Director of Enterprise Architecture - Information Technology

Alberta Blue Cross® is an Alberta based organization dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experience and community leadership. We’re committed to providing the best health coverage to over 1.8 million members and take an active role in promoting wellness. We believe in what we do—and place trust in our employees to deliver our vision.

Working at Alberta Blue Cross® means having a career where you’ll be recognized for your contributions. We value diversity, encourage our team members to maintain a healthy work-life balance and provide opportunities for career growth.

OVERVIEW:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Director of Enterprise Architecture to provide senior enterprise architecture leadership for Alberta Blue Cross. Reporting to the Chief Architect, the Director of Enterprise Architecture leads and operates the Enterprise Architecture function, provides people leadership to Domain Architects, and plays a key role in EA governance. The role translates enterprise architecture strategy and executive direction into practical operating practices, standards, reference architectures, guardrails, compliance measures, and governance outcomes across the organization.

This senior leadership role establishes and matures the enterprise architecture framework that enables strategy execution, modernization, disciplined investment, risk management, and consistent decision-making across portfolios and domains. The role works closely with business, technology, security, privacy, risk, finance, EPMO, portfolio, solution, and domain architecture stakeholders to ensure enterprise architecture guidance is clear, credible, actionable, and consistently applied. The Director of Enterprise Architecture advises senior leaders by translating complex architectural implications into clear options, risks, dependencies, and recommendations that balance business outcomes, cost, complexity, resiliency, compliance, and long-term sustainability.

The Director of Enterprise Architecture is a senior people leadership and architecture governance role focused on enterprise-wide architecture direction, architecture discipline, domain alignment, and executive decision support. The role directly leads Domain Architects and coordinates federated design authority across business, data and AI, application, integration, cloud, security, identity, experience, and technology domains.

Success in this role is achieved by:

• Operating and maturing the enterprise architecture function in alignment with IT strategy, EA mandate, governance expectations, and executive decision-making needs.

• Setting and enforcing enterprise-level architecture principles, standards, reference architectures, guardrails, compliance expectations, and governance practices across domains and portfolios.

• Providing people leadership, coaching, performance support, and prioritization guidance for Domain Architects as direct reports.

• Establishing architecture as a trusted advisory and governance function with clear OKRs, KPIs, compliance measures, and value indicators.

• Driving coherent, reusable, resilient, secure, compliant, and sustainable architecture decisions across the enterprise.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Lead and operate the Enterprise Architecture function, ensuring architecture practices, standards, governance forums, and decision processes are consistently applied across the organization.

• Set, evolve, and steward enterprise architecture principles, standards, reference architectures, guardrails, compliance expectations, and governance practices that guide enterprise-wide decisions.

• Translate corporate strategy, business priorities, technology trends, regulatory expectations, and enterprise risks into actionable architecture guidance.

• Chair, guide, or support senior architecture governance forums, including decision rights, review processes, compliance expectations, escalation paths, and transparent decision records.

• Establish and monitor enterprise architecture OKRs, KPIs, compliance measures, and value indicators to demonstrate adoption, effectiveness, risk reduction, and enterprise value.

• Develop and steward enterprise reference architectures that guide business, information, application, integration, cloud, security, identity, data, AI, experience, and technology decisions.

• Provide enterprise architecture oversight for major programs, platforms, partnerships, modernization initiatives, and strategic investments.

• Partner with Portfolio Architects to ensure portfolio target architectures and modernization roadmaps align to enterprise strategy, principles, reference architectures, guardrails, and governance expectations.

• Lead Domain Architects as direct reports, providing coaching, prioritization guidance, performance support, role clarity, and alignment across domain-specific design authority.

• Coordinate Domain Architects so federated design authority remains aligned to enterprise direction while avoiding duplication with business, data, security, digital, delivery, and operations teams.

• Identify enterprise-level architectural risks, duplication, fragmentation, technical debt, capability gaps, and architectural drift, and recommend priorities for leadership action.

• Advise senior business and technology leaders on architecture options, risks, dependencies, enterprise implications, and recommended courses of action in clear business terms.

• Escalate unresolved cross-domain conflicts, material exceptions, or enterprise-level trade-offs through formal governance forums as appropriate.

POSITION SCOPE:

• Reports to the Chief Architect and leads the operational execution, EA governance, and people leadership of the Enterprise Architecture function.

• Provides enterprise-wide architecture discipline, domain alignment, and governance practices that guide strategic technology decisions.

• Owns enterprise architecture principles, reference architectures, guardrails, standards, governance practices, OKRs, KPIs, compliance measures, and architecture effectiveness reporting.

• Provides direct leadership, coaching, prioritization guidance, performance support, and development for Domain Architects, who report to the Director of Enterprise Architecture.

• Works across senior business, technology, security, privacy, risk, finance, EPMO, portfolio, solution, domain architecture, delivery, and operations stakeholders.

• Acts as a trusted senior advisor to business and technology leaders by shaping enterprise technology direction, risk visibility, investment confidence, and strategic decision quality.

• Provides senior architecture oversight and governance for major enterprise decisions, while remaining distinct from initiative-level solution design, delivery-team management, and operational execution.

ACCOUNTABILITY BOUNDARIES AND ROLE CLARITY:

The Director of Enterprise Architecture reports to the Chief Architect and is accountable for leading, operating, and maturing the Enterprise Architecture function, including playing a key role in EA governance. The role translates enterprise architecture strategy into clear operating practices, governance forums, standards, reference architectures, guardrails, compliance measures, and domain-level execution.

The Director of Enterprise Architecture provides direct people leadership for Domain Architects and is accountable for ensuring domain-specific design authority is coordinated, consistent, and aligned to enterprise direction. Domain Architects remain federated design authorities for their areas of specialty, including business, data and AI, experience, application, integration and API, cloud, security, identity, and technology architecture. This role ensures these domain accountabilities operate as one coherent enterprise capability rather than as isolated specialty functions.

The Director of Enterprise Architecture does not replace or duplicate Portfolio Architect accountabilities. Portfolio Architects own portfolio target architectures, transition states, and 2–3 year modernization roadmaps. They translate enterprise direction into portfolio-specific sequencing, investment alignment, roadmaps, and architecture runway priorities. The Director of Enterprise Architecture governs the enterprise architecture framework within which those portfolio decisions are made and ensures cross-portfolio consistency, standards compliance, and escalation of enterprise-level risks.

The Director of Enterprise Architecture does not replace or duplicate Solution Architect accountabilities. Solution Architects own initiative-level solution architecture and design within approved enterprise and portfolio guardrails. The Director of Enterprise Architecture clarifies standards, decision constraints, exception paths, and governance expectations so solution decisions remain aligned to the approved enterprise and portfolio target states.

This separation of accountabilities ensures clear decision rights: the Director of Enterprise Architecture leads the EA function, governance model, domain architecture capability, and people leadership; Portfolio Architects translate enterprise direction into portfolio roadmaps; Domain Architects provide federated design authority; and Solution Architects design delivery-ready solutions within approved guardrails.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Lead, operate, and mature the Enterprise Architecture function, including playing a key role in EA governance, in alignment with the enterprise architecture mandate and executive direction.

• Own the enterprise architecture operating model, principles, reference architectures, guardrails, governance practices, standards, compliance expectations, and architecture effectiveness measures.

• Provide direct people leadership for Domain Architects, including coaching, prioritization guidance, performance support, development planning, and coordination of domain-level work.

• Maintain enterprise architecture OKRs, KPIs, compliance measures, decision records, and executive-level reporting that demonstrate value, adoption, governance effectiveness, and risk reduction.

• Ensure architecture governance is pragmatic, transparent, authoritative, and consistently applied across portfolios, domains, major initiatives, and enterprise decision forums.

• Provide enterprise architecture oversight for major platform, modernization, integration, cloud, security, data, AI, identity, experience, and application decisions with organization-wide implications.

• Promote consistency, reuse, interoperability, security, compliance, resiliency, cost discipline, and long-term sustainability across enterprise solutions.

• Identify architectural risks, gaps, duplication, capability constraints, technical debt, and cross-domain conflicts, and guide senior leadership on enterprise-level remediation priorities.

• Facilitate architecture decision-making across Portfolio Architects, Solution Architects, Domain Architects, delivery teams, business leaders, and enterprise stakeholders without assuming their distinct delivery, roadmap, or solution design accountabilities.

• Partner with executive, business, and technology leaders to embed architecture-by-design into strategy, planning, investment, governance, and delivery decisions.

• Escalate unresolved enterprise architecture conflicts, material exceptions, and strategic trade-offs through formal governance forums.

KEY SUCCESS MEASURES:

• Enterprise architecture principles, guardrails, standards, reference architectures, and governance practices are adopted and consistently used to guide major decisions.

• Architecture OKRs, KPIs, compliance measures, and executive reporting demonstrate measurable adoption, quality, risk reduction, governance effectiveness, and enterprise value.

• Domain Architects are aligned, effective, well-led, and operating as a coordinated enterprise capability with clear priorities, accountabilities, and development support.

• Portfolio, domain, and solution architecture decisions are materially better aligned to enterprise direction, strategic priorities, reference architectures, and approved guardrails.

• Reduced architectural fragmentation, duplication, unmanaged complexity, avoidable technical debt, and enterprise risk exposure across domains and portfolios.

• Senior business and technology leaders view enterprise architecture as a credible, strategic, practical, and trusted advisory and governance function.

• Enterprise architecture guidance enables business outcomes, regulatory compliance, resiliency, modernization, cost discipline, and long-term sustainability.

• Role boundaries between the Chief Architect, Director of Enterprise Architecture, Portfolio Architects, Domain Architects, Solution Architects, and delivery leaders are clear and consistently understood.

WHAT YOU WILL HAVE:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience; advanced education is considered an asset.

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

• Demonstrated success establishing or maturing enterprise architecture operating models, principles, standards, reference architectures, guardrails, governance practices, and compliance measures in complex organizations.

• Proven people leadership experience, including leading, coaching, aligning, developing, and performance-supporting senior architecture talent or comparable senior specialist teams.

• Experience defining and reporting architecture OKRs, KPIs, compliance expectations, risk indicators, decision records, and enterprise value measures.

• Senior-level understanding of business, information, application, integration, data, AI, cloud, security, identity, infrastructure, experience, and technology architecture domains.

• Proven ability to work with senior business leaders as a trusted advisor on strategic architecture decisions, investment implications, enterprise risks, trade-offs, and technology direction.

• Experience influencing enterprise planning, portfolio management, EPMO, Finance, risk, security, privacy, legal, delivery, and operations decisions through clear architecture guidance.

• Demonstrated ability to clarify decision rights and role boundaries across enterprise, portfolio, domain, solution, delivery, and operations accountabilities.

• Exceptional executive communication, facilitation, governance, negotiation, stakeholder management, and decision-framing skills.

COMPETENCY MATRIX:

Enterprise Architecture Stewardship

• Description: Leads the enterprise architecture function, operating model, principles, reference architectures, guardrails, governance practices, and compliance expectations.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Adopted architecture standards, principles, governance outcomes, and compliance reporting across portfolios and domains.

People Leadership

• Description: Leads, coaches, aligns, develops, and performance-supports Domain Architects as direct reports.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Domain Architects operate as a coordinated enterprise capability with clear priorities, role clarity, and consistent delivery of domain guidance.

Governance & Compliance

• Description: Maintains architecture OKRs, KPIs, controls, decision rights, formal governance paths, exception processes, and compliance expectations.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Transparent governance reporting, clear decision records, improved adherence to enterprise guardrails, and timely escalation of material exceptions.

Strategic Thinking

• Description: Connects enterprise strategy, investment priorities, architecture direction, risk posture, and long-term sustainability.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Executive decision support, enterprise architecture direction, strategic trade-off recommendations, and enterprise-level risk insight.

Collaboration & Influence

• Description: Leads through influence across federated architecture, business, technology, EPMO, Finance, risk, security, privacy, delivery, and operations stakeholders.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Aligned decisions across Portfolio Architects, Domain Architects, Solution Architects, and senior stakeholders.

Role Clarity & Decision Framing

• Description: Clarifies accountability boundaries across enterprise, portfolio, domain, solution, delivery, and operations roles.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Reduced role overlap, clearer escalation paths, more consistent governance outcomes, and stronger stakeholder understanding.

Communication

• Description: Translates complex enterprise architecture considerations into clear options, recommendations, decisions, and executive-ready materials.

• Proficiency Level: Advanced

• Evidence: Clear executive materials, architecture decisions, stakeholder alignment, and improved confidence in enterprise architecture guidance.

BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS:

Strategic Thinking

• Anticipates enterprise impacts and downstream implications of architecture principles, standards, and governance decisions.

• Balances strategic ambition, modernization, compliance, risk, cost, and long-term sustainability.

Leadership

• Provides credible enterprise architecture leadership and trusted advisory support to senior leaders in areas of ambiguity, competing priorities, cross-domain tension, and organizational change.

• Leads Domain Architects as direct reports by setting clear priorities, clarifying accountabilities, coaching senior talent, supporting performance, and building a coordinated enterprise architecture capability.

• Sets clear enterprise direction while empowering Portfolio Architects, Domain Architects, Solution Architects, delivery teams, and business partners to operate within approved guardrails and formal governance paths.

• Escalates strategic architecture decisions, material exceptions, and unresolved enterprise trade-offs through formal governance forums when appropriate.

Analytical Skills

• Uses structured thinking to assess enterprise trade-offs, dependencies, constraints, risks, and architectural options.

• Simplifies complex enterprise architecture topics to enable executive understanding, alignment, and action.

Collaboration

• Builds trust across portfolios, architecture roles, business functions, and enterprise governance forums.

• Resolves architectural tension by focusing on enterprise outcomes, reuse, risk reduction, and sustainable decision-making.

This position will remain open until suitable candidates are selected.

Alberta Blue Cross® is an inclusive employer committed to a workplace that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We empower and are advocates for our team members by welcoming, respecting and valuing their unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences.

We offer the opportunity to work in an innovative, high-energy team-focused environment. If you have the qualifications we are looking for, apply online at careers.ab.bluecross.ca

A criminal record check satisfactory to Alberta Blue Cross will be required as a condition of employment, following a conditional offer.