Enterprise Application Architect

The Enterprise Application Architect (EAA) designs and oversees the evolution of the organization’s end‑to‑end software portfolio, ensuring that application decisions align with business strategy and long‑term IT goals.

The EAA acts as the architectural glue between Domain Architects and Solution Architects, ensuring that work across capabilities, domains, and projects fits together into one coherent enterprise landscape.

The EAA drives Application Portfolio Management (APM), providing clear guidance on how  to evaluate, upgrade, modernize, or retire applications to optimize the landscape, reduce technical debt and promote a modern technology adoption.

The EAA owns the Integration Strategy and API roadmap, creating strong alignment between business domains and the APIs that support them. Providing guidance to Domain and Solution Architects to ensure consistent communication and interoperability across systems.

What You’ll Do

1) Set & Socialize Frameworks, Guardrails, and Standards

• Define and evolve enterprise application architecture frameworks, reference models, and reusable patterns (layering, modularity, API/event styles, resilience/observability, security‑by‑design).

• Translate strategy into clear guardrails and decision principles; maintain concise architecture playbooks and golden paths that teams can adopt quickly.

• Embed standards in platform tooling (DevOps, CI/CD, API gateways, event platforms, observability) to make the “right way” the easy way.

2) Own Application Portfolio Management (APM)

• Lead APM with structured evaluations: business fit, technical health, lifecycle, risk, TCO.

• Drive rationalization and modernization (incl. TIME assessments), and orchestrate upgrade vs. retire decisions with clear value cases.

• Surface and reduce technical debt and duplication; maintain a forward‑looking application target state.

3) Define Integration Strategy & API Roadmaps

• Set the Integration Strategy (API‑led, event‑driven, orchestration vs. choreography, canonical models).

• Build API roadmaps per business domain; ensure traceable links between capabilities, information concepts, data objects, and the APIs that enable them.

• Guide Domain and Solution Architects on integration patterns, versioning, governance, security, and performance.

4) Guide Architectural Design & Blueprinting

• Create and maintain application reference architectures for cloud, AI‑enabled components, and composable applications.

• Provide early architectural guidance on initiatives; run coaching‑first Design Authority/Architecture Reviews to ensure alignment to target states.

• Support make‑or‑buy and vendor selection with objective criteria derived from enterprise standards.

5) Plan the Evolution with Portfolio & Delivery

• Co‑create multi‑year roadmaps with Domain Architects and Portfolio Management to move the estate toward target architecture.

• Anticipate dependencies, migration waves, and change impacts; ensure pragmatic sequencing and incremental value delivery.

• Track adoption and outcomes through measurable indicators.

Collaboration Model

• Partner with Enterprise- Business, Data, Security, Technology, Domain and Solution Architects to ensure end‑to‑end coherence across the capability map.

• Lead the Application Architecture Community of Practice; run brown‑bags/clinics and share reusable assets

• Operate a lightweight governance model—coaching early, guarding principles consistently, minimizing late‑stage rework.