Senior Director, Solution Architecture

ECPI University • Virginia Beach, VA

6d

About The Position

Transform your Career at ECPI University Since 1966, the dedicated employees at ECPI University have helped students achieve their goals via practical training and career-focused education with over 50 Associates, Bachelor’s and Master’s Programs. Our culture is to prioritize our students’ success through the support of our dynamic team and industry focused curriculum. Visit www.ecpi.edu/employment to learn more about how you can help people improve their lives through education. We are seeking a Sr. Director of Architecture to serve as the senior-most architecture leader and a key partner to the CTO in defining technology strategy, roadmaps, and architectural decisions across the organization. This role owns solution architecture across cloud platforms, data systems, integrations, and enterprise applications in a modern technology environment. It is not an enterprise architecture or governance-only role. The Sr. Director of Architecture will be hands-on, working directly with delivery teams while also partnering across technology leadership to ensure architectural decisions are aligned with operational realities, delivery capacity, and long-term strategy. The successful candidate will bring external experience from modern, cloud-forward environments and will be expected to define “what good looks like,” rationalize technology decisions, and help teams adopt consistent, scalable, and well-architected solutions.

Requirements

• 12+ years of progressive experience in software engineering and solution architecture roles.
• Demonstrated, hands-on experience designing and implementing modern, cloud-native architectures.
• Strong background with: Cloud data platforms, System and data integration, Enterprise application implementations
• Experience working in Agile (Scrum) delivery environments.
• Proven ability to operate effectively as: A strategic partner to the CTO, A collaborative peer across technology leadership, A hands-on contributor with front-line developers
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex technical decisions clearly and pragmatically.
• Important Note on Background Experience primarily limited to on-premise, legacy, or non-cloud environments will not be sufficient for this role. Candidates must demonstrate real-world experience building and operating solutions in modern cloud ecosystems.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in retail, eCommerce, SaaS, or similarly modern technology environments.
• Consulting or systems integration experience with direct responsibility for implementation, not strategy-only work.
• Experience leading or influencing contractors and consultants via dotted-line leadership.
• Track record of helping organizations define and adopt architectural standards and patterns.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the final authority on solution architecture decisions, in close partnership with the CTO.
• Act as a primary advisor to the CTO on: Technology strategy, Architecture roadmaps, Build vs. buy decisions, Platform selection and technology rationalization
• Design and review end-to-end solution architectures across domains, ensuring alignment with long-term strategy and delivery realities.
• Actively design, review, and evolve architectures spanning: Cloud-native platforms, Cloud data platforms, System and data integrations, Enterprise application implementations
• Work directly with developers and technical leads to ensure architectures are implementable, scalable, and aligned with modern best practices.
• Establish clear architectural patterns and reference solutions that teams can apply consistently.
• Partner across infrastructure, operations, application development, data, and analytics functions to define and operationalize modern cloud architectures.
• Help the organization effectively leverage cloud services and a modern data platform.
• Define and socialize patterns for: API-based and event-driven integrations, Data movement and access across platforms, Platform reuse, standardization, and consolidation
• Collaborate closely with technology leaders responsible for infrastructure, operations, software delivery, data, AI, and program execution.
• Ensure architectural decisions balance scalability, reliability, security, cost, and delivery velocity.
• Align architecture with delivery plans, operational support models, and Agile execution.
• Serve as a technical mentor and teacher, raising the architecture and engineering bar across teams.
• Work closely with individuals who currently function as architects to improve consistency, skill level, and architectural thinking.
• Model and reinforce Agile (Scrum) development practices in partnership with delivery leadership.
• Influence through expertise, collaboration, and credibility rather than hierarchy.

Benefits

• ECPI University provides a comprehensive benefits program designed to help our faculty and staff stay healthy, feel supported, and maintain a work/life balance.
• To learn more about benefits at ECPI University, click HERE .
• Committed to excellence and innovation, ECPI University is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed