Senior Enterprise Architect - REMOTE

Velera

4d•Remote

About The Position

Join the People Helping People Velera is the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO) and an integrated fintech solutions provider. The company serves more than 4,000 financial institutions throughout North America, operating with velocity to help our clients keep pace with the rapid momentum of change and fuel growth in the new era of financial services. Our purpose: We accelerate partners’ success through innovative financial technology solutions and inspired service. The Opportunity The Senior Enterprise Architect (EA) is a senior strategic technology leader responsible for aligning business strategy with enterprise-wide architectural direction. The role provides vision, governance, and oversight across business, application, data, technology, and security domains to ensure Velera’s capabilities evolve cohesively, securely, and sustainably. The Sr. EA works closely with executives, Strategic Portfolio Managers (SPMs), Portfolio Managers (PMs), and Product leadership to evaluate new ideas, shape strategic demand, and translate early concepts into actionable architectural deliverables. Through structured discovery engagements, the Sr EA transforms business ideas into statements of architecture that define architectural epics, high-level estimates, architecture tiers (1, 2, or 3), required standards, and architectural building blocks. The Sr EA acts as the strategic bridge between SPM/PM (strategy) and Solution Architects (technical solution) by providing SAs with the architectural requirements, context, and constraints needed to design scalable, secure, and compliant solutions. This role oversees the enterprise continuum, architecture repository, capability models, roadmaps, and governance processes to ensure alignment across teams and adherence to enterprise standards. This position demands deep technical breadth, business acumen, enterprise modeling expertise, exceptional communication skills, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders while elevating architectural maturity across the organization.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required. Master’s degree (MS or MBA) preferred.
TOGAF 9+ required; SAFe preferred.
Cloud architecture certifications (Microsoft Azure Architect, AWS Solutions Architect) preferred.
Additional leadership or professional certifications (e.g., Open CA Level 2/3, ITIL, CISSP/CISM) a plus.
10–15+ years of Enterprise Architecture or closely related senior architecture roles
15+ years of IT, engineering, or technology leadership experience
12–15+ years of planning, designing, and governing enterprise‑class solutions
10+ years in financial services, banking, or payments
Architecture Leadership Experience A Sr. EA should have demonstrable leadership beyond solution execution: Led architecture across multiple product lines, business domains, or portfolios Chaired or co‑chaired Architecture Review Boards (ARB), Centers of Practice, or technical governance bodies Directed and matured enterprise‑wide architecture practices, reference models, and capability frameworks Proven experience influencing VP‑ and SVP‑level stakeholders and driving alignment among senior leaders Led major enterprise transformation initiatives (e.g., cloud modernization, platform consolidation, data modernization)
Enterprise Modeling & Framework Expertise The EA role requires competency — a Sr. EA requires mastery: TOGAF 9+ expert‑level proficiency Deep applied experience with ArchiMate, Sparx EA/Prolaborate, enterprise capability modeling, roadmapping Has built multi‑year enterprise roadmaps, published architecture standards, and driven enterprise adoption Experience leading federated architecture practices across multiple stakeholder groups
Strategic & Portfolio Experience A Sr. EA operates closer to executive strategy: Direct partnership with executives, SPMs, PMs, CFO/finance partners, and enterprise planning groups Experience driving enterprise‑level prioritization, strategic planning, and investment governance Ability to convert ambiguous enterprise problems into enterprise strategies, frameworks, and capability models
Technology Breadth & Deep Expertise While the EA role requires broad knowledge, the Sr. EA should show: Recognized expert across at least four architecture domains (business, app, data, tech, security) Deep specialization in at least one (ex: cloud architecture, data platforms, integration architecture, cybersecurity) Experience governing modern enterprise architectures at scale: Multi‑cloud & hybrid cloud Containerization & microservices API & integration platforms Enterprise data platforms (Snowflake, Cosmos, etc.) Enterprise‑level security & compliance frameworks
Cross‑Domain & Cross‑Portfolio Governance The Sr. EA elevates from portfolio to enterprise authority: Governed architectural standards across the entire organization Proven experience ensuring cross‑team consistency, reuse, and standardization Led enterprise architecture maturity programs and continuous improvement initiatives
Leadership (Even Without Direct Reports) While the EA role has no supervisory responsibility, Sr. EA typically includes leadership: Mentored and developed architects Helped build career ladders, role definitions, and competency models Led communities of practice, working groups, and architecture learning initiatives

Responsibilities

Strategic Architecture, Planning & Governance Define and maintain enterprise-wide architecture vision, standards, principles, and reference models.
Ensure alignment of enterprise architecture with organizational strategy, capability maturity priorities, and multi-year roadmaps.
Govern architecture compliance through ARB, PTB, PTO, and other architectural oversight frameworks.
Maintain and evolve the enterprise architecture repository and the enterprise continuum.
Portfolio Discovery, Demand Shaping & Architectural Intake Partner with Strategic Portfolio Managers (SPMs) and Portfolio Managers (PMs) during Discovery Sessions to translate business ideas into structured architectural concepts.
Create Statements of Architecture capturing: Architectural epics Architectural stakeholders Architectural dependencies High-level estimate ranges Architecture categories (Tier 1, 2, or 3) Standards, patterns, and required architectural building blocks in scope for the “project” Ensure architectural decisions and constraints are documented early to reduce downstream risk and enhance delivery predictability.
Provide SPMs and PMs with data-driven architectural insights supporting prioritization, investment decisions, and portfolio planning.
Partnering with enablement/intake, act as the architectural authority, determining what must escalate to Solution Architecture, Platform Engineering, or the Architecture Review Board.
Bridge Between Strategy and Solution Architecture Serve as the strategic handoff point between SPM/PM and Solution Architects: EAs define enterprise direction and architectural requirements SAs design technical solutions within those boundaries
Business, Data, Application & Technology Architecture Partnering with Center of Excellence/Business Process Team, perform business capability modeling, gap analysis, value stream analysis, and business scenario development.
Expand and mature the enterprise data architecture footprint and its relationships to business and application architectures.
Develop architecture artifacts including matrices, diagrams, principles, architecture building blocks, and future-state models.
Perform modeling in EA Sparx, Prolaborate, or similar tools using TOGAF and ArchiMate standards.
Enterprise Road mapping & Technology Strategy Build and maintain long-term technology, application, and data roadmaps aligned with business strategy.
Assess emerging technologies and trends for enterprise adoption and competitive advantage.
Lead technology rationalization, end-of-support planning, and modernization strategy.
Owns architectural oversight across the entire portfolio, ensuring consistency, reuse, and alignment across all initiatives, programs and delivery teams.
Risk, Compliance & Operational Readiness Ensure architecture aligns with regulatory standards (PCI, PII, etc.).
Evaluate architectures for security, scalability, performance, resilience, and interoperability.
Guide design decisions related to HA, DR, BCP, and operational effectiveness.
Leadership, Collaboration & Communication Coach, mentor, and guide various levels of architects, engineers, analysts, and other technical stakeholders.
Lead and participate in Architecture Review Board (ARB), Architecture’s Community of Practice (COP), and technical steering groups.
Communicate architectural vision and decisions to executive, business, and technical audiences.
Foster collaboration across business and technology domains.
EAs define the enterprise architecture direction, standards, patterns, and guardrails; Solution Architects apply these during detailed technical solution design.
Provide SAs with the architectural context, standards, epics, constraints, and modeling outputs required to begin solution design.
Ensure consistency and reusability across solutions by guiding SAs to follow established enterprise patterns and building blocks.
Serve as escalation point for complex cross-domain design decisions.