Senior Director, Architecture

Ping Identity•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

Ping Identity is seeking a leader for its Architecture team to spearhead the technical architecture strategy across the organization and guide the development of scalable, secure, and modern platforms. This role involves close collaboration with engineering, product, security, and executive teams to establish long-term technology direction, set architectural standards, and foster innovation. The ideal candidate will possess a blend of deep technical knowledge, strong business acumen, organizational influence, and an AI-first mindset to shape product development, operation, and user experience.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in software engineering and architecture leadership roles.
Proven experience designing and scaling large distributed systems and cloud-native architectures.
Strong expertise in security, identity, APIs, data architecture, and modern application platforms.
Experience leading architecture across complex enterprise environments.
Experience conducting technical due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, including evaluation of architecture, engineering maturity, security, scalability, operational readiness, and integration complexity.
Demonstrated ability to influence senior executives and large engineering organizations.
Deep understanding of modern software development practices including DevSecOps, SRE, CI/CD, and platform engineering.
AI-first mindset with practical experience applying AI technologies to software development, operational efficiency, platform capabilities, or customer experiences.
Strong communication, collaboration, and strategic thinking skills.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

Nice To Haves

Experience with generative AI, LLM platforms, AI infrastructure, or AI governance frameworks.
Background in cybersecurity, identity, SaaS, or enterprise platforms.
Experience driving digital transformation in high-growth or global organizations.
Track record of building architecture practices and mentoring senior technical leaders.
Experience integrating acquired technologies and engineering organizations into larger enterprise platforms.

Responsibilities

Define and drive enterprise and product architecture strategy aligned with business goals.
Lead architectural decisions across cloud, platform, application, data, security, and integration domains.
Establish architecture principles, governance, reference architectures, and engineering standards.
Drive modernization initiatives including cloud-native platforms, distributed systems, APIs, and data architectures.
Partner with product and engineering leaders to ensure scalability, reliability, performance, and security.
Champion developer productivity, platform engineering, automation, and operational excellence.
Evaluate emerging technologies and translate innovation into practical business value.
Lead technical due diligence efforts for acquisitions, including platform evaluation, architecture assessment, scalability analysis, security posture review, technical debt assessment, and integration planning.
Partner with executive leadership, corporate development, and product teams to assess acquisition targets and integration strategies.
Build and mentor a high-performing architecture organization and technical leadership community.
Collaborate with executive leadership on technology investments, roadmaps, and strategic initiatives.
Influence cross-functional teams through technical leadership, communication, and organizational alignment.
Embed AI-first thinking into platform, product, and engineering strategies, including the use of AI-assisted development, intelligent automation, and AI-enabled product capabilities.