Architecture Practice Lead

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Practice leadership & capability development

Lead, develop, and support architects across the practice (Solution, Lead, and Enterprise Architects)
Build a cohesive, high-performing architecture practice with clear roles, expectations, and ways of working
Drive capability development, mentoring, and skills uplift aligned to organizational needs
Plan and manage architecture practice capacity to balance demand, priorities, and available resources across the portfolio
Foster a culture of professionalism, collaboration, and continuous improvement

Operational enablement of architecture & technical debt

Enable consistent identification, documentation, and visibility of architectural risks and technical debt
Support the Principal Architect in maintaining visibility of the technical debt baseline and agreed remediation actions
Embed architecture engagement into governance, service lifecycle, and planning processes
Coordinate inputs and follow-through across architects, delivery teams, and governance forums

Integration, governance & reporting

Integrate the architecture practice into portfolio, demand, and governance forums
Ensure architecture engagement is predictable, timely, and clearly understood across the organization
Enable effective use and adoption of architecture tools, repositories, and artefacts to support decision-making, governance, and practice maturity
Ensure architecture information remains accessible, accurate, and relevant for stakeholders and leadership
Provide visibility of architecture practice health, capacity, and effectiveness to senior stakeholders
Continuously refine architecture ways of working based on feedback and outcomes

PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIORS & CAPABILTIES:

The Architecture Practice Lead is expected to demonstrate the following behaviors:

Enabling leadership

Enables architects to perform at their best rather than acting as the primary technical authority
Removes barriers and creates conditions for consistent, high-quality architectural outcomes

Clear and consistent communication

Communicates expectations, priorities, and outcomes clearly across diverse stakeholder groups
Ensures transparency in processes, responsibilities, and performance

Coordination & integration

Coordinates across teams and functions to reduce friction, duplication, and ambiguity
Aligns architecture activities with delivery, governance, and planning rhythms

Respect for technical authority

Actively protects and reinforces the technical authority of senior architects
Does not override architectural judgment on technical matters

Professional integrity

Acts with fairness, transparency, and accountability in people and practice leadership

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE:

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Required Professional Experience

Architectural practice & operating model knowledge

Strong understanding of enterprise architecture practices, roles, and engagement models across solution, domain, and enterprise levels
Experience embedding architecture into governance, portfolio management, and delivery lifecycles
Understanding of how architectural standards, technical debt, and risk management operate in complex organizations
Working knowledge of architecture repositories, artefacts, and methods sufficient to enable consistent practice adoption and quality outcomes

Stakeholder leadership & communication

Strong experience engaging senior business and technology leaders on architecture outcomes, priorities, and performance
Ability to translate architectural work into clear business value, risks, and maturity progress for executives
Proven ability to influence without direct authority across federated teams and functions
Experience managing competing priorities, expectations, and organizational change

People & practice leadership experience

Experience leading or enabling professional teams in a capability or practice model
Experience coaching, developing, and performance-managing senior technical professionals
Experience building consistent ways of working, standards adoption, and continuous improvement

Operational & governance experience

Experience coordinating work across multiple teams, initiatives, and governance forums
Experience tracking practice performance, capacity, and outcomes to support leadership decision-making
Experience improving operational maturity of professional services or technical practices

ROLE BOUNDARIES & ESCALATION:

This role does not act as the primary technical authority for architectural decisions
This role does not override architectural judgment made by senior architects
Technical arbitration, architectural trade-offs, and technical debt prioritization remain with the Principal Architect

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