews, workstream integration sessions, and decision-making forums.
Coordinate the cross-initiative governance calendar, including agendas, materials, summaries, and decision tracking.
Maintain the readiness inventory and gate criteria across functional areas, validating progress with business and IT leaders.
Ensure interdependent initiative owners have the forums, information, and structured conversations needed to stay aligned.