VP, Architecture

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Canada.

📋 Description

• Take ownership of Enterprise Architecture by integrating the various architectural practices of acquired entities into a unified set of enterprise standards, reference architectures, and playbooks.

• Define, publish, and maintain the NorthStar technical principles—encompassing front-end frameworks, back-end services, authentication, data platforms, and CI/CD—and ensure they remain up-to-date as technology progresses.

• Spearhead enterprise-level technology decisions (such as AI tools, UI stack, CIAM, and data platforms) with clear justification and ensure uniform adoption across all engineering teams.

• Advocate for shared component libraries, common patterns, and a cohesive look, feel, and engineering experience across all JD Power products.

• Lead the Enterprise Architecture Team by building, mentoring, and managing a small, high-caliber group of enterprise architects responsible for cross-functional and enterprise-wide initiatives.

• Head the Architect Guild by guiding architects integrated within engineering teams under the SVP of Engineering, defining their charter, enhancing their capabilities, and aligning their efforts with enterprise standards while maintaining team autonomy.

• Establish a federated (hybrid) governance model that balances local team ownership of system-level decisions with enterprise-wide consistency on cross-functional issues.

• Cultivate architectural talent, outline career paths and expectations for architects across the organization, and expand the pool of senior technical leaders.

• Design and implement a two-tier architecture review process: product-specific reviews led by embedded architects and enterprise-level reviews conducted by the enterprise architecture team.

• Initiate and lead an architecture council—composed of enterprise, embedded, and TechOps architects—to assess enterprise-scale initiatives and resolve cross-functional design decisions.

• Incorporate architecture reviews into the quarterly planning cycle with clear triggers, standardized review artifacts, and a documented escalation path from team-level to enterprise-level review.

• Centralize architecture review artifacts and decisions (e.g., ADRs) to ensure that the rationale is transparent, discoverable, and reusable throughout the organization.

• Collaborate closely with the SVP of Engineering, the VP of Infrastructure, TechOps, and Security to guarantee that architectural decisions are practical, secure, and operational.

• Offer executive leadership clear insights into significant architectural decisions, technical risks, and adherence to standards across the engineering organization.

• Influence engineering teams towards sound architectural practices through clarity, credibility, and collaboration rather than merely through mandates.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 15 years of progressive experience in software engineering and technical architecture.

• More than 5 years in a VP or Sr. Director architecture leadership position overseeing enterprise-wide standards.

• Proven success in leading and nurturing teams of architects and influencing engineering organizations towards consistent standards.

• Extensive, hands-on expertise in modern application architecture, including front-end frameworks (e.g., React), back-end services (e.g., Node.js, Java), and API design.

• Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), data platforms (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake), and medallion/lakehouse data architecture.

• Experience in selecting and standardizing enterprise capabilities such as authentication/CIAM (e.g., Auth0, SSO), CI/CD (e.g., GitLab) with DORA instrumentation, and AI/LLM tooling.

• Established success in creating architecture review processes, governance councils, and decision frameworks (e.g., ADRs) in complex, multi-team settings.

• A solid track record of defining architecture in multi-entity or post-acquisition contexts where consolidation and consistency are essential.

• Significant experience with organizational and team transformation, particularly in private equity-backed enterprises.

• Strong belief in and practical experience with AI-assisted development tools and agentic engineering workflows.

• Exceptional communication and influencing abilities, with a knack for aligning engineering leaders and providing strategic counsel to the C-suite.

• Experience working in private equity-backed or high-growth environments that balance growth with engineering efficiency.

• Experience in data-intensive or analytics-driven industries, especially automotive, financial services, or information services sectors (preferred).

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree is preferred.

🏝️ Benefits

• JD Power is committed to hiring a diverse workforce.

• Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.

• If you require accommodations during the recruitment and selection process, please contact tarecruitment@jdpa.com.

• JD Power does not share your personal information with unauthorized third parties.

• As a global corporation comprising multiple affiliated companies in various countries, JD Power has international sites and utilizes resources located worldwide.

• Occasionally, JD Power may engage third parties to act on its behalf.

• You acknowledge that, as necessary, your personal data may be transferred and/or disclosed to any company within the JD Power group of companies as well as to third parties acting on JD Power’s behalf, which may involve transfers to servers and databases outside the country where you provided your personal data. Such transfers may include, for example, transfers and/or disclosures outside the European Economic Area and into the United States of America.