Senior Manager, IT Architecture

Xcel Energy•Minneapolis, MN

23h•$156,000 - $196,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Manager, IT Architecture leads a team of architects responsible for defining and governing technology strategy, architecture, and roadmaps across the Customer and ERP domains. This role partners closely with business and technology leaders to evolve business capabilities, support enterprise priorities, and ensure technology investments align with long-term business and technology strategies. As a people leader and architecture leader, the Senior Manager is responsible for domain strategy, architecture governance, technical leadership, and the development of architectural talent. The role influences technology decisions, drives adoption of enterprise architecture standards, and supports business transformation through effective architecture practices.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Technology, Science, Business or related field, or 4 years of experience equivalent to the position.
Five years of prior people leadership experience
Ten years of experience with end-to-end service lifecycle, business process, project or product management.
Five years of experience with strategic planning, portfolio prioritization, delivery execution, and operations.
Excellent communication skills, effective with varying organizational levels and skill sets.
Excellent Relationship Management and collaboration skills, with a track record of working as one team cross-organizationally to drive innovation and business results.
Experience working within a highly regulated industry.
Ability to deliver value in compliance with policies and regulations.
Demonstrated ability to apply a customer focus, problem solve, and drive continuous improvement to solutions, systems and processes.
Demonstrated ability to drive, adopt, and lead others through change in a diverse and dynamic environment.
Experience with Sourcing and Contract Management.
Proven ability to attain and hold in-depth acumen in business process, technical knowledge, and architectural topology.

Nice To Haves

Ten years of progressive experience designing and delivering SAP-centric business solutions, including deep technical architecture and implementation experience.
Demonstrated ability to operate as both a people leader and an enterprise architect, combining organizational leadership with deep, hands-on architecture engagement and technical thought leadership.
Ability to simplify and communicate complex technical ecosystems into clear, structured, executive-ready narratives and visuals, including end-to-end customer journeys, system flows, and architecture blueprints, tailored to audiences ranging from engineers to senior executives.
Demonstrated experience presenting complex technical topics to executive leadership, including CEO, CCO, and CTO audiences, with the ability to simplify technical depth into clear business context, implications, and actionable recommendations.
Experience developing utility regulatory testimony content for presentation to commissions and regulatory audiences, with the ability to explain complex technical, operational, and customer impacts in a clear, credible, and business-relevant manner.
Strong understanding of Utility Financial Business model and business processes, including how accounting, billing, revenue, regulatory, and customer operations intersect within Customer systems in a utility environment.
Proven experience within the Customer and ERP domains, with accountability for shaping and governing end-to-end customer technology ecosystems. Demonstrated ability to define architectures across complex, integrated landscapes, including customer engagement platforms, billing and revenue systems, and upstream and downstream enterprise capabilities, while clearly articulating system interactions, dependencies, and business outcomes to both technical and executive stakeholders.
Experience operating in large-scale utility or similar environments, with deep expertise in core enterprise platforms and packaged solutions, including SAP, Salesforce Energy & Utilities Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud or similar CRM platforms, metering systems such as Itron, and contact center platforms.
Strong architecture expertise across integration, data, and AI domains, including enterprise integration patterns such as APIs, event-driven architectures, and messaging, as well as modern data architectures. Proven ability to design cohesive, scalable, and business-aligned solutions spanning hybrid environments across cloud and on-premises platforms.
Demonstrated ability to define, govern, and drive adoption of reference architectures, architecture patterns, and technology standards aligned to enterprise strategy and long-term sustainability.
Strong solutioning capability, including leading complex technical problem solving, diagnosing issues, navigating ambiguity, and delivering clear, actionable recommendations and trade-offs.
Experience engaging with system integrators, software vendors, and strategic partners to resolve technical challenges, guide architecture decisions, and align delivery activities with enterprise architecture standards and target-state roadmaps. Experience contributing to Statements of Work, architecture deliverables, and technology evaluations is preferred.
Proven ability to lead and influence cross-organizational teams, driving alignment to enterprise architecture standards while enabling execution across multiple concurrent programs and initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop a high-performing architecture team, including hiring, coaching, performance management, succession planning, and professional development. Foster a culture of technical excellence, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
Define and evolve domain architectures and roadmaps that align business objectives, technology investments, and delivery priorities. Partner with business leaders to identify capability gaps, establish target-state capabilities, and drive business outcomes.
Develop technology strategies and target-state architectures for assigned business domains, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy, regulatory requirements, and long-term technology objectives.
Establish and govern architecture principles, standards, patterns, and reference architectures to ensure solutions are secure, scalable, resilient, integrated, and aligned with enterprise goals. Provide architectural oversight for major programs and technology investments.
Partner with business, technology, and executive leaders to shape domain strategies, technology investments, and key decisions. Communicate complex technical concepts in clear business terms and build alignment across stakeholders.
Support architecture modernization and technology transformation initiatives across applications, data, integration, cloud, AI, and platform ecosystems. Drive simplification, reduce technical debt, and ensure solutions, vendor engagements, and technology investments align with approved architectures and business objectives.