Sr Principal Architect - Architecture Practice - Remote

Sr Principal Architect - Architecture Practice Location: Washington, DC, Chicago, Wilmington DE, Philadelphia, PA Company: Amtrak Your success is a train ride away! As we move America's workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees. Are you ready to join our team? Our values of 'Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First' are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, 'Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security' are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future. Job Summary The Senior Principal Architect is responsible for providing architecture services to ensure portfolio technology investments are in alignment with corporate goals and its ability to move towards the future in an evolving business environment. As a Digital Technology expert, this role will utilize communication, influence, guidance, and governance processes to maximize return on technology investment, and reduce time to capability, while minimizing operational costs. The Senior Principal Architect will use strategic thinking to evolve Architecture and the Business of Technology as a disciplined, data-driven, and measurable practice—producing repeatability, continuity, benchmarking, and auditability at scale. As part of the DT architecture team the Senior Principal Architect will be responsible for shaping the architecture practice itself—not just individual solutions—across a team of 20–30 architects. The role's primary value lies in driving consistency, governance, and long-term sustainability in a regulated environment. Essential Functions Set up the architectural vision for core architecture practice capabilities and aligning patterns to allow for consistency and reuse Define enterprise principles, patterns and guidance that help in technology data capabilities, platforms and infrastructure, how applications are built, deployed, and maintained to align with strategic needs and maximizing technology investments Provide Oversight and Governance processes for establishing and maintaining enterprise architecture standards, patterns, and decision frameworks (ADR), while ensuring compliance without slowing delivery. Define and maintain the enterprise architecture standards library, including approved solution patterns, reference architectures, and anti-patterns, ensuring alignment with industry best practices and regulatory obligations. Operate and continuously improve the architecture review process—Design Reviews, Architecture Review Board (ARB) participation, and lightweight fitness function checks—ensuring governance is an enabler rather than a bottleneck. Drive adoption of architecture tooling, reusable patterns, and alignment with Agile/SAFe to improve delivery efficiency and reuse. Provide practice leadership, acting as a mentor and thought leader, elevating architect capability, defining role clarity, and influencing outcomes through credibility rather than hierarchy and using influence rather than authority Effectively communicate to group leadership, management and teams throughout the company Minimum Qualifications Bachelor's Degree or equivalent combination of education, training and/or relevant experience. Plus 9 years of relevant work experience. Preferred Qualifications Bachelor's Degree or equivalent combination of education, training and/or relevant experience. Plus 11 years of relevant work experience. Track record of designing and implementing architecture governance frameworks that balance rigor with delivery agility. Knowledge Skills and Abilities: Core competencies centered on architectural thinking, governance design, and influencing skills, combined with deep expertise in cloud, integration, data, and regulatory environments. Strong executive communication, mentoring, risk/technical debt management, and the ability to balance rigor with agility. Strong expertise in architectural practices: Architectural Decision Records, Build vs Buy analysis, Business Capability Maps, Value-Stream Analysis, Solution Architecture work products, Architecture Governance Familiarity with Enterprise Architecture toolsets (LeanIX, Ardoq, Orbus, etc.) and low-code platforms (ex: Microsoft Power Automate) to create architecture governance workflows and data models The salary/hourly range is $149,400.00 – $193,644.00. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. Depending on an employee's assigned worksite or location, Amtrak may consider a geo-pay differential to be applied to the employee's base salary. Amtrak may offer additional incentive and pay programs to recognize and reward our employees, including a short-term incentive bonus based upon factors such as individual and company performance that is commensurate with the level of the position. Health and Wellbeing Financial and Retirement Work and Family Life Support Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance 401K with Employer Match Generous Paid Time Off Wellness Programs Railroad Retirement Benefits Paid Caregiving Days and Backup Care Health Savings Account Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness Fertility and Family Building Benefits No-cost Personal Health Advocate Student Loan Assistance Adoption and Surrogacy Assistance Medical Plan Opt-out Credit Tuition and Education Reimbursement Paid Family Leave Life Insurance Rail Pass Privileges Short- and Long-term Disability Insurance Employee Assistance Program No-cost Financial Advisor Sessions Commuter and Flexible Spending Accounts Amtrak