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Empower · 23 hours ago

Senior Director of Data Architecture

United States

Full-time

Remote

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$152K/yr - $220K/yr

10+ years exp

Empower is dedicated to transforming financial lives through a flexible work environment and a focus on personal growth. The Senior Director of Data Architecture is responsible for leading a high-performing architecture team, establishing architectural standards, and driving modernization outcomes across critical platforms in a regulated financial services environment.

Employee BenefitsNon ProfitSocial

No H1B

Responsibilities

Lead, develop, and retain a high-performing architecture team through hiring, coaching, performance management, and career development

Establish role clarity, expectations, and growth paths for architects, ensuring consistent practice maturity and strong engagement

Define and evolve current-state and target-state architectures aligned to business strategy, regulatory expectations, and long-term sustainability

Establish and maintain enterprise and domain reference architectures, standards, and guiding principles that enable consistent solution design

Lead architectural governance processes, including architecture reviews, decision records, and lifecycle guidance for technology adoption and retirement

Ensure architectural components and standards are fully documented, including value proposition, current and target state, operational considerations, KPIs, and decision rationale

Enable delivery teams through reusable patterns, templates, guardrails, and clear architectural guidance that reduces friction and rework

Provide architectural leadership across data architecture, data management, data security, data delivery, advanced analytics enablement, and business architecture alignment

Partner with engineering, product, infrastructure, security, risk, and business stakeholders to align architecture decisions with delivery and operational outcomes

Drive modernization efforts that reduce technical debt, simplify integrations, and improve system resilience and scalability

Guide API-first and event-driven integration approaches that improve reuse, consistency, and observability

Promote security, privacy, and resiliency by design through architectural standards and review practices

Support cloud maturity through cost-aware, operationally sound architecture decisions and platform enablement

Evaluate emerging technologies and innovation opportunities, converting successful proofs into scalable, governed capabilities

Plan and manage team capacity, prioritization, and investment alignment to meet strategic objectives and delivery commitments

Qualification

Data ArchitectureEnterprise ArchitectureArchitectural GovernanceTeam LeadershipCloud ArchitectureData SecurityIntegration PatternsAdvanced AnalyticsCoaching SkillsStakeholder ManagementCommunication SkillsProblem Solving

Required

10+ years of experience in software development

4+ years successfully managing a team(s), including developing, motivating, and directing people as they work

Demonstrated experience leading people, including coaching, developing talent, setting expectations, and driving accountability for outcomes

Significant experience in enterprise, solution, or domain architecture within complex environments, ideally regulated financial services

Demonstrated ability to define target-state architecture and drive adoption through standards, governance, and roadmaps

Strong architectural breadth with depth in data and integration concepts, including APIs, event-driven patterns, and cross-cutting concerns such as security and resiliency

Experience establishing and operating architectural governance, including tradeoff analysis and decision facilitation

Proven ability to influence and align senior stakeholders across engineering, product, infrastructure, security, and business teams

Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business outcomes, risks, and value statements

Strong written and verbal communication skills suitable for executive and senior stakeholder audiences

Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or equivalent practical experience

Preferred

Experience leading architecture across multiple domains in a federated or matrixed operating model

Background in wealth management, retirement, or similarly regulated industries

Hands-on involvement in modernization or large-scale transformation initiatives

Familiarity with cloud architecture, cost optimization practices, or platform enablement models

Experience supporting AI or advanced analytics adoption with appropriate architectural guardrails

Architecture, cloud, or security certifications relevant to enterprise or platform architecture

Master's degree in a technical or business-related field

Benefits

Medical, dental, vision and life insurance

Retirement savings – 401(k) plan with generous company matching contributions (up to 6%), financial advisory services, potential company discretionary contribution, and a broad investment lineup

Tuition reimbursement up to $5,250/year

Business-casual environment that includes the option to wear jeans

Generous paid time off upon hire – including a paid time off program plus ten paid company holidays and three floating holidays each calendar year

Paid volunteer time — 16 hours per calendar year

Leave of absence programs – including paid parental leave, paid short- and long-term disability, and Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

Business Resource Groups (BRGs) – BRGs facilitate inclusion and collaboration across our business internally and throughout the communities where we live, work and play. BRGs are open to all.