Lead Architect

Lead Enterprise Architect

We are seeking a highly experienced and strategic Lead Enterprise Architect to drive technology strategy and innovation. This pivotal role is responsible for designing, developing, and optimizing comprehensive architecture strategies across the enterprise, with a deep focus on industry-leading technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), API management, Integration Architecture, and Security Architecture.

The successful candidate will be instrumental in translating strategic intent into actionable architectural roadmaps, proactively reducing technical debt, and championing application rationalization initiatives to ensure scalable, cost-effective, and robust solutions. You will lead efforts to define and drive AI solution strategies, collaborating extensively with other architects to ensure cohesive designs that align with strategic objectives and foster seamless execution.

This role demands extensive experience within the healthcare payer industry, a strong understanding of emerging technologies, and the ability to provide strategic consultation and mentorship to less experienced team members. The Lead Enterprise Architect will leverage business and technology insights to enable and/or alter critical business processes, practices, organizations, and systems, directly contributing to our long-term strategic vision.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Lead to provide strategic consultation to business customers in defining or designing business processes, functions and organizational structures, as well as in researching, identifying and internally marketing enabling technologies based on customer capability requirements. Facilitate development of the most complex enterprise business solutions that combine knowledge of particular business processes and issues, general technological options, and process facilitation techniques. Lead and participate in enterprise strategy development, including environmental analysis, opportunity identification, value cases and business innovation portfolio development.
• Specify and design large or the most complex systems, solutions, networks, infrastructure elements, or processes. Select appropriate design standards, methods and tools and ensures that they are applied effectively. Lead reviews of others' system design to ensure selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology. Establish policy for selection of architecture components. Evaluate and undertake impact analysis on the most complex major design options. Ensure that the system architecture balances functional, service quality and systems management requirements.
• Use appropriate tools, including models of components and interfaces, to contribute to the development of the most complex architectures. Produce detailed component requirements, specifications and translates these into detailed solutions/designs for implementation using selected products. Provide advice on technical aspects of system development, integration (including requests for changes, deviations from specifications, etc.) and processes. Ensure that relevant technical and business strategies, policies, standards and practices are applied correctly.
• Select and use tools and methods to establish, clarify, and communicate the functional and non-functional requirements of system users, their characteristics, and tasks. Identify the technical, organizational, and physical environment in which the most complex products or systems will operate. Identify, propose, initiate, and lead significant improvement programs, taking responsibility for the quality and appropriateness of the work performed and the realization of measurable business benefits. Modify existing process improvement approaches and/or develop new approaches to achieving improvement.
• Lead the resolution of a variety of architecture and business problems and serve as a technical or business lead for highly complex project initiatives.
• Communicate effectively will all levels of organization
• Manage expectations of customers, partners and management
• Participate in customer walkthroughs and plans; design and technical walkthroughs; and problem resolution and decision making
• Interact with departments across the organization as necessary, including the development and interpretation of highly complex requirements for peers and other staff.
• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of specific technical aspects in area of expertise and provides expert advice regarding their application. The area of specific expertise may be any aspect of information or communication technology, technique, method, process, product, or application area.
• Provide leadership and mentoring in the areas of expertise and architecture to their peers, developers, management and business users including technical expertise, coaching, and ad-hoc training by:
• Prepare presentations on complex issues on the area of expertise.
• Present to their peers to ensure consistency to Highmark's strategic direction.
• Other duties as assigned or requested.

Education:

Required: Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology or closely related field

Substitutions: None

Preferred: Master's Degree

Experience:

Required: 7 years in an IT discipline

7 years in a Business discipline

Preferred: Health insurance industry business knowledge

Industry certifications such as TOGAF, along with certifications relevant to AI, API, Integration Architecture, Security Architecture, Java, PEGA

Licenses and Certifications:

Required: None

Preferred: Industry certifications such as Java Developer, DB2, Cogno, PEGA, Enterprise Architect (SCEA), Project Management

Skills:

An Architect is not required to have experience in all of these, but is required to have those needed to support applications they are responsible for supporting. Current skill set are reviewed every other year, new skills may be required to meet changing business needs.

IMS, DB2, Oracle and Teradata Databases, Data Warehousing, COBAL, Visual Basic, C, C++ SAS, Java/JavaScript Framework, PEGA, CSS3, Mobile, JSON, Cognos, Hadoop, SQL, J2EE, HTML5/ XML, Project Management Tools: Waterfall and/or Agile

Scope of Responsibility:

Does this role supervise/manage other employees? No

Work Environment:

Is Travel Required? Yes