Position Objective:

As part of the Guardian Solutions Architecture team, position is responsible for providing solutions and architectural leadership and direction for products and services technologies across the organization. This position will work with business leaders, data and technical management to lead develop architecture framework, solutions and standards for building stable, cost-effective, shared technology solutions. Position must have in-depth knowledge on architecture related to enterprise platforms, cloud services, design patterns, integrations and micro-services.
 

Major Opportunities and Decisions:

• Assist with the development of an overarching framework to guide the design and delivery of technology in support of business processes, reporting and analytics.
• Support the Solutions Delivery organization in their projects to design within the architecture and extend the architecture as needed to meet business requirements.
• Assist with developing the overall software/application architecture of Insurance Profit Center, promoting standards, best in class application frameworks, and reuse to improve reliability and predictability.  Having architecture control allows for the discovery of reusable solutions, adherence to standards, and creates opportunities for integration between systems.
• This position will work closely with the Enterprise Architecture team and the Corporate Office of Technology and participate on the Architecture Review Board.
• Assist with the development of an overarching framework to guide the design and delivery of technology in support of business processes, reporting and analytics.
• Assist with the future state platform evolution and bringing best practices to the solution delivery teams. 
• Contributions to the strategic technology roadmap and ensuring proper alignment with business’ short-term and long-term goals and objectives. Acts as a thought leader for Guardian’s technology. 
• Assist with the development of the overarching conceptual framework that guides architects as they design applications to deliver characteristics that include maintainability, robustness, versatility and usability.
• Work with corporate architecture function to help define the enterprise wide technology standards aimed at a well-defined set of technology standards reducing complexity of the environment and managing costs.
• Help ensure application architecture solutions are reusable, adhere to standards, and allow for integration between systems.
• Participate in technology product and service selection.  
• Partner with the Solutions Delivery organization to ensure that designs for strategic initiatives align with the architecture and to ensure the architecture meets the business needs.
• Support for Application Architect on critical issues to ensure that issues and projects progress as planned
• Evolves new technology concepts into innovative solutions to address complex architectural challenges
• Identify cross-work stream dependencies and coordinate activities with other areas - internal and external
• Develop architectural patterns of the individual components of the end solution (Contextual, Conceptual, Logical, Physical, Component and Operational)
• Oversee emerging technologies and changing business needs to ensure they align with the architecture vision
• Develops comprehensive strategy and plans for technology adoption; Plans and manages technical architecture and operations projects; ensures business deliverables are committed, communicated clearly, and delivered on time
• Participates in long-range strategies and planning for technical architecture and operations
• Provides direction and leadership for technical teams in analyzing and resolving technical challenges

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Electronics or equivalent discipline
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in design, development and implementation software architecture and technology solutions
• Strong experience leading projects in Enterprise solutions design and implementation, architectural models and frameworks, utilizing Agile methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience in Java, J2EE frameworks, Workflow Systems, Oracle, SQL Server, MongoDB, Hadoop, JIRA, CI/CD tools, WebSphere, Tomcat, Drupal, SpringBoot, Apache
• Strong knowledge of Enterprise Databases, Middleware, Micro-services, Web services, RESTful API’s, Application development platforms, High Availability designs and technologies
• Extensive systems integration experience in a diverse multi-platform environment
• Understanding of cloud technologies and offerings is desired
• Excellent written and verbal communications; effective interpersonal skills; strong formal presentation abilities
• Knowledge and Experience in Insurance and Technologies is a plus.

Skills and Knowledge:

Engagement Skills

• Influencing – persuade others through instruction, dialogue, argumentation, and inspiration rather than through direct authority.
• Communication – convey complex issues to diverse audiences, orally and in writing, in a manner that is easily understood and actionable.  Ability to communicate equally well with technical and non-technical personnel.
• Collaboration – come together, regardless of location, to create new value for the organization by working together.  
• Creativity – bring new and innovative ideas to your work.
• Coaching and Mentoring – informal development of employees to create an environment that drives towards high levels of engagement, personal performance and outcome alignment.
• Adaptability – adjust to new, different, or changing circumstances while still ensuring that the overall objective is achieved. 

Business Understanding

• Business Architecture – application of architecture principles and techniques to the design of business operations, including business capabilities and business processes, people, technology, and information that enable them.
• Service Architecture – organization and design of the resources (human, technical and otherwise) that are required for the operation of an IT or business service.
• Information Architecture – the definition, design, and delivery of an architecture that improves the attainability and usefulness of information in the enterprise, such that knowledge workers can locate, transform, analyze, and communicate information to support effective decision-making.

Technical Mastery

• Integration Architecture – design methods and protocols for communication and interoperability between disparate information systems.
• Application Architecture – design of the applications that are used across the enterprise such that the overall application portfolio operates in a simplified, scalable, and reliable manner.
• Technical Architecture – design and integration of the common foundational technologies that are used across the enterprise, including hardware, middleware, networks, security, and system management software.

Architecture Work

• Modeling and Design – ability to make choices and tradeoffs that drive optimal decisions through the depiction of concepts, relationships, constraints, rules, and operations in a given architecture or system.
• Technology Portfolio Management – ability to analyze, document, and plan the complete lifecycle of applications, infrastructure, and data with the greatest functionality and performance at the lowest total cost and complexity.
• Project Governance – ability to review, manage, and ensure the adoption of decisions at the project level that are consistent with enterprise architecture principles, strategies, and standards.
• Architecture Documentation – ability to use a range of tools and techniques to clearly, consistently, and concisely capture the key components of an architecture. 

About Guardian: 

Every day, Guardian gives 26 million Americans the security they deserve through our insurance and wealth management products and services. Since our founding in 1860, our long-term view has helped our customers prepare for whatever life brings whether starting a family, planning for the future or taking care of employees. Today, we’re a Fortune 250 mutual company and a leading provider of life, disability and other benefits for individuals, at the workplace and through government sponsored programs. The Guardian community of ~9000 employees and our network of over 2750 financial representatives is committed to serving with expertise when, where and how our clients need us. Our commitments rest on a strong financial foundation, which at year-end 2017 included $8.0 billion in capital and $1.6 billion in operating income. For more information, please visit guardianlife.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Guardian® is a registered trademark of the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.