What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of IT Architecture position at GUD Essence?
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Architecture Leadership
- Define and maintain the organization’s enterprise architecture vision, principles, and standards
- Develop current-state and future-state architecture roadmaps aligned with business strategy
- Ensure technology solutions support scalability, performance, and operational efficiency
Infrastructure & Cloud Architecture
- Oversee architecture for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments
- Guide decisions related to networking, storage, compute, backup, and disaster recovery
- Ensure high availability, resilience, and business continuity across systems
Application & Integration Architecture
- Establish architectural standards for enterprise and custom applications
- Define integration patterns and data flows between systems and platforms
- Review and approve solution designs for major initiatives and projects
Security & Compliance
- Collaborate with security and compliance teams to ensure secure architecture design
- Support regulatory, privacy, and industry compliance requirements
- Promote best practices for identity management, access control, and data protection
Governance & Standards
- Lead architectural governance processes and design reviews
- Maintain documentation, reference architectures, and technical standards
- Ensure consistency and reduce technology redundancy across the organization
Leadership & Collaboration
- Lead and mentor enterprise, solution, and platform architects
- Partner with IT, Operations, Finance, and Business teams on strategic initiatives
- Provide technical guidance and recommendations to executive leadership
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or related field (Master’s preferred)
- 8–12 years of progressive experience in IT architecture, infrastructure, or systems design
- Demonstrated experience leading enterprise or large-scale architectural initiatives
- Strong understanding of cloud platforms, infrastructure design, and application architecture
- Experience working in regulated or compliance-driven environments preferred
Preferred Skills & Competencies
- Enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF or equivalent experience)
- Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
- Security architecture and identity management concepts
- Strong leadership, communication, and decision-making skills
- Ability to translate business needs into technical strategies
Work Environment
- Hybrid or office-based depending on organizational needs
- Occasional travel may be required
- Participation in after-hours planning or critical system initiatives as needed