Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture

Job Description

Job Description

Company Description

WD is building the infrastructure behind the AI-driven data economy.

As AI scales, so does data. Every interaction, every model, every system generates data that must be stored, managed, and made accessible over time. That’s where we come in.

We combine deep engineering expertise with global-scale manufacturing to deliver the storage systems that make AI possible, powering hyperscale data centers, cloud platforms, and enterprise infrastructure worldwide.

This isn’t theoretical work. It’s real systems, at real scale, people solving some of the hardest challenges in technology today.

We’re looking for people who want to build, solve, and operate at that level.

Join us and let’s shape the future of data.

Job Description

Position Summary 

The Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture is the architectural conscience of the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) organization. This role exists to keep every buy-vs-build decision, AI investment, and platform choice tied to a coherent, durable technology strategy rather than to siloed, point-in-time decisions. Reporting into the VP of IT DEX with direct alignment to the CTO, this leader partners with HR and IT stakeholders to translate business capability needs into sound architectural choices, governs the organization's growing AI and agentic workflow footprint, and ensures new investment never outruns the discipline to fix, stabilize, and simplify what already exists. 

This is a hands-on architecture leadership role, not a pure strategy seat: the successful candidate will personally evaluate vendors and proofs of concept, set enforceable engineering and data standards, and be fluent enough in modern AI, cloud, and integration patterns to challenge vendors and internal teams alike. 

Key Responsibilities 

Architecture Strategy & CTO Alignment 

• Serve as the primary architectural counterpart to the CTO organization, ensuring DEX technology decisions are consistent with enterprise architecture standards, security posture, and long-term platform direction. 

• Own the DEX reference architecture spanning HCM, talent, learning, payroll, timekeeping, and employee service platforms, and keep it current as the portfolio evolves. 

• Prevent siloed or one-off technology decisions by acting as the connective layer between HR capability owners, program delivery leads, and enterprise IT/security. 

• Translate multi-year DEX roadmap priorities into an architectural point of view that program and product teams can execute against. 

Buy vs. Build Governance 

• Define and operationalize a repeatable, rigorous buy-vs-build decision framework, and act as the final architectural gate before new vendor engagements or build efforts are approved. 

• Apply and evolve DEX's core decision tenets on every evaluation: 

• Frugality — require a durable, minimum 3-year value window before any new spend is approved. 

• Build preference — default to building or configuring within existing platforms where feasible; shortcuts such as RPA are acceptable only when adopted intentionally, not as a substitute for a real fix. 

• No orphaned technology — evaluate the total cost of ownership and adoption path so tools are not abandoned shortly after purchase. 

• Fix-before-build — confirm that existing capability has genuinely been exhausted or is structurally broken before approving net-new investment. 

• Establish and run structured, low-cost proof-of-concept (POC) governance for the growing volume of AI and point-solution vendor pitches, including data-access review, success criteria, and defined exit conditions before any POC is greenlit. 

• Own vendor and platform evaluation scorecards, and present buy-vs-build recommendations with clear tradeoffs to DEX and CTO leadership. 

AI & Agentic Systems Architecture 

• Set architectural and governance standards for agentic AI and automation initiatives across the DEX portfolio, including model/vendor selection, data access, and security review. 

• Partner with the AI Center of Excellence to evaluate emerging agentic frameworks and orchestration patterns, and to establish a consistent evaluation standard for third-party AI platform selection. 

• Ensure AI and automation investments are held to the same frugality and durability tenets as any other technology decision — proof of sustained value, not novelty. 

• Guide teams on where AI/agentic approaches genuinely reduce Tier 1 support burden and manual overhead versus where they add fragility or vendor lock-in. 

Agile Delivery & Operating Framework 

• Embed architectural checkpoints into the organization's Agile/SAFe delivery cadence so architecture review does not become a bottleneck but remains a genuine gate. 

• Partner with the Program Director and Technical PM organization on long-lifecycle deployments (e.g., timekeeping, payroll) to ensure architectural decisions are made early enough to avoid costly rework. 

• Contribute to sprint/PI-level governance rhythms, roadmap prioritization, and quarterly business reviews from an architectural risk and feasibility lens. 

Landscape Stabilization & Fix-First Priority 

• Lead a global landscape audit of broken and fragmented systems (e.g., non-working kiosks, fragmented pay and time vendors) and translate findings into a prioritized stabilization plan. 

• Ensure patching, stabilization, and reliability work is sequenced and resourced ahead of net-new capability investment, consistent with the fix-existing-first principle. 

• Define technical debt and platform health metrics that keep stabilization visible alongside new initiatives in portfolio reviews. 

Qualifications

The ideal candidate brings a blend of enterprise HR technology depth, hands-on data/cloud architecture experience, and modern AI fluency — the profile below reflects the caliber of background this role requires: 

• 15+ years in enterprise IT/HR technology architecture, including experience translating workforce/HR strategy into connected, end-to-end technology platforms (HCM, talent, learning, payroll, timekeeping, employee services). 

• Demonstrated ownership of multi-year technology strategy and portfolio governance for a CHRO/CTO-level stakeholder group, including operating rhythms, prioritization frameworks, and OKR-based roadmap accountability. 

• Direct experience architecting and delivering large-scale platform modernization: retiring legacy systems, rationalizing integrations, and establishing scalable, governed data architecture. 

• Working fluency in agentic AI and modern AI/ML delivery patterns — RAG, LLM orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain/LangGraph), vector databases, and third-party AI platform evaluation with the judgment to distinguish durable value from vendor novelty. 

• Enterprise architecture framework experience (e.g., TOGAF or equivalent) and a track record of embedding architecture governance into Agile/SAFe delivery models. 

• Hands-on experience with major HR platforms such as Workday, HR service delivery platforms like ServiceNow), and workforce management/timekeeping systems. 

• Strong grounding in security and data governance — RBAC, encryption, PII protection, and regulatory frameworks such as SOX, GDPR, and CCPA. 

• Proven ability to build and lead high-performing, AI-fluent teams, and to operate as a trusted advisor to senior HR and technology executives. 

• Vendor management and RFP/negotiation experience, with a demonstrated bias toward frugal, durable technology decisions over point-solution sprawl. 

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; Master's degree preferred. 

Additional Information

WD is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster. Our pay transparency policy is available here.

WD thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

WD is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at View email address on ziprecruiter.com to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 1/9/27 , although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

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Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York.  This range may be modified in the future.
• If your position is non-exempt, you are eligible for overtime pay pursuant to company policy and applicable laws.  You may also be eligible for shift differential pay, depending on the shift to which you are assigned.

• You will be eligible to be considered for bonuses under  either WD’s Short Term Incentive Plan (“STI Plan”) or the Sales Incentive Plan (“SIP”) which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance, depending on your role and your performance. You may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to WD's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.

• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program; employee stock purchase plan; and the WD Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

Notice To Candidates: Please be aware that WD and its subsidiaries will never request payment as a condition for applying for a position or receiving an offer of employment. Should you encounter any such requests, please report it immediately to WD Ethics Helpline or email View email address on ziprecruiter.com.