Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well-being, and work-life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them.

Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself.

At Empower, an Architect is in an elevated development position and thought leadership role. An Architect, partner with both business and IT teams to align solutions to Empower technology vision. This role supports Sr. Architects in developing technology strategies, reference architectures, and best practices while ensuring solutions address total cost of ownership, stability, security, performance, and operational efficiency.

In this rapid paced environment, the person must possess a "can-do" attitude while demonstrating a strong work ethic. This person should have a strong aptitude to help drive decisions. He or she will be actively involved in influencing the strategic direction of technology at Empower. There will be collaboration across all teams including IT Infrastructure, PMO office, Business, and third-party integrators & others in reviewing, evaluating, designing, and implementing solutions.

The Architect must be well-versed in available technologies and educate/influence teams to leverage them when appropriate. He or she will identify and suggest alternatives, provide recommendations, and explain trade-offs. For key initiatives, the Architect will directly collaborate with development teams on designing and implementing end-to-end solutions.

The ideal candidate will leverage their technical leadership/direction-setting skills with the development organization to be able to prove technical concepts quickly using a variety of tools, methods, & frameworks.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with Sr. Architects, peers, and more junior resources define and execute on the business aligned IT strategy and vision. 

• Develop, document, and provide input into Empower technology roadmap, integration roadmap, architectural standards, and reusable solution patterns. 

• Define integration architecture patterns for APIs, events, messaging, batch/file exchange, streaming, ETL/ELT, SaaS integration, and partner integration.

• Create and maintain reference architectures.
• Design and modernize complex systems into cloud compatible or cloud native applications where applicable, including strategies for migrating legacy applications and integrations to cloud systems.
• Lead solution design for secure, scalable, reusable integration services that reduce point-to-point complexity and support enterprise reuse. 

• Participate in the evaluation of new applications, technical options, challenge the status quo, create solid business cases, and influence direction while establishing partnerships with key constituencies. 

• Implement best practices, standards & guidance, then subsequently provide coaching of technology team members. 

• Make leadership recommendations regarding strategic architectural considerations related to process design and process orchestration.  

• Provide strong leadership and direction in development/engineering practices. 

• Collaborate with other business and technology teams on architecture and design issues. 

• Respond to evolving and changing security conditions. Implement and recommend security guidelines.  

• Provide thought-leadership, advocacy, articulation, assurance, and maintenance of the enterprise architecture discipline. 

• Provide solution, guidance, and implementation assistance within full stack development teams. 

• Recommend long term scalable and performant architecture changes keeping cost in control.  

Other Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field or have equivalent experience
• 10+ years' experience in architecting Enterprise Solutions, Data Integration, and emerging technologies.
• Strong experience with enterprise integration patterns, API-led integration, event-driven architecture, messaging, file/batch exchange, streaming, and data integration.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical designs, risks, options and trade-offs to executives, engineers, business stakeholders, clients, and vendors.
• Self-motivated individual that thrives in a team environment.
• Demonstrated continuous learning and ability to evaluate new technologies pragmatically.
• Strong development skills -- knowledge of writing complex code, and tuning.
• Ability to create clear solution architecture documents, integration diagrams, interface specifications, API and event contracts, and architecture decision records.
• Basic understanding of data science principles and data needs.
• Financial Services industry experience.
• Strong development awareness, including CI/CD, automated testing, containerized application, and secure agile delivery practices. Java, Pro-C, Python, JavaScript/Typescript programming experience.
• Experience with messaging and event platforms such as Kafka, Solace, RabbitMQ, IBM MQ, Azure Service Bus, AWS SNS/SQS, Google Pub/Sub, or similar technologies.

Technology skills are not the only skills needed. There are other skills that are highly desirable in the Enterprise Architect, including:

• Communication & Presentation: The ability to communicate technical designs, risks, and benefits clearly to diverse audiences (executives, developers, clients). This includes storytelling and using visual aids to explain complex systems.
• Stakeholder Management & Negotiation: Navigating conflicting interests, managing expectations, and gaining buy-in from various parties, including clients and internal teams.
• Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving: Analyzing complex requirements, identifying root causes, and thinking creatively to find alternative solutions.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Leading projects and cross-functional teams, even when lacking direct hierarchical authority.
• Business Savvy – Essential understanding of the financial industry, to help comprehend how technology can really affect the business.
• Adaptability & Continuous Learning: Being flexible with changing business needs and having a desire to keep learning new technologies and methodologies.

Physical Requirements/Working Conditions:

Normal Office Working Conditions

We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity.  All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, religion, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable state or local law.