Principal Enterprise Architect, Data

The Principal Enterprise Architect is a senior architecture leader responsible for shaping, guiding, and advancing enterprise architecture across the organization. Reporting to the Head of Enterprise Architecture and Engineering Enablement, this role translates enterprise strategy into practical architecture direction, standards, target-state designs, and transition roadmaps across business capabilities, applications, platforms, data, integration, cloud, security, and emerging technology domains. While architecture is foundational, the Principal Enterprise Architect will be responsible for designing enterprise solutions in close collaboration with the business and technology stakeholders. Where applicable the role will be accountable to build solutions that scale for the enterprise.

This position plays a critical role in connecting enterprise strategy to federated execution. The Principal Enterprise Architect partners with architecture, engineering, platform, security, data, and business technology leaders to ensure material technology decisions align with enterprise standards, target-state architecture, modernization priorities, and governance requirements.

This role operates within a federated Enterprise Architecture (EA) model, partnering closely with business technology and platform teams to shape solutions in real time while improving accountability, speed, and delivery alignment. The architect remains connected to the central EA core through enterprise standards, governance, communities of practice, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure consistent, risk-aware technology decisions across domains.

The role requires strong strategic thinking, architecture breadth, executive communication, and the ability to influence across a large, complex, and federated enterprise environment.

The Principal Enterprise Architect provides architecture leadership and recommendations on material technology decisions and has delegated authority within the enterprise architecture operating model as assigned by the Head of Enterprise Architecture and Engineering Enablement. The role is expected to escalate decisions with enterprise-wide impact, non-standard exceptions, or significant risk implications.

Key Responsibilities:

Enterprise Architecture Leadership

· Support the Head of Enterprise Architecture in developing and evolving enterprise architecture strategy, principles, standards, and target-state roadmaps.

· Define and maintain architecture perspectives across business, application, data, integration, cloud, platform, security, and AI-related capabilities as applicable.

· Own enterprise standards, target state, governance, exceptions, material technology decision frameworks

· Translate enterprise strategy and target-state direction into practical guidance for domain architecture and engineering teams.

· Promote alignment across business units, shared services, and technology domains.

· Where applicable, the role will be accountable to build solutions that scale and algin to business and technology requirements.

Strategic Architecture and Transformation

· Provide architecture leadership for major strategic initiatives, modernization programs, and enterprise-impacting technology decisions.

· Assess architecture options and recommend solutions that balance business value, cost, risk, resilience, time to market, and long-term maintainability.

· Support enterprise transformation through simplification, rationalization, modernization, and platform reuse.

· Identify opportunities to reduce duplication, retire legacy complexity, and improve interoperability across the enterprise.

Governance and Decision Support

· Participate in and support enterprise architecture governance, standards councils, review boards, and strategic decision forums.

· Evaluate material technology decisions using approved enterprise frameworks, including buy, build, reuse, partner, and retire options.

· Review architecture proposals for compliance with enterprise standards, target-state architecture, and risk requirements.

· Support management of architecture exceptions, including rationale, risk analysis, remediation paths, and time-bound approvals.

· Available for production incidents with major impact to business operations

Cross-Functional Partnership

· Partner with federated domain architects, platform leaders, engineering teams, data and AI teams, security, infrastructure, and business technology leaders to drive alignment.

· Facilitate resolution of cross-domain design issues, architecture conflicts, and overlapping capability decisions.

· Act as a trusted advisor to leaders across technology and business-aligned delivery organizations.

· Ensure architecture direction is understood and applied consistently across federated teams.

· Works with Business Unit heads and principal solution architects to translate enterprise direction into federated execution.

Risk, Security, and Resilience

· Incorporate cybersecurity, privacy, resilience, recoverability, and regulatory considerations into architecture guidance and recommendations.

· Partner with risk, security, and compliance stakeholders to ensure technology decisions align with enterprise control requirements.

· Assess the operational and architectural implications of technology choices in regulated and high-availability environments.

Talent and Capability Development

· Mentor and coach architects and senior technology professionals.

· Contribute to architecture capability development, communities of practice, and architecture operating model maturity.

· Support common role expectations, competency models, and quality standards across the architecture function.

· Promote enterprise-first thinking, sound decision-making, and strong architecture discipline.

· Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field.

· 12+ years of progressive experience in enterprise architecture, solution architecture, domain architecture, or senior technology strategy roles.

· Deep cross-domain expertise spanning applications, integration, data, AI, cloud, security, and platform strategy.

· Experience supporting or leading architecture for large-scale transformation initiatives in complex enterprise environments.

· Experience with architecture governance, standards development, target-state planning, and strategic technology decision-making.

· Proven ability to influence across organizational boundaries without direct authority.

· Strong written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.

Preferred Education and Experience

· Experience in insurance, financial services, healthcare, or another highly regulated industry.

· Experience in a federated technology organization with centralized architecture direction and distributed execution.

· Experience with cloud modernization, API strategies, platform engineering, data ecosystems, and enterprise integration.

· Familiarity with AI-enabled enterprise capabilities, automation, and emerging technology trends.

· Advanced degree and/or relevant certifications such as TOGAF, SAFe, AWS, Azure, GCP, or equivalent.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

· Strong knowledge of enterprise architecture principles, methods, and governance practices.

· Broad understanding of enterprise technology domains and cross-domain dependencies.

· Ability to develop target-state architecture and pragmatic transition approaches.

· Strong business acumen and ability to connect architecture decisions to business outcomes.

· Ability to assess tradeoffs among speed, cost, quality, risk, and strategic fit.

· Strong facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.

· Ability to communicate effectively with executive, business, and technical audiences.

· Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.

· Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and lead through influence., Guardian Life is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment-based visas (e.g., such as an H-1B). In order to be a successful applicant, you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship/support now or at any time in the future.

The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Every day, Guardian gives 27 million people the security they deserve through our insurance and wealth management products and services. Since our founding in 1860, our long-term view has helped our customers prepare for whatever life brings whether starting a family, planning for the future, or taking care of employees. Today we’re a Fortune 250 company and a leading provider of life, disability and other benefits for individuals, at the workplace and through government sponsored programs.

Do you have the desire to be part of a collaborative & innovative technology group? Is a culture where “People Count” and “We do the Right Thing” and “We Hold Ourselves to Very High Standards” important to you?

Digital & Technology at Guardian:

Digital & Technology (D&T) drives Guardian’s innovation agenda and operational excellence. As a key enabler of Guardian’s Journey to ‘30, D&T leverages technology, data, AI, and modern engineering practices to create exceptional customer experiences, support our partners, and empower our colleagues. Through a strong focus on customer-centricity, diversified solutions, expanded reach, and operational excellence, D&T is helping shape the future of how Guardian delivers value across the enterprise.

Building the Future of Architecture at Guardian:

We’re building a high-impact architecture community that will help shape the future of technology at Guardian. Across business-aligned and enterprise architecture roles, our architects influence strategic technology decisions, drive modernization, and help connect business strategy to execution.

We are hiring architects across a range of domains-including Group Benefits Technology, FPRS & CSWM Technology, Corporate Functions Technology, Cyber Security, Data, AI, API, Digital, and Enterprise Architecture-and are looking for leaders who can bring strong architectural thinking, technical depth, and the ability to influence across a complex enterprise.

Beyond the opportunity to solve challenging business and technology problems, architects joining Guardian today will help define how architecture partners across the organization in the years ahead. You’ll collaborate with leaders across engineering, platforms, security, data, AI, and the business to establish standards, guide strategic investments, and create solutions that enable Guardian’s long-term success.[JS1], Every day, Guardian helps our 29 million customers realize their dreams through a range of insurance and financial products and services. Our Purpose, to inspire well-being, guides our dedication to the colleagues, consumers, and communities we serve. We know that people count, and we go above and beyond to prepare them for the life they want to live, focusing on their overall well-being - mind, body, and wallet. As one of the largest mutual insurance companies, we put our customers first. Behind every bright future is a GuardianTM. Learn more about Guardian at guardianlife.com .