Senior Managing Director, Architecture (M4) (Fairfield)

Save the Children

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been fighting for the rights of children. The right to a healthy start in life. To have access to education. To be in a safe environment, protected from harm. We work in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places – over 100 countries, including the U.S. No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you’re creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

The Role

As the Senior Managing Director, Architecture, you’ll lead enterprise architecture strategy, governance, and transformation enablement across the organization, ensuring technology decisions are secure, scalable, interoperable, and aligned to business value. You’ll oversee architecture standards, roadmaps, maturity benchmarks, and decision‑making forums that guide modernization and strengthen the organization’s technology foundation. You will manage and coordinate the Enterprise Architecture team and provide architectural leadership, governance and direction to domain architects across data, cybersecurity, infrastructure, applications, cloud, and solution architecture through a dotted‑line relationship. You will partner with Save the Children International (SCI) to align the Save the Children US (SCUS) architecture decisions and roadmaps globally to reduce technical debt, improve capability maturity, and advance digital transformation at scale.

Location

Hybrid – Washington DC, Fairfield, CT or Lexington, KY office locations. Remote – United States.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

• Not inclusive of all role responsibilities. May be subject to change.

Strategic Planning & Capability Maturity Model Oversight (20%)

• Provide architecture investment recommendations, capability forecasts, and technology roadmap inputs to support BTS financial and workforce planning.
• Lead architecture capability maturity assessments and improvement roadmaps.
• Partner closely with BTS Senior Management Team (SMT), SCUS Finance, and other SCUS divisions, and Save the Children International (SCI) to provide architecture guidance to support technology investment decisions, platform rationalisation / transformation, and resource prioritisation.

Enterprise Architecture Strategy & Governance (40%)

• Guide and support the organization’s overall enterprise architecture as a technology expert across all architecture domains, ensuring alignment across business, application, data, integration, infrastructure, cloud, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies.
• Establish, maintain, and enforce enterprise architecture standards, principles, reference architectures, patterns, and documentation practices from solution design through implementation and operational handoff.
• Provide strategic consultation and architectural leadership for the agency’s digital transformation goals, ensuring technology solutions are scalable, secure, interoperable, cost‑effective, and aligned to business value.
• Chair or actively support architecture governance forums, design review boards, and technology decision‑making processes to ensure alignment with enterprise standards, security requirements, business priorities, and long‑term technology strategy.
• Develop and maintain current‑state and future‑state architecture views, roadmaps, capability maps, and transition plans that support enterprise modernisation and informed executive decision‑making.
• Ensure architecture decisions are documented, communicated, and traceable, with clear rationale, risks, dependencies, and alignment to enterprise strategy, standards, and governance expectations.

Enterprise Architecture Leadership & Transformation Enablement (40%)

• Lead and manage the Enterprise Architecture team, providing architectural leadership, governance and direction to domain architects across data, cybersecurity, infrastructure, applications, and solution architecture through effective dotted‑line and matrix management practices.
• Train, develop, coach, lead, and supervise staff, clearly communicating organization, division and department priorities, and how their work contributes to our mission and supports Save the Children values.
• Partner with SCI to align the SCUS architecture decisions and roadmaps globally to reduce technical debt, improve capability maturity, and advance digital transformation at scale.
• Partner with business leaders, product owners, program teams, cybersecurity, data, infrastructure, and application teams to translate business needs into practical, secure, and sustainable architecture solutions.
• Guide the development and adoption of best practices in technology architecture, including cloud architecture, integration strategy, platform rationalisation, data governance, cybersecurity‑by‑design, and lifecycle management.
• Maintain visibility into the enterprise technology applications and platforms portfolio and identify opportunities to reduce technical debt, simplify platforms, improve interoperability, retire redundant systems, and optimise technology investments.
• Evaluate relevant emerging technologies, including AI, and provide recommendations on their responsible adoption, architectural fit, risk profile, and business value.
• Establish architectural guardrails and governance for the responsible adoption of AI and other relevant emerging technologies.
• Leverage modern and leading enterprise architecture practices to enable business and technology transformation and improve the organization’s ability to deliver value at scale.

Required Qualifications For The Role

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 13 years of relevant experience.
• Extensive technology architecture experience including: TOGAF or equivalent.
• Extensive enterprise architecture experience, including TOGAF or equivalent frameworks, development of enterprise roadmaps and target‑state architectures, architecture governance, and cloud, integration, data, and security architectures.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategic IT planning processes, driving innovative technology solutions, and managing multiple concurrent initiatives while making strategic and operational decisions.
• Proven transformational leadership experience, including successfully leading teams across diverse technology environments and managing organisational change.
• Demonstrated knowledge of information management practices, user‑centred design, and design thinking methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to build partnerships, manage diverse stakeholder needs, simplify complex problems, and communicate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally.
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite.
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English.

Preferred Qualifications For The Role

• Experience in agile product management.
• Experience in leading an architecture group.
• Experience of technology sourcing and vendor management.

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labour costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $170,850 - $190,950 base salary.
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labour Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $154,275 - $172,425 base salary.
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labour Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $138,975 - $155,325 base salary.

The salary ranges listed above are for US based candidates. For candidates located outside of the US, salary ranges will be based on the salary scales of the local employer of record. Actual base salary may vary based on, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here).

About Us

We are looking to build an inclusive team at Save the Children. We offer a range of outstanding benefits to support this goal:

• Flexible schedules and time off: Flexible schedules, generous PTO, 11 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays and hybrid working opportunities.
• Health: Competitive health care, dental and vision coverage for you and your family.
• Family: A variety of paid leaves: caregiver, parental/adoption, critical child illness and fertility benefits.
• Employee Rewards Program: Annual merit increases and/or additional incentives for eligible employees.
• Retirement: A retirement savings plan with employer contributions (after one year).
• Wellness: 15 safety and wellness days annually (if hired on or after July 1, safety and wellness days prorated to 8 days), mental health benefits and support through Calm and company-hosted events.
• Employee Assistance Program: free and confidential assessments, short‑term counselling, referrals, and follow‑up services.
• Learning & Growth: Access to internal and external learning & development opportunities and mentorships.

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in you.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programmes and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse.

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