VP, Enterprise Architecture & AI Innovation

Hayward Holdings, Inc.•Charlotte, NC

About The Position

The Vice President, Enterprise Architecture & AI Innovation defines and executes Hayward’s enterprise technology vision, architecture strategy, AI strategy, and innovation roadmap to support business growth, operational excellence, and digital transformation. The role sets enterprise-wide technology direction and standards; leads the company’s AI agenda, including strategy, platform direction, governance, responsible AI, risk and privacy, adoption, and value realization; and aligns technology investments with business priorities and long-term objectives. Working closely with business leaders and teams across applications, cybersecurity, data and analytics, Legal, and Enterprise Risk Management, this executive identifies and scales valuable AI opportunities, establishes foundations for responsible AI adoption, and ensures technology investments deliver measurable value. The role leads technology modernization and optimization and provides enterprise leadership for emerging technologies, ensuring innovation is scalable, secure, well-governed, and aligned with Hayward’s business and technology strategy. The Vice President builds and leads a high-performing organization of enterprise and solution architects, AI leaders, and innovation professionals. The role partners with the Chief Digital & Information Officer on enterprise technology strategy and provides thought leadership to senior leaders and business stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
15+ years of progressive technology experience, including significant enterprise leadership responsibility.
10+ years leading enterprise architecture, solution architecture, digital transformation, AI, or innovation organizations.
Demonstrated experience developing enterprise technology strategies, standards, governance models, and multi-year roadmaps.
Experience implementing AI, cloud, analytics, integration, automation, and digital transformation initiatives at scale.
Proven ability to influence executive leaders, build cross-functional alignment, and lead enterprise-wide change.
Experience managing senior technical talent, strategic partners, and complex technology portfolios.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Technology, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
TOGAF or another recognized enterprise architecture credential.
Enterprise architecture, cloud architecture, or solution architecture certification.
Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud architecture certification.
AI, data, product management, Agile, or project management credentials.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain the enterprise architecture strategy, multi-year roadmap, standards, principles, and governance framework.
Define target-state architecture across applications, data, integration, cloud, infrastructure, security, and emerging technologies.
Lead architecture review boards and technology governance processes.
Establish enterprise technology standards, reference architectures, reusable patterns, and lifecycle management practices.
Develop and execute an enterprise AI strategy and roadmap aligned with business priorities.
Identify and prioritize opportunities for generative AI, machine learning, intelligent automation, and predictive analytics.
Establish AI governance, literacy, risk management, ethical-use standards, and responsible AI practices.
Partner with business leaders to translate AI opportunities into measurable outcomes.
Monitor emerging technology trends and assess their relevance, feasibility, risk, and potential enterprise value.
Lead the enterprise innovation program and technology incubation initiatives.
Evaluate new technologies, platforms, vendors, and strategic partnerships.
Create processes for experimenting with, prototyping, piloting, scaling, and measuring innovative solutions.
Foster continuous improvement, responsible experimentation, and digital innovation.
Partner with the Chief Digital & Information Officer to develop and communicate enterprise technology strategy.
Align technology investments and capability roadmaps with enterprise objectives and business-unit priorities.
Support annual technology planning, portfolio prioritization, architecture decisions, and investment recommendations.
Develop multi-year roadmaps balancing innovation, modernization, technical debt reduction, risk, and operational stability.
Provide executive-level thought leadership to senior leaders and business stakeholders.
Collaborate with data and analytics leaders to establish enterprise data architecture and governance practices.
Ensure integration strategies support business process optimization, reliable data exchange, and appropriate data accessibility.
Promote architecture designs that maximize interoperability, automation, analytics, and reuse.
Drive cloud-first and platform-based architecture approaches where appropriate to business needs and risk requirements.
Build and lead a high-performing team of enterprise architects, solution architects, AI leaders, and innovation professionals.
Attract, develop, engage, and retain technology talent; mentor technology leaders and architecture professionals across the organization.
Establish performance goals, operating rhythms, succession plans, and capability-development priorities.
Partner with cybersecurity, legal, privacy, risk, and compliance leaders to ensure architecture designs meet applicable requirements.
Embed security-by-design, privacy-by-design, resilience, and responsible AI principles into technology solutions.
Incorporate regulatory, records, data-protection, and governance considerations into architecture decisions.
Ensure technology decisions support scalability, maintainability, security, interoperability, and business agility.