Director, Architecture

Director, Architecture

Company: Western Governors University

Job Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Category: Planning, Design, and Project Management

Type: Full-Time

Job Type: Full time

Job Number: JR-024503

Location: Salt Lake City, UT

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Executive Technical 716 Pay Range: $185,500.00 - $333,900.00

Job Description

The Director, Architecture is part of a forward-thinking team that leverages innovative technology, data-driven insights, and personalized learning pathways to create a truly life-changing educational experience. The Director, Architecture will use their proven expertise to drive technology strategy and delivering micro-service and event-based architecture to lead our Solutions Architecture team. The Director will be a strategic and innovative thinker who can align technology solutions with business goals, drive innovation, and set the vision for long-term technology transformation. They will play a key role in shaping our technology landscape, leading architecture governance, and collaborating with senior leadership to ensure the architecture supports our business's strategic objectives. The Director will become an expert in the various domains that Ed Tech supports: Pre (enrollment), Intake, Learn, Assess, and Post (graduation or completion). This role will be able to delicately balance when and where to dive deep and provide technical guidance versus provide heads-up, strategic leadership.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develops, implements, and evolves an enterprise-wide architecture strategy that supports business agility, operational excellence, and growth.
• Leads the creation of a technology strategy that aligns with business goals and supports the development of scalable, reusable, and robust systems.
• Defines and champions the adoption of SOA principles and standards, ensuring the architecture is modular, flexible, scalable, secure, and capable of quickly supporting new services and business capabilities.
• In partnership with the Head of Enterprise Architecture, establishes and leads the architecture governance framework, ensuring alignment with business objectives and compliance with industry standards.
• Conducts regular architecture reviews to validate technical design, promote best practices, and manage architecture compliance across the organization.
• Collaborates closely with executives, department heads, and technical leaders to guide technology investments and influence long-term technology direction.
• Designs and oversees the implementation of SOA to enable flexible, scalable, and reusable services that enhance interoperability and integration across systems.
• Partners with the Director of Enterprise Services & Innovation to identify and lead the development of core services and ensure effective integration within a distributed systems environment.
• Defines and enforces best practices for API design, data management, and service orchestration, ensuring secure and efficient service delivery.
• Drives technology innovation by identifying and implementing emerging technologies and trends.
• Partners with Product, Engineering, Infrastructure, and Security teams to develop a roadmap that includes modernization initiatives, system upgrades, and technology consolidation.
• Guides enterprise-wide initiatives for digital transformation, including framework adoption, standards enforcement, API management, data analytics, and automation, to increase operational efficiency and business agility.
• Builds, mentors, and manages a team of architects and technical experts, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Leads cross-functional teams in designing and implementing technology solutions that meet both technical and business requirements.
• Collaborates with IT, product, and business teams to ensure alignment and integration of technology initiatives across the enterprise.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned. This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong people and management skills to interact with staff, colleagues, cross-functional teams, and third parties.
• Ability to drive a culture of quality and personal accountability through development and delivery teams.
• Demonstrates commitment to quality through the ability to translate complex technical requirements into functional software using best practices.
• Expert in vendor contract management and management of distributed development teams and resources.
• Expert in Agile methods including SCRUM and TDD.
• Experience in application architecture and making rational buy vs. build and interface decisions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to work equally well in self-managed and team-based projects.
• Deep technical knowledge of web applications using web services.
• Excellent presentation, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Deep understanding of SOA principles, architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF) and API management.
• Strong strategic thinking, communication, and leadership skills, with a proven ability to engage and influence senior stakeholders.

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field

Experience

• 15 years of experience in a technology delivery role, with a preference in software development
• 8 years of experience in a Leadership Role
• 5 years of experience in enterprise architecture, with a focus on SOA, technology strategy, and large-scale system design.
• Proven leadership experience in defining and executing technology strategy at the enterprise level.
• Experience delivering for a large, global enterprise in a regulated industry.
• Proficiency in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), microservices architecture, and containerization.
• Strong background in architecture governance, technology standards, and enterprise integration patterns.

Experience in lieu of education Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field
• Certifications in Enterprise Architecture (e.g., TOGAF, Zachman) or Cloud Architecture
• Experience with DevOps, CI/CD practices, and agile methodologies.
• Familiarity with data governance, security frameworks, and compliance standards.

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.