Lead Architect, Claim

Lead Architect Opportunity

Travelers is seeking a Lead Architect to join our organization as we grow and transform our Enterprise Technology Solutions organization. Our Architects are responsible for designing and guiding the technology vision that enables business transformation, specializing in creating enterprise-wide solutions that bridge current capabilities with future possibilities. This strategic position requires expertise in cloud-native technologies, APIs, AI/ML, and emerging platforms to establish scalable architectures where business applications can evolve and thrive. The ideal candidate orchestrates the technical strategy that empowers development teams - defining target states, creating technology roadmaps, and establishing architectural frameworks that accelerate innovation while maintaining standards and governance. As the essential bridge between business strategy and technical implementation, this role directly impacts organizational agility, system integration, and the enterprise's ability to rapidly adapt and scale technology solutions across the business landscape.

Responsibilities include:

• Responsible for architecture for multiple technology and or/ business segments/domains for a single business unit.
• Translate technology strategy and business direction into actionable architecture roadmaps, ensuring architectural decisions align with organizational priorities and investment goals.
• Identify architectural opportunities and risks that have strategic implications, and proactively surface them to engineering leadership with clear options and recommendations.
• Provide architectural direction on technical patterns.
• Conduct hands-on prototyping and technology proof of concepts.
• Design and document application-level architectures for new and evolving systems, including service decomposition, API design, data flow, and integration patterns.
• Author Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) that capture context, options considered, trade-offs, and rationale for key technical decisions including decisions about AI service integration.
• Present multiple architectural design options to engineering teams and stakeholders, clearly articulating the pros, cons, risks, and trade-offs of each approach.
• Architect for AI-specific concerns such as latency tolerance, token cost management, output non-determinism, and graceful degradation when AI services are unavailable or underperforming.
• Evaluate and recommend architectural patterns (e.g., event-driven, request/response, CQRS, saga) appropriate to specific problem domains.
• Provide hands-on architectural guidance to engineering teams, including reviewing designs, participating in technical discussions, and unblocking implementation challenges
• Present architecture reviews, technology assessments, and modernization progress to VP-level leadership, communicating technical depth in business-relevant terms.
• Translate AI capabilities and limitations into business-relevant terms for non-technical stakeholders, helping leadership make informed decisions about AI adoption and investment.
• Influence architectural direction across teams through well-reasoned recommendations, building consensus.
• Develop clear materials (architecture overviews, decision summaries, roadmap updates) that enable leadership to make informed technology decisions.
• Build relationships across teams and encourage buy-in for architectural standards and modernization initiatives.

Strategic Accountability includes:

• Present architecture reviews, technology assessments, and modernization progress to VP-level leadership, communicating technical depth in business-relevant terms.
• Translate AI capabilities and limitations into business-relevant terms for non-technical stakeholders, helping leadership make informed decisions about AI adoption and investment.
• Influence architectural direction across teams through well-reasoned recommendations, building consensus.
• Develop clear materials (architecture overviews, decision summaries, roadmap updates) that enable leadership to make informed technology decisions.
• Build relationships across teams and encourage buy-in for architectural standards and modernization initiatives.

Our ideal candidate will have:

• Bachelor's in technology related field or equivalent, with 8 years of architecture experience.
• Experience with cloud-native application design on AWS.
• Ability to evaluate multiple solution approaches and communicate trade-offs effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Understanding of application-level architectural patterns including microservices, event-driven architecture, API design, data modeling, and distributed systems concepts.
• Familiarity with integrating AI/ML services into application architectures, including LLM-based capabilities, agentic patterns, or AI-assisted decision workflows.
• Understanding of the architectural implications of non-deterministic AI components, including testing strategies, output validation, fallback design, and cost management.
• Exposure to AI orchestration concepts such as prompt chaining, tool use patterns, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), or workflow engines that coordinate AI and deterministic steps
• Extensive experience working an agile operational model.
• Experience supporting transformational change. Able to adjust plans, priorities and strategies in response to changing circumstances.
• Insurance technology experience preferred.
• Understanding of value creation and business capability models.
• Strong knowledge of the insurance industry.
• Experience in identifying and analyzing current/future problems and opportunities, evaluating information to understand root causes, and exploring alternative solutions for effective decision-making.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively with teammates to achieve mutually responsible results.
• Extensive experience exercising sound judgment, making decisions and committing to a position.
• Strong and effective verbal, written and listening communication skills.

Must have:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, related STEM field, or its equivalent in education and/or work experience.
• 7 additional years of architecture/software engineering experience.
• 2 years of technical leadership experience.

What Is in It for You?

• Health Insurance: Employees and their eligible family members – including spouses, domestic partners, and children – are eligible for coverage from the first day of employment.
• Retirement: Travelers matches your 401(k) contributions dollar-for-dollar up to your first 5% of eligible pay, subject to an annual maximum. If you have student loan debt, you can enroll in the Paying it Forward Savings Program. When you make a payment toward your student loan, Travelers will make an annual contribution into your 401(k) account. You are also eligible for a Pension Plan that is 100% funded by Travelers.
• Paid Time Off: Start your career at Travelers with a minimum of 20 days Paid Time Off annually, plus nine paid company Holidays.
• Wellness Program: The Travelers wellness program is comprised of tools, discounts and resources that empower you to achieve your wellness goals and caregiving needs. In addition, our mental health program provides access to free professional counseling services, health coaching and other resources to support your daily life needs.
• Volunteer Encouragement: We have a deep commitment to the communities we serve and encourage our employees to get involved. Travelers has a Matching Gift and Volunteer Rewards program that enables you to give back to the charity of your choice.

Employment Practices

Travelers is an equal opportunity employer. We value the unique abilities and talents each individual brings to our organization and recognize that we benefit in numerous ways from our differences.

In accordance with local law, candidates seeking employment in Colorado are not required to disclose dates of attendance at or graduation from educational institutions.

If you are a candidate and have specific questions regarding the physical requirements of this role, please send us an email so we may assist you.

Travelers reserves the right to fill this position at a level above or below the level included in this posting.