Sr Director Enterprise Data & AI Architecture

About the Role:

The Senior Director, Enterprise Data & AI Architecture is a senior leadership role within Northwestern Mutual’s Enterprise Architecture (EA) organization. Enterprise Architecture partners with business and technology leaders to define the firm’s long-term technology direction, ensure alignment across domains, and guide the evolution of our platforms and capabilities in support of enterprise strategy. 

In this role, you will lead the enterprise vision and execution strategy for data, analytics, and artificial intelligence architecture, including AI/ML and generative AI. You will work across technology and business domains to advance modern, secure, and scalable data and AI capabilities while ensuring strong governance, risk alignment, and architectural integrity. 

This is an opportunity for a proven architecture leader to expand enterprise influence, shape critical modernization efforts, and develop senior architectural talent while helping Northwestern Mutual responsibly harness data and AI to deliver value for clients, advisors, and employees. 

What You Will Do:

Enterprise Data & AI Architecture Leadership 

• Define and evolve the enterprise data and AI target-state architecture, ensuring alignment with business strategy and enterprise technology priorities. 
• Establish and maintain enterprise standards, reference architectures, and architectural principles for data platforms, analytics, AI/ML, and generative AI. 
• Drive alignment of domain and solution architectures to enterprise direction through influence, partnership, and architectural governance.

AI Enablement, Governance & Risk Partnership

• Partner closely with Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Legal, Risk, and Compliance to ensure responsible AI adoption across the enterprise. 
• Define architectural guardrails, design patterns, and governance standards for AI/ML and GenAI, including data access, model usage, auditability, and reliability. 
• Balance innovation with risk management by enabling experimentation within clear enterprise boundaries. 

Cross‑Enterprise Collaboration & Influence 

• Act as a trusted architecture advisor to senior technology and business leaders. 
• Collaborate with application, data, platform, and infrastructure architects to drive cohesive, end‑to‑end enterprise solutions. 
• Represent enterprise data and AI architecture in architecture reviews, investment discussions, and strategic planning forums. 

Team Leadership & Talent Development 

• Lead and develop a team of enterprise data and AI architects, setting clear priorities, expectations, and performance goals. 
• Coach and mentor senior architects to strengthen enterprise thinking, communication skills, and architectural judgment. 
• Build an inclusive, collaborative culture that encourages innovation, accountability, and continuous learning. 

Execution Oversight & Modernization 

• Provide architectural oversight to ensure delivery efforts align with enterprise standards and long-term objectives. 
• Guide modernization initiatives, including migration to cloud-based platforms and adoption of modern data and AI technologies. 
• Promote platform reuse, standardization, and data quality improvements to increase enterprise agility and scalability. 

What You'll Bring to the Role:

• 15+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, data architecture, or related technology disciplines. 
• 5+ years of experience leading architecture or technology teams in a complex, matrixed organization. 
• Deep expertise in modern data platforms, analytics, cloud technologies, and AI/ML including generative AI. 
• Strong understanding of data governance principles and practical approaches to improving governance maturity. 
• Proven ability to influence across organizational boundaries and drive alignment on enterprise technology direction. 
• Demonstrated success by translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable guidance for senior leaders. 
• Strong leadership, communication, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills. 

Skills You’ll Have:

• Architecture & Technology Planning: Designs and maintains business object models to support future-state applications. Assesses the impact of the future business architecture on existing and future applications architecture. Identifies and balances between constraints and objectives. Architecture & Technology Planning: Designs and maintains business object models to support future-state applications. Assesses the impact of the future business architecture on existing and future applications architecture. Identifies and balances between constraints and objectives.      
• Cross Functional Partnering & Planning: Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals. Cross Functional Partnering & Planning: Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.            
• Enterprise Architecture: Applies knowledge to create conceptual blueprints that define the structure and operation of an organization. Supports and develops recommendations to its infrastructure to adjust policies and projects to achieve target business outcomes and value. Enterprise Architecture: Applies knowledge to create conceptual blueprints that define the structure and operation of an organization. Supports and develops recommendations to its infrastructure to adjust policies and projects in order to achieve target business outcomes and value.
• Strategic Vision & Planning: Develops, defines, and executes strategic vision for the team and business function they manage with an understanding of the enterprise’s goals as a people manager; defines business planning, strategy formulation, and management engine to support strategic vision. Strategic Vision & Planning: Develops, defines, and executes strategic vision for the team and business function they manage with an understanding of the enterprise’s goals as a people manager; defines business planning, strategy formulation, and management engine to support strategic vision.          
• Talent Development & Planning: Develops direct reports’ skills based on organizational objectives, evaluates skill gaps, and manages succession planning to develop more capable direct reports, diverse, strong teams and better organizational performance in an equitable and inclusive manner. Talent Development & Planning: Develops direct reports’ skills based on organizational objectives, evaluates skill gaps, and manages succession planning to develop more capable direct reports, diverse, strong teams and better organizational performance in an equitable and inclusive manner.