What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director Enterprise Architecture & Analytics position at Applied Aerospace & Defense?
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Governance
- Define and evolve the target enterprise architecture vision and multiyear roadmap across business applications, data platforms, and analytics and AI capabilities
- Establish and lead formal architecture governance with authority over major technology investments, platform selections, integration approaches, data standards, and exceptions
- Develop enterprise architecture frameworks, principles, standards, and guidelines that drive consistency, reduce technical debt, and enable scalability
- Evaluate major technology decisions, documenting tradeoffs in cost, risk, speed, and maintainability to inform executive decisions
- Conduct architecture assessments to identify consolidation, modernization, and simplification opportunities that reduce complexity and improve efficiency
- Monitor industry trends in cloud, AI, advanced analytics, and modern integration patterns to identify strategic opportunities
- Present architecture initiatives, progress, and strategic recommendations to executive leadership and board stakeholders with clarity
Core Business Systems and Operational Architecture
- Define and maintain target state architecture for major business applications including ERP, PLM, MES, and adjacent operational systems
- Guide integration and interoperability across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, finance, and delivery
- Partner with functional leaders to translate operational requirements into architectural solutions
- Lead application portfolio rationalization to eliminate duplicates, redundant capabilities, and one-off solutions that add complexity
- Establish integration standards, patterns, and middleware strategies that reduce brittle point to point connections and improve reliability
- Lead architecture planning for major system implementations, upgrades, and replacements, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards
- Evaluate vendor solutions against architectural standards and business requirements and provide objective assessments and recommendations
Enterprise Data and Analytics Architecture
- Define the enterprise data strategy, treating data as a strategic asset with clear ownership, quality expectations, governance, and standards
- Lead data architecture design including data warehouses, data lakes, master data management, and data integration infrastructure
- Establish data governance frameworks for stewardship, quality metrics, data lineage, and access policies to ensure trusted, accessible data
- Define analytics platform architecture and strategy including BI tools, self-service analytics, advanced analytics, and AI model deployment environments
- Identify, prioritize, and architect AI and machine learning use cases that deliver measurable business value
- Set standards for data pipelines, ETL processes, analytics tools, and AI implementations that ensure scalability, consistency, and maintainability
- Ensure data and analytics capabilities enable faster operational decisions and actionable insights for business leaders
- Partner with BI and data science teams to translate analytical requirements into architectures that balance performance, cost, security, and usability
Integration and Interoperability Leadership
- Establish enterprise integration architecture standards for how systems exchange data, invoke services, and maintain data consistency
- Standardize integration patterns such as APIs, event driven architectures, messaging middleware, and batch exchanges to improve reliability
- Reduce brittle point to point integrations by implementing scalable integration platforms that centralize connectivity and simplify dependencies
- Oversee integration architecture for cross system business processes, ensuring end to end data flow integrity
- Define data exchange standards including formats, protocols, error handling, and monitoring requirements
- Improve reliability and observability with monitoring, alerting, and logging that enable proactive detection and resolution of integration issues
Security and Compliance Architecture
- Design enterprise architecture with security and regulatory compliance as core principles, ensuring architectural decisions support obligations
- Partner with cybersecurity leadership to align architecture with ITAR constraints, NIST SP 800 171 controls, and CMMC requirements
- Embed security by design into standards, platform selections, and integration patterns to protect CUI and FCI
- Ensure architectural decisions support necessary security controls including access management, encryption, network segmentation, audit logging, and incident detection
- Maintain architectural documentation for audits, including system boundaries, data flow diagrams, integration architectures, and technology inventories
- Evaluate emerging threats and regulatory changes, assess architectural impacts, and implement required adjustments
Technology Leadership and Team Development
- Provide strategic leadership for the enterprise architecture function, fostering innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement
- Lead, mentor, and develop enterprise, solution, and data architects and other technical professionals, providing guidance and career development
- Build strong relationships with executive leadership, business units, IT leaders, and vendors to drive architectural alignment
- Ensure clear communication between IT and business units on architectural initiatives, technology strategies, and organizational impacts
- Champion enterprise architecture awareness and best practices, educating stakeholders on the value of architectural discipline and standardization
- Manage architecture budgets and resources to ensure cost effective use of people, tools, and consulting services
- Serve as a subject matter expert and trusted advisor to executive leadership on technology strategy, architectural tradeoffs, and business transformation
SKILLS • EXPERIENCE • EDUCATION:
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, information systems, engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience
- At least twelve years of enterprise IT experience, including five or more years in senior architecture leadership roles on major programs with business applications, data platforms, and analytics
- Proven experience leading enterprise architecture in manufacturing or complex operational environments, including core systems such as ERP, PLM, or MES
- Extensive experience building, governing, and evolving enterprise data architectures, data governance, and analytics platforms that enable data driven decision making
- Demonstrated expertise in architectural governance, including standards, architecture review boards, platform decisions, and managing exceptions
- Hands on experience driving technology standardization across multiple teams, vendors, and business units, with sound judgment on when exceptions are warranted
- Strong technical knowledge across business applications, data platforms, integration technologies, cloud computing, analytics tools, and modern software development practices
- Proven ability to partner with business leaders to understand operational needs and translate them into architectures that deliver measurable value
- Experience in regulated industries with understanding of compliance requirements, security architecture, and governance; aerospace and defense strongly preferred
- Exceptional executive communication skills with the ability to explain complex architectural concepts, cost and risk tradeoffs, and strategic recommendations to non-technical leaders
- Strong collaboration and influencing skills with a track record of building consensus, driving change, and leading without direct authority
- Strategic thinking that balances long term architectural vision with pragmatic incremental delivery and short-term business pressures
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to assess complex landscapes, identify simplification opportunities, and create actionable transformation roadmaps
- Experience managing architecture teams, developing talent, and building high performing technical organizations
- Proven project leadership capabilities on large initiatives with multiple workstreams, vendors, and stakeholders
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree in computer science, information technology, business administration, or related field
- Professional architecture certifications such as TOGAF, Zachman, or cloud architecture certifications (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)
- Experience in aerospace, defense, or government contracting with knowledge of Department of Defense cybersecurity requirements, FAR, DFARS, and ITAR
- Deep understanding of CMMC and NIST SP 800 171 frameworks as they apply to enterprise architecture and information system design
- Experience leading digital transformation or modernization programs involving legacy replacement and cloud migration
- Knowledge of AI and machine learning architectures, model deployment platforms, and responsible AI governance
- Familiarity with modern software development practices including DevOps, agile, CI or CD, and API first design
- Experience with manufacturing systems and standards including AS9100, MRP, APS, or QMS
- Background in organizational change management, stakeholder engagement, and communication strategies that drive adoption of architectural standards
- Active involvement in professional architecture associations or industry communities
Salary : $200,000 - $250,000