VP, Tech Strategy and Enterprise Architecture

The Vice President of Technology Strategy and Enterprise Architecture is accountable for setting and executing the enterprise's technology vision and strategy. Collaborating closely with business and IT stakeholders, this leader defines models, architectures, and capabilities, ensuring adherence to standards and best practices while spearheading solution development. Integral to this role is the ability to anticipate business requirements and deliver innovative technology solutions, aligning with our core value of supporting people. Reporting directly to the CIO, the Vice President of Technology Strategy and Enterprise Architecture oversees enterprise architecture and tech strategy, driving digital thought leadership and executing transformation initiatives. The primary objective is to establish and enhance the organization's technology strategy and enterprise architecture capabilities.

Supervisory Responsibilities (reporting structure):

This position reports directly to the Chief Information Officer. Lead a diverse team comprising cloud specialists, architects, and data experts. Provide guidance, mentorship, and support to foster professional growth. Coordinate projects, delegate tasks, and ensure timely completion. Conduct performance evaluations and address team concerns. Drive project success and achieve organizational objectives through effective leadership.

NATURE & SCOPE: (daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks, duties, and responsibilities):

IT Strategy and Leadership:

• Develop and articulate the company's application strategy and vision, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Provide leadership, mentorship, and professional growth opportunities for the architecture and engineering teams.
• Cultivate a culture of dedication, continuous improvement, and ongoing learning within the organization.

Architecture and Design:

• Design and implement robust, scalable, and secure architectures for the company's systems and applications.
• Collaborate with business units to align architectural decisions with overall business strategies and priorities.
• Drive innovation in IT, identifying and overseeing the adoption of new technologies, tools, and processes.
• Develop and implement cybersecurity strategy and architecture services to protect company assets and mitigate risks.

Execution Leadership:

• Oversee the development and maintenance of both commercial and custom software solutions.
• Champion continuous improvement initiatives and best practices such as code reviews, automated testing, and continuous integration.
• Proactively identify and mitigate potential risks to project execution, including cybersecurity threats.
• Collaborate closely with business, project, and product leaders to ensure successful project delivery.

Stakeholder Collaboration:

• Work closely with IT Leaders, Business Stakeholders, Project Managers, and Business Analysts to align technology architecture with business objectives.
• Foster productive partnerships with external partners, vendors, and service providers.
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Talent & Team Management:

• Lead a diverse, distributed team of employees, contractors, and managed service providers.
• Coach and develop talent across the IT organization.
• Effectively manage team performance and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

Enterprise Architecture (EA):

• Develop and maintain the Enterprise Architecture Blueprint, aligning it with business objectives and technical systems architecture.
• Establish and enforce architectural standards, frameworks, and practices across the organization.
• Drive awareness, education, and training initiatives to ensure consistent, high-quality architectural practices.
• Collaborate with project teams to promote the adoption of EA practices and accelerate development velocity.

Enterprise Data Platform (EDP):

• Collaborate with stakeholders to align enterprise and application datasets and definitions.
• Define and own the Enterprise Data Strategy and roadmap, focusing on data and integration platform capabilities.
• Build and maintain a modern, scalable data and integration platform.
• Ensure effective management and optimization of enterprise data, including data governance, security, compliance, and quality.

Cybersecurity Strategy and Architecture Services:

• Develop and implement a cybersecurity strategy to protect company assets and data.
• Design and implement cybersecurity architecture services to ensure the security of company systems and applications.
• Conduct risk assessments and develop mitigation strategies to address cybersecurity threats.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure compliance with cybersecurity regulations and standards.
• Provide cybersecurity expertise and guidance to project teams and IT leadership.

Enterprise Technology Services (ETS):

• Define, build, and maintain common technology services for multiple business units.
• Promote the reuse of common services to enhance efficiency and reduce redundancy.
• Collaborate with product teams to identify synergies and develop strategies for universal technology services across the organization.

Education, skills, & abilities (qualifications and experience required for this position):

The Eight Superpowers

1. Provides leadership through modeling behaviors and bringing forward new ideas and ways of doing things.
2. Demonstrates empathy, self-reflection, and adjustment of own behaviors, showing effective emotional intelligence.
3. Practices active listening in communications with others, giving someone full attention and listening to understand, not just respond.
4. Demonstrates grit, persisting in applying knowledge, skills, and behaviors to achieve goals and address obstacles.
5. Models intrinsic motivation; is self-driven to meet or exceed objectives, timelines, and quality measures while building and sustaining effective relationships.
6. Applies creative problem-solving to provide clarity, handle resources under one's control, and address stressful situations; finds ways to meet the individual, team, and member goals by navigating through barriers.
7. Share a diverse set of perspectives, work, and life experiences, as well as religious and cultural differences. Actively seeks out differences in values, ideas, and priorities. Respect and value the differences of others, including but not limited to national origin, language, race, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, veteran status, and family structures. Believes a diverse workplace is essential to the company's success.
8. Values and shows appreciation for the unique qualities and experiences of each person-inclusion; appreciates and effectively utilizes the talents and skills of others to achieve objectives; is open to the perspective of others; and encourages collaboration, flexibility, and fairness. Make each employee feel valued and supported for their unique qualities.

Other Education, Skills, and Abilities

• A minimum of 15 years of success in progressively relevant experience in tech strategy, software architecture, and enterprise architecture.
• A degree in the field of computer science or information systems is preferred. 10 years of experience managing and/or directing an IS operation and 5 years in a management position. Proven experience in IT Operations planning and maintenance, project management, and development of effective support procedures and policies
• Extensive experience with the banking or credit union's core software applications and hardware platform.

• Proven track record as a leader in initiating, driving, architecting, and implementing enterprise data architecture.
• Extensive knowledge of managing private, public, or hybrid cloud environments.
• Thorough understanding of mainstream and emerging technology standards and advancements with solid application architecture and implementation background.
• Experience in creating and maintaining architecture roadmaps.
• Hands-on experience creating proof of concepts, prototypes, or MVPs.
• Experience with database modeling, design, and governance.
• Proficiency in SQL-based technologies (e.g., Oracle, MSSQL, PostgreSQL, and MySQL).
• Experience with data catalog or metadata management tools.
• Experience with Snowflake Data Architecture metadata management tools.
• Experience with Datalake, Streaming, Spark, and SparkML.
• Experience with cloud computing environments, such as AWS or Azure.
• Leadership experience in cross-functional teams or projects and influencing senior-level management and key stakeholders.
• Knowledge of security best practices and compliance requirements for cloud infrastructure.
• Experience identifying gaps and taking steps towards improving people, processes, and programs using technology to augment and automate.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, anticipate outcomes, and interpret trends.
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent organizational, time management, prioritization, and delivery skills.
• Ability to manage competing demands, constraints, and personalities.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate with people at all levels.
• Skilled in fostering a positive workplace culture and building inclusive workplace teams.
• Ability to lead at the highest level of the organization by bringing forward new ideas, concepts, and systems through leadership and strong written and verbal communication.
• Ability to develop and communicate the IT vision and inspire and motivate staff.
• Ability to handle detailed, complex concepts, problems, and multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Strong business acumen, including industry-specific knowledge of the enterprise and its business units.
• Ability to drive collaborative decision-making and develop and execute strategic plans.
• Strong project, time, and resource management and problem-solving skills.
• Strong passion for learning, growth, and development of self and others.
• Extraordinary desire to use a passionate voice to advocate for teammates, members, and communities served.

MAJOR ACCOUNTABILITIES (major responsibilities of the position):

• Manage data center operations and related services specific to the financial core system, check/item processing, and digital document systems to ensure system availability and optimize end-user support.
• Evaluate existing systems and develop and implement strategies to improve these systems.
• Research emerging technologies in support of systems development efforts.
• Work with executive team members, decision-makers, and stakeholders to define business requirements and systems goals and identify and resolve business systems issues.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS (sitting, walking, climbing, lifting, etc.)

ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS (indoors, outdoors, desk, etc.)

Note: Staff is expected to perform various tasks, projects, and administrative duties as assigned. Management reserves the right to assign or change duties and tasks to this position at their discretion.

Salary Range (Annually)

$152,165.19 - $202,886.93