Sr Architect Staff, Customer Digital Solutions

American Electric Power • Columbus, OH

2d • $160,434 - $208,566

About The Position

The Sr Architect Staff, Customer Digital Solutions defines and governs the technology architecture, capability strategy, AI-enabled delivery model, and multi-year roadmap for the Customer Digital Platforms portfolio. The role connects business strategy, customer experience, product direction, enterprise architecture, engineering practices, and portfolio execution across web, mobile, chat, call center technology, and Gigawatt Customer.

A central responsibility is defining, implementing, and continuously improving an AI-Driven Development Lifecycle (AI-DLC). The AI-DLC embeds AI across inception, architecture, construction, testing, deployment, production operations, and continuous learning while maintaining human accountability for quality, security, risk, architecture, and production decisions.

The role partners closely with Product, Engineering, DevSecOps, Security, Observability, Operations, Enterprise Architecture, and business stakeholders to create a connected, secure, resilient, and continuously improving customer technology ecosystem. It owns the customer digital capability map, target-state architecture, integrated channel roadmap, modernization direction, and portfolio AI-DLC operating model, guardrails, adoption roadmap, and performance measures. It also builds and leads a high-performing team of architects, planners, analysts, and architecture governance professionals as needs evolve.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Approximately 12 or more years of relevant technology experience, including sustained leadership in enterprise or portfolio architecture, digital platforms, technology strategy, software delivery transformation, or large-scale modernization.
• Demonstrated experience defining or transforming delivery practices with AI across planning, architecture, engineering, testing, deployment, and operations.
• Strong knowledge of enterprise, domain, solution, integration, data, security, cloud, application, and operational architecture.
• Working knowledge of DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure as code, observability, reliability engineering, and modern production operations.
• Experience developing multi-year roadmaps, business cases, modernization strategies, and investment recommendations.
• Ability to influence across organizational boundaries and communicate effectively with senior business and technology leaders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with customer web, mobile, identity, CRM, contact center, conversational AI, digital communications, analytics, integration, and AI-native platforms.
• Experience with product operating models, Agile portfolio management, cloud platforms, API-first architecture, DevSecOps, observability, and platform engineering.
• Relevant architecture, AI, engineering, DevSecOps, or cloud certifications.
• Experience building an architecture practice and developing senior technical talent.
• Utility or other highly regulated industry experience is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Define, implement, and continuously improve a portfolio-wide AI-Driven Development Lifecycle spanning inception, construction, deployment, production operations, and learning.
• Establish how AI supports business-intent elaboration, requirements, architecture, design, task decomposition, code and test generation, deployment, observability, incident response, and knowledge reuse.
• Create architecture guardrails, approved patterns, quality gates, evaluation practices, controls, and human decision points for safe, reliable AI-enabled delivery.
• Align Product, Architecture, Engineering, Testing, Security, DevSecOps, Observability, Operations, Risk, and vendor teams around AI-DLC roles, artifacts, ceremonies, measures, and accountabilities.
• Build reusable context across architecture decisions, domain models, code, tests, telemetry, and incident learnings; measure AI-DLC effectiveness and pilot, refine, and scale practices across the customer technology portfolio.
• Partner with DevSecOps to define and implement portfolio-wide CI/CD, automation, security, quality, and release standards that operationalize the AI-DLC.
• Integrate AI-DLC practices with source control, delivery pipelines, automated testing, security scanning, infrastructure as code, release governance, and deployment processes.
• Collaborate with DevSecOps, Engineering, Security, and Operations to establish reusable pipeline patterns, platform capabilities, self-service automation, and engineering guardrails.
• Partner with Observability to define end-to-end telemetry, logging, metrics, tracing, alerting, service-level objectives, customer journey monitoring, and operational health standards.
• Establish visibility across customer channels, integrations, APIs, data services, and supporting platforms; use production telemetry, customer behavior, reliability measures, release outcomes, and incident learnings to improve architecture and delivery.
• Drive measurable improvements in deployment frequency, lead time for change, change failure rate, time to detect, time to restore, platform resilience, and delivery effectiveness.
• Ensure architecture decisions address deployment, operability, supportability, observability, security, and recovery requirements from the beginning of the lifecycle.
• Develop and maintain a consolidated capability map and integrated multi-year roadmap for the customer technology ecosystem.
• Define current-state, transition-state, and target-state architecture across channels, platforms, data, APIs, integrations, identity, and operations.
• Translate business strategy and customer experience objectives into architecture direction, investment priorities, and executable plans; lead architecture reviews and decision governance for significant initiatives and cross-channel changes.
• Establish reusable patterns, reference architectures, domain boundaries, integration approaches, and technology standards; drive modernization, simplification, platform reuse, technology rationalization, lifecycle planning, and technical debt reduction.
• Guide convergence of customer data, context, history, intent, and next-best actions across digital and assisted-service channels.
• Partner with business, product, experience, and operations leaders to understand customer needs, strategic initiatives, and desired outcomes; facilitate capability planning, roadmap development, architecture visioning, and investment trade-off discussions.
• Present portfolio strategy, AI-DLC progress, engineering enablement, architecture direction, dependencies, and technology risks to senior leadership; translate between customer journeys, business priorities, product direction, technology decisions, and delivery constraints.
• Develop business cases, technology options, investment recommendations, and modernization proposals; evaluate investments based on strategic alignment, customer impact, value, risk reduction, architecture fit, operational sustainability, and total cost.
• Support annual planning, capital forecasting, vendor strategy, and portfolio budgeting; manage cross-program dependencies, sequencing, constraints, architecture exceptions, and readiness decisions.
• Track roadmap progress, value realization, technology health, lifecycle risk, AI-DLC adoption, and engineering maturity.
• Build and lead a high-performing team of architects, planners, analysts, and architecture governance professionals as needs evolve.
• Create partnerships across Product, UX, Engineering, Testing, DevSecOps, Observability, Operations, Security, Infrastructure, Data, Architecture, and business teams; mentor leaders and architects in systems thinking, AI-enabled delivery, modern engineering, architecture decisions, and portfolio disciplines.
• Promote customer focus, safety, accountability, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Own the customer digital capability map, target-state architecture, integrated channel roadmap, modernization direction, and portfolio AI-DLC operating model, guardrails, adoption roadmap, and performance measures.
• Jointly define portfolio standards with DevSecOps and Observability leaders for CI/CD, automated controls, telemetry, operational readiness, and production feedback loops.
• Define where AI may recommend, generate, validate, automate, or act, and where human review and approval remain required; recommend investment priorities, sequencing, technology standards, and architecture trade-offs; approve or escalate significant architecture decisions and exceptions within the governance model.
• Establish the target AI-DLC, including phases, roles, artifacts, quality gates, human decision points, tooling principles, and measures.
• Establish a joint roadmap with DevSecOps and Observability for CI/CD maturity, automated controls, developer enablement, telemetry, customer journey monitoring, and operational feedback loops.
• Pilot and refine the AI-DLC within selected customer platform initiatives and create a repeatable approach for broader adoption.
• Create an integrated channel architecture and capability roadmap spanning web, mobile, chat, call center technology, and Gigawatt Customer.
• Develop current-state and target-state application, data, integration, delivery pipeline, and observability views.
• Create an executive-ready portfolio view connecting strategy, investments, dependencies, architecture, AI-DLC progress, engineering health, outcomes, and decisions.

Benefits

• Base salary
• Annual bonus
• Long-term incentive
• 401(k) match
• AEP Pension
• Comprehensive benefits package designed to support and enhance the overall well-being of employees.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior