Overview

Advanced Drainage Systems is a leading manufacturer of stormwater and onsite septic wastewater solutions, committed to sustainability and innovation. With a vast manufacturing and distribution network, we deliver high-quality products across multiple industries while recycling over half a billion pounds of plastic annually. At ADS, we foster a culture where diverse perspectives drive better ideas, ensuring every employee feels valued, heard, and empowered to make an impact.

Responsibilities

The Director, Enterprise Architecture is responsible for defining and guiding the technology direction of ADS. This leader ensures that technology investments, applications, data, integrations, infrastructure, and emerging technologies align with business priorities and support the company’s growth, operational, and transformation objectives.

The Director partners with business and IT leaders to simplify the technology landscape, drive modernization, establish practical enterprise standards, and improve the quality and consistency of technology decisions. The role provides hands-on architectural leadership for major initiatives and enables delivery teams to move faster through clear guardrails, reusable patterns, and focused governance.

Primary Responsibilities 

 

Strategy, Business Alignment, and Investment 

• Develop enterprise technology strategies, target-state architectures, and multiyear transition roadmaps aligned with ADS business priorities, operating-model needs, and major transformation initiatives. 
• Serve as a trusted advisor to business and IT executives by framing technology options, tradeoffs, risks, costs, dependencies, and recommended paths forward in clear business terms. 
• Partner with Finance, Procurement, Strategy, and portfolio leaders to inform annual planning, technology investment prioritization, business cases, sourcing decisions, lifecycle plans, and portfolio sequencing.

Architecture Direction and Governance 

• Establish and maintain enterprise architecture principles, standards, reference architectures, patterns, and decision guidance across business, data, applications, integration, security, infrastructure, cloud, and emerging technologies. 
• Chair the enterprise architecture governance process; define decision rights and escalation paths; approve material architecture standards and exceptions; and ensure significant deviations have documented rationale, risk acceptance, and remediation plans. 
• Embed architecture standards and guardrails into delivery methods, platforms, templates, and AI-enabled development practices to reduce friction and reliance on manual reviews. 
• Establish and maintain an accessible architecture knowledge base connecting business capabilities, applications, information, integrations, technologies, ownership, lifecycle status, risks, and strategic roadmaps.

Transformation and Portfolio Modernization 

• Provide hands-on architecture leadership for strategic programs involving ERP, supply chain, manufacturing, customer experience, data and analytics, cloud, integration, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. 
• Lead application portfolio assessment, rationalization, and lifecycle management to reduce redundancy, complexity, technical debt, support risk, and total cost of ownership. 
• Define transition architectures for business-critical platforms, including sequencing, dependencies, interim states, integration impacts, retirement plans, and major investment decisions. 
• Lead technology architecture and integration planning for acquisitions and divestitures, balancing near-term continuity with long-term simplification, cybersecurity, data, and platform strategy.

Enterprise Platforms, Risk, and Emerging Technology 

• Establish strategic direction and reusable practices for enterprise integration, APIs, data exchange, shared technology services, and platform interoperability. 
• Ensure target architectures and material technology decisions incorporate security, privacy, identity, resilience, recoverability, regulatory, operational-support, and technology-obsolescence requirements from inception. 
• Establish architecture guardrails for AI and emerging technologies, including approved patterns, data and security requirements, integration expectations, responsible use, development practices, and lifecycle governance. 
• Evaluate strategic vendors, platforms, and solution options using business value, strategic fit, architecture alignment, implementation risk, operational impact, resilience, and total cost of ownership.

Architecture Operating Model and Leadership 

• Define and operate a federated architecture model that clarifies the roles of enterprise, domain, solution, data, security, integration, and platform architects across centralized and embedded teams. 
• Partner with IT & business leaders to align roadmaps and resolve cross-functional architecture decisions. 
• Build, lead, and develop the Enterprise Architecture team, establish priorities, manage demand and capacity, and focus the function on work that creates the greatest enterprise value. 
• Build architecture capability across IT through coaching, mentoring, communities of practice, role clarity, career development, and clear, consumable guidance. 
• Define and report EA outcomes, including roadmap execution, standards adoption, exception trends, platform reuse, complexity and technical-debt reduction, application retirement, decision speed, avoided cost, risk reduction, and program outcomes. 

Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered.
• Master’s degree in a related discipline is preferred.

Preferred Experience:

• Ten or more years of progressive experience in enterprise architecture, solution architecture, technology strategy, engineering, transformation, or related disciplines, including leadership of senior architects or technical leaders. 
• Experience influencing executive-level technology investments, platform decisions, and multiyear transformation roadmaps in a complex enterprise environment. 
• Experience establishing architecture standards, governance, decision rights, exception management, and a federated architecture operating model. 
• Experience leading or supporting large-scale business and technology transformation in manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, or another industrial environment. 
• Experience with ERP modernization, complex integrations, long transition periods, application portfolio rationalization, platform consolidation, and technical-debt reduction. 
• Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and integration of acquired businesses. 
• Experience across cloud, data, analytics, enterprise integration, cybersecurity, resilience, and AI governance or adoption. 
• Experience evaluating strategic vendors and technology investments using business, financial, architectural, risk, and operational criteria. 
• Familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks and modeling approaches; practical application and measurable outcomes are valued over framework compliance. 

#LI-CH1#LI-Onsite

Company Benefits:

Health & Welfare Benefits: Medical and prescription drug plans, telemedicine (with medical plan), High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA), dental and vision plans, virtual physical therapy*, an employee assistance program (EAP)*, and voluntary accident, critical illness, and hospital indemnification programs.

 

 Financial Benefits: Retirement 401k program with company match, an employee stock purchase plan (voluntary), financial wellness planning*, paid parental leave*, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for child care and health care, short-term and long-term disability*, basic life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D)*, adoption financial reimbursement*, tuition reimbursement*, voluntary life insurance (for employees, spouses, and children), and voluntary identity theft and fraud protection.

*100% paid by ADS.

Why Join ADS?

Growth Opportunities & Global Presence: With a global network of approximately 70 manufacturing plants and 40 distribution centers, ADS offers extensive opportunities for career growth and development in various locations around the world.

Inclusive and Creative Work Culture: ADS fosters a culture of passion, innovation, and continuous improvement, empowering employees to shape industry-leading solutions. We value diverse perspectives, recognizing that they drive better ideas, processes, and performance. Our workplace is built on respect, inclusivity, and shared responsibility, ensuring every team member feels valued and contributes to our collective success.

Innovative & Sustainability Focused: Advanced Drainage Systems is one of the largest plastic recyclers in North America, ensuring over half a billion pounds of plastic is kept out of landfills every year.

Learn More: https://www.adspipe.com/about-us

EEO Statement

ADS supports an inclusive workplace that values diversity of thought, experience, and background. We celebrate the power of our differences to create better solutions for our customers by ensuring employees can be their authentic selves each day. ADS is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, pregnancy, veteran status, marital status, creed, status with regard to public assistance, genetic status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.