AVP, Architecture Services

at Synchrony in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Job Description

Job Description:

Role Summary/Purpose

Are you passionate about shaping the future of a dynamic and ever-growing financial services enterprise? Are you a visionary with a deep understanding of governance, standards, architectural patterns and enjoy connecting strategy while engaging with technical leadership?

Join our team as Assistant Vice President, Architecture Services, where you will assist in driving the transformation of our business-critical department through enabling Synchrony’s architecture landscape, capturing innovative patterns, improving documentation management, defining strategic software lifecycle management processes and enabling cutting edge implementations.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a pivotal role in our Enterprise Architecture Team while working alongside a talented distributed team of architects. To be successful in this role, a strong demonstration of expertise in general software architecture and a strong drive to produce reference architectures, design patterns and enable various technology ecosystems at a fast pace with appropriate governance all while showcasing the ability to influence are musts.

We’re proud to offer you choice and flexibility. You have the option to be remote, and work from home, or come into one of our offices. You may be occasionally requested to commute to our nearest office for in person engagement activities such as team meetings, training and culture events.

Essential Responsibilities:

+ Architect Engagements and Pattern Lifecycle Management:

+ Engage with architects, project managers, and business stakeholders to understand requirements and provide architectural guidance throughout the project lifecycle.

+ Identify and promote reusable patterns and solutions, facilitating faster development cycles and consistent delivery of high-quality software systems.

+ Assist in crafting and maintaining the current & future state architectural processes, along with driving our application modernization and migration roadmaps.

+ Influence and collaborate with solution architects, application architects, software developers, UX designers, product managers, and customer application experts to design amazing apps.

+ Documentation and Communication:

+ Oversee the creation and maintenance of comprehensive architecture documentation, including standard, diagrams, frameworks, and technical specifications.

+ Develop compelling presentations and reports to effectively communicate architectural strategies, roadmaps, and progress to executive stakeholders.

+ Foster a culture of knowledge sharing by establishing and promoting effective communication channels and platforms.

+ Governance and Standards Champion:

+ Develop and enforce robust governance frameworks and best practices to ensure alignment with strategic objectives.

+ Establish and maintain enterprise-wide architectural standards and guidelines, promoting consistency and adherence to industry-leading practices.

+ Collaborate with stakeholders to define and implement policies that govern technology decision-making and ensure compliance.

+ Ensure compliance with architecture, security and technology standards set by Synchrony.

+ Drive the adoption and preservation of a Technology Stack.

+ Generate and enable architectural standards for APIs.

+ Software Lifecycle Management:

+ Drive the evaluation and selection of technologies, tools, and platforms to support the software development lifecycle.

+ Collaborate with development teams to establish coding standards, version control processes, and continuous integration/deployment practices.

+ Monitor and evaluate the performance and scalability of software systems, identifying opportunities for optimization and recommending necessary improvements.

+ Continued Transformation:

+ Stay abreast of emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices in enterprise architecture.

+ Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and innovation within the enterprise architecture practice, promoting a culture of learning and adaptation.

+ Drive the transformation of business-critical departments, aligning technology solutions with strategic business objectives and facilitating digital transformation initiatives.

+ Work with 3rd parties to develop software and/or integrate their software into the company’s products.

Qualifications/Requirements:

+ Bachelor’s degree and a minimum 4 years of experience within software engineering / architecture OR, in lieu of degree, High School Diploma/GED 6 years of experience within software engineering / architecture.

+ Proven experience as a solution architect or software engineer leading architectural initiatives.

+ Some expertise in governance frameworks, standards development, and implementation.

+ Proficient in engaging, providing guidance, and driving decision-making.

+ In-depth knowledge of software development lifecycle methodologies and best practices.

+ Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders.

+ Experience in mentoring software engineers and/or architects.

+ Familiarity with emerging technologies such as cloud computing, microservices, and artificial intelligence is highly desirable.

+ Strong diagramming & modeling skills for communicating technical flows.

+ Excellence in technical communication with technical and non-technical peers/managers.

+ Strong cross-functional team player with the ability to work seamlessly across a matrix organization and partner with global development companies.

+ Experience developing and supporting financial/banking applications and familiarity with regulations.

Desired Experiences:

+ Experience with agile development teams through all phases of the development lifecycle

+ Experience in Cloud Native Application Architecture, Microservices ecosystem, J2EE, Spring Java, and RESTful API’s.

+ Experience with CI/CD using pipeline tools such as Jenkins & Bitbucket.

+ Certifications (e.g., TOGAF, COBIT, Cloud certifications, SAFe for Architects) a plus.

+ Experience with Cloud Transformations and new technologies and assisting developers as they migrate to new technologies.

+ Experience in presenting and communicating technology frameworks and roadmaps to stakeholders.

Grade/Level: 10

The salary range for this position is 95,000.00 – 160,000.00 USD Annual and is eligible for an annual bonus based on individual and company performance.

Actual compensation offered within the posted salary range will be based upon work experience, skill level or knowledge.

Salaries are adjusted according to market in CA, NY Metro and Seattle.

Eligibility Requirements:

+ You must be 18 years or older

+ You must have a high school diploma or equivalent

+ You must be willing to take a drug test, submit to a background investigation and submit fingerprints as part of the onboarding process

+ You must be able to satisfy the requirements of Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.

+ New hires (Level 4-7) must have 9 months of continuous service with the company before they are eligible to post on other roles. Once this new hire time in position requirement is met, the associate will have a minimum 6 months’ time in position before they can post for future non-exempt roles. Employees, level 8 or greater, must have at least 18 months’ time in position before they can post. All internal employees must consistently meet performance expectations and have approval from your manager to post (or the approval of your manager and HR if you don’t meet the time in position or performance expectations).

Legal authorization to work in the U.S. is required. We will not sponsor individuals for employment visas, now or in the future, for this job opening. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for emp