Senior Solution Architect

The Senior Solution Architect will provide senior-level solution architecture, subject matter expertise, and strategic leadership to support Commonwealth's work with the VHA Innovation Ecosystem (IE) and its affiliated programs. Commonwealth's Innovation Ecosystem work supports the discovery, evaluation, management, analysis, and advancement of mission-driven innovation across VHA, with an emphasis on establishing consistent approaches for identifying and tracking pilots and projects, strengthening portfolio visibility, enabling evidence-based decision-making, and supporting the sustainment and scaling of high-value innovations. The Senior Solution Architect will serve as the Innovation Ecosystem Pilot Subject Matter Expert (SME) and solution lead, working closely with VA/OHIL stakeholders and Commonwealth's interdisciplinary team to architect and operationalize standardized pilot and project management processes, data structures, analytics capabilities, dashboards, reporting mechanisms, governance practices, and change management approaches. The Senior Solution Architect will also help grow and mature Commonwealth's broader analytics capabilities supporting this program, translating complex operational and innovation data into actionable insights that inform leadership decisions, portfolio prioritization, investment, scaling, sustainment, and continuous improvement.
 

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the Innovation Ecosystem Pilot SME and Senior Solution Architect, providing senior-level solution architecture, strategic direction, and subject matter expertise for the pilot and project inventory, tracking, evaluation, analytics, and reporting effort.

• Lead the architecture, planning, coordination, and execution of the Innovation Ecosystem Pilot solution, ensuring alignment among business needs, technical requirements, stakeholder priorities, project objectives, deliverables, timelines, and program outcomes.

• Define and communicate the overall solution vision, architecture, operating model, and roadmap for the Innovation Ecosystem Pilot capability.

• Translate complex business and operational requirements into scalable, sustainable, and user-centered solutions that integrate data, analytics, workflow, reporting, governance, and change management.

• Provide expert guidance on innovation ecosystem management, pilot lifecycle management, portfolio analysis, organizational transformation, and the adoption and sustainment of new processes, capabilities, and tools.

• Lead efforts to assess and synthesize existing pilot and project data collection practices, tools, workflows, and reporting requirements, identifying duplication, gaps, inconsistencies, burden, and opportunities for standardization.

• Architect and guide the implementation of standardized definitions, taxonomy, Core Minimum Data Set (CMDS), data dictionary, metadata standards, intake processes, update workflows, and roles and responsibilities.

• Provide solution architecture leadership for centralized pilot and project repositories, trackers, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms using VA-approved platforms and available technologies.

• Define and guide the integration of data, workflow, analytics, visualization, and reporting capabilities to provide an enterprise-level view of VHA pilots and projects.

• Lead the development of analytic methodologies, including pilot prioritization, maturity assessment, value domains, impact measures, alignment to VA priorities, and other decision-support frameworks.

• Lead or oversee the development of executive-level dashboards, analytic reports, visualizations, and decision-support products that translate pilot and project data into actionable insights.

• Establish and strengthen analytic approaches that enable leadership to assess pilot performance, value, risks, operational considerations, return on investment, and readiness for sustainment, scale, or discontinuation.

• Help Commonwealth expand and mature its analytics capabilities across the program by identifying opportunities for improved data quality, data governance, automation, advanced reporting, portfolio-level analysis, predictive or trend analysis, and repeatable analytic products.

• Collaborate with data analysts, project managers, innovation specialists, change management professionals, and technical staff to integrate business requirements with data, analytics, visualization, and technology solutions.

• Facilitate stakeholder engagement with VA/OHIL leadership, program offices, VISNs, facilities, innovators, and other internal and external partners to gather requirements, validate findings, resolve barriers, and drive adoption.

• Develop and implement change management and stakeholder engagement strategies that support transition from decentralized or ad hoc pilot tracking to standardized enterprise processes and sustainable data practices.

• Apply recognized change management principles and methodologies to facilitate stakeholder adoption, mitigate resistance, protect grassroots innovation, and support sustainable implementation of new processes and tools.

• Support governance and cross-functional working groups by preparing executive briefings, decision materials, dashboards, status updates, recommendations, and other products that enable informed portfolio-level decision-making.

• Identify risks, dependencies, data limitations, technical constraints, and implementation barriers and develop practical recommendations to address them.

• Support knowledge transfer and organizational sustainability by developing documentation, standard operating procedures, user and administrator guidance, training materials, and other resources.

• Capture lessons learned and continuously refine the Innovation Ecosystem's pilot management, analytics, reporting, stakeholder engagement, and change management practices.

• Provide strategic recommendations to Commonwealth and VA/OHIL leadership regarding opportunities to improve the maturity, scalability, sustainability, and impact of the Innovation Ecosystem's analytics and portfolio management capabilities.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master's degree from an accredited institution in a relevant field such as business administration, public administration, health administration, healthcare management, organizational development, information systems, data analytics, innovation management, engineering, or a related discipline.

• A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in solution architecture, enterprise or data architecture, innovation management, healthcare transformation, organizational change, program or portfolio management, data and business analytics, strategy, or a related field.

• Demonstrated experience serving as a senior solution architect or equivalent technical/strategic lead for complex, cross-functional initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, organizational units, and competing priorities.

• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing enterprise solutions that integrate business processes, data, analytics, technology, governance, and organizational change.

• Demonstrated experience developing or implementing innovation, pilot, project, or portfolio management processes within a large or complex organization.

• Demonstrated experience translating complex operational, programmatic, and/or analytic data into executive-level insights, dashboards, reports, and recommendations.

• Experience with data governance, data standardization, data quality, analytics methodologies, performance measurement, and solution design.

• Experience developing and implementing organizational change management strategies to support adoption and sustainment of new processes, systems, or operating models.

• Professional certification in a relevant discipline, such as Prosci Certified Change Practitioner, Certified Change Management Professional (CCMP), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma, or another recognized certification directly relevant to change management, organizational transformation, solution architecture, analytics, innovation, or program management. Prosci certification is preferred.

• Strong written, verbal, facilitation, presentation, stakeholder engagement, and executive communication skills.

• Ability to operate effectively in a complex, matrixed, highly collaborative environment and translate strategic objectives into actionable solution architectures, implementation plans, and measurable outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, healthcare systems, federal agencies, or other large public-sector organizations.

• Experience working directly with innovation ecosystems, pilot programs, early-stage initiatives, technology adoption, or enterprise transformation.

• Experience with Microsoft Power BI, SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Smartsheet, or comparable data, workflow, reporting, and visualization platforms.

• Experience designing pilot or project maturity models, prioritization frameworks, value measurement approaches, or portfolio analytics.

• Experience supporting enterprise-level governance bodies, investment programs, cross-functional boards, or innovation portfolios.

• Experience developing sustainable analytics capabilities, including data models, automated reporting, dashboard development, analytic frameworks, and repeatable decision-support products.

• Experience with human-centered design, diffusion of innovation, implementation science, continuous improvement, or other approaches to advancing innovation from discovery and piloting through adoption, scale, and sustainment.
  
   

  Core Competencies

• Solution Architecture and Enterprise Solution Design

• Innovation Ecosystem Strategy and Management

• Pilot and Portfolio Management

• Data and Business Analytics

• Data Governance and Standardization

• Dashboard and Decision-Support Architecture

• Organizational Change Management

• Stakeholder Engagement and Facilitation

• Executive Communication

• Program and Project Leadership

• Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Continuous Improvement

• Innovation Adoption, Scale, and Sustainment