Director of IT, Enterprise Architecture

The Director of Enterprise Architecture serves as a strategic technology leader focused on enterprise architecture, artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and long-range technology planning. This role helps LION evaluate technology opportunities, define future-state technology direction, and make informed investment decisions that balance business value, risk, scalability, and long-term sustainability.

Strategy and Planning

• Partner with executive, business, and IT leadership to align technology direction with LION's strategic objectives.
• Support the development and maintenance of enterprise technology roadmaps and strategic architecture plans.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, and innovation opportunities that may support business growth, operational efficiency, or competitive advantage.
• Provide recommendations regarding technology options, risks, costs, benefits, and architectural tradeoffs.
• Help identify opportunities to simplify technology architecture, improve integration, reduce technical debt, and improve long-term supportability.
• Develop strong partnerships across business and technology teams to ensure alignment between strategy and execution.
• Promote a culture of innovation, accountability, continuous improvement, and responsible technology adoption.
• Partner with IT leaders to identify future technology capabilities required to support LION's strategic vision.
• Work across IT’s Support, Solutions, Infrastructure, and Security pillars to connect architecture decisions, roadmaps, and standards across the full technology landscape.

Enterprise Architecture Support and Technology Modeling

• Partner with the Senior Director of Technology Solutions to support the continued development and maturation of LION's Enterprise Architecture capability.
• Serve as a senior architecture resource, providing analysis, modeling, research, and recommendations that support enterprise architecture decision-making.
• Develop and maintain enterprise architecture artifacts and models, including current-state and future-state views of business capabilities, applications, data, integrations, infrastructure, security, and emerging technologies.
• Create and maintain capability maps, process models, architecture diagrams, reference architectures, technology standards, and strategic roadmaps that support application rationalization, investment sequencing, and roadmap decisions.
• Conduct analysis of business capabilities, technology platforms, data flows, integrations, and technology dependencies to identify opportunities, risks, and improvement strategies.
• Partner with data, business, and technology leaders to strengthen data architecture, data governance alignment, and data readiness for enterprise platforms, analytics, automation, and AI-enabled capabilities.
• Support the evolution of enterprise architecture standards, practices, and governance processes.
• Participate in architecture reviews and assist with documenting technology standards, architectural decisions, approved patterns, and exceptions.
• Review proposed solutions and provide recommendations regarding alignment to enterprise standards, scalability, security, integration, supportability, and business objectives.
• Engage early in business and technology initiatives to help evaluate architectural options and identify downstream impacts and dependencies.
• Collaborate closely with application, infrastructure, security, support, data, and business systems leaders to ensure architectural alignment across technology domains.
• Provide architectural guidance and recommendations while partnering with technology domain leaders who remain accountable for architecture decisions within their respective areas.
• Translate complex technology concepts into business-friendly recommendations and guidance for stakeholders and leaders.
• Collaborate with the Senior Director of Technology Solutions to advance enterprise architecture practices, models, standards, and adoption across the organization.
• Research emerging technologies and architectural patterns and provide recommendations that support long-term business and technology objectives.

Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Governance, and Adoption

• Lead and advance LION's enterprise AI strategy in alignment with business and IT priorities.
• Establish and maintain practical AI governance, policies, standards, and guardrails.
• Develop a structured approach for identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, piloting, and scaling AI use cases across the organization.
• Partner with business and IT leaders to identify high-value AI opportunities that improve productivity, decision-making, customer experience, operational effectiveness, revenue growth, and cost optimization.
• Guide responsible adoption of generative AI, personal productivity solutions, automation technologies, intelligent workflows, and AI-enabled business capabilities.
• Ensure AI initiatives appropriately address data quality, privacy, security, compliance, integration, supportability, and business value considerations.
• Educate leaders and employees regarding AI capabilities, limitations, opportunities, and associated risks.
• Partner with business leaders and IT teams to support AI adoption, communication, responsible change management, and practical enablement that reduces friction and builds confidence.
• Monitor developments in AI technologies and translate emerging trends into practical recommendations for LION.
• Act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on AI opportunities, risks, governance, and investment priorities.
• Support development of an enterprise AI roadmap aligned to business priorities and operational readiness.

Initiative and Investment Leadership

• Participate in the evaluation of strategic business and technology initiatives.
• Assist business and IT leaders in assessing technology options and architectural implications before implementation begins.
• Identify integration, data, infrastructure, security, support, and operational considerations that may impact initiative success.
• Contribute to business cases, technology evaluations, risk assessments, and cost-benefit analyses.
• Help ensure technology decisions balance innovation, speed, cost, risk, and long-term sustainability.
• Serve as a technology advisor and architectural subject matter expert for strategic initiatives and technology investments.
• Support portfolio-level planning by identifying architectural dependencies, technology constraints, and future-state opportunities.
• Provide recommendations regarding technology investment priorities based on strategic alignment and enterprise value.

Operational and Organizational Leadership

• Establish and maintain regular communication with executive leadership, business stakeholders, and IT leadership regarding architecture initiatives, AI opportunities, and technology direction.
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration across technology and business teams.
• Develop business cases and investment recommendations related to architecture, AI, and emerging technologies.
• Manage vendor, consultant, and technology partner relationships within assigned areas of responsibility.
• Evaluate partner technologies, product roadmaps, and market trends for strategic fit within the LION technology ecosystem.
• Ensure the creation, maintenance, and accessibility of architecture, AI governance, technology standards, and planning documentation.
• Mentor and coach IT team members in architecture thinking, technology strategy, and AI capabilities.
• Support the development of enterprise architecture and AI-related competencies across the IT organization.
• Champion enterprise thinking and encourage consideration of long-term implications when making technology decisions.
• Serve as a role model for collaboration, innovation, accountability, and sound decision-making.
• Build strong relationships across IT and business functions to foster alignment and share ownership of technology outcomes.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

Formal Education & Certification

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or related discipline.
• EA, AI, cloud, data, technology governance, or related certifications preferred.

Knowledge and Experience

• Minimum of seven years of progressive leadership experience in information technology, architecture, technology strategy, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience operating across multiple technology domains and influencing enterprise-level decisions.
• Experience developing architectural models, capability maps, technology roadmaps, standards, and governance artifacts.
• Strong understanding of enterprise applications, integration, infrastructure, security, data, and cloud technologies.
• Working knowledge of artificial intelligence concepts, governance models, and responsible AI practices.
• Experience evaluating technology investments and developing business-focused recommendations.
• Experience supporting complex, cross-functional business and technology initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively through influence, collaboration, and consensus-building.
• Experience balancing business priorities with architectural discipline and long-term technology sustainability.
• Experience within a manufacturing environment preferred.
• Experience with ERP ecosystems; Oracle preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver practical architecture outcomes, including reduced technology complexity, improved investment decisions, clearer roadmaps, stronger data and AI readiness, and more consistent architecture standards.

Personal Attributes

• Enterprise-level mindset with strong business acumen.
• Strong analytical, systems-thinking, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Exceptional written, verbal, presentation, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into practical business guidance.
• Demonstrated ability to influence through expertise, collaboration, and partnership rather than direct authority.
• Strong relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to balance short-term business needs with long-term technology direction.
• High degree of accountability, professionalism, and integrity.
• Self-directed, adaptable, and comfortable operating in a dynamic environment.
• Commitment to continuous learning, innovation, and responsible technology adoption.
• Ability to develop trust and credibility across technical and non-technical audiences.

WORK CONDITIONS

• On-call availability as required.
• Ability to travel periodically.