VP, Architecture

About the role

As VP, Architecture, you will define and govern the enterprise technology architecture across a complex, high-growth engineering organization. You will establish the technical standards, NorthStar principles, and governance practices that create consistency without limiting team autonomy. The role combines deep technical expertise with executive-level leadership across application, cloud, data, platform, security, and AI architecture. You will lead a small enterprise architecture team while also guiding a broader guild of architects embedded throughout engineering. Your decisions will shape major enterprise capabilities, including AI tooling, UI technologies, CIAM, data platforms, and CI/CD practices. You will operate in a multi-entity environment where architectural consolidation, transformation, scalability, and engineering efficiency are strategic priorities. This is a highly visible leadership opportunity for an architect who can turn modern technology strategy into pragmatic, scalable, and measurable business outcomes.

Accountabilities

• Own the enterprise architecture strategy, consolidating diverse technology conventions into unified standards, reference architectures, playbooks, and reusable patterns.
• Define, publish, maintain, and evolve NorthStar technical principles covering front-end frameworks, backend services, authentication, data platforms, CI/CD, AI tooling, and other enterprise capabilities.
• Lead enterprise-level technology decisions, establish clear technical rationale, and drive consistent adoption across engineering teams.
• Promote shared component libraries, common architectural patterns, and consistent engineering practices across products and business units.
• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing enterprise architecture team responsible for cross-cutting and enterprise-wide initiatives.
• Lead the broader architect guild embedded within engineering, establishing its charter, strengthening capabilities, aligning priorities, and preserving appropriate team autonomy.
• Establish and operate a federated architecture governance model that balances local ownership with enterprise-wide consistency.
• Define architecture career paths, expectations, development plans, and standards to strengthen the organization's technical leadership bench.
• Design and operate a two-tier architecture review process covering product-level reviews and enterprise-level architectural decisions.
• Establish and chair an architecture council involving enterprise, embedded, and technology operations architects to resolve cross-functional and enterprise-scope decisions.
• Integrate architecture governance into quarterly planning, including review triggers, standardized documentation, decision paths, and escalation mechanisms.
• Maintain transparent, centralized architecture records, including Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), to make technical rationale discoverable and reusable.
• Partner with engineering, infrastructure, TechOps, security, and other technology leaders to ensure architectural decisions are secure, practical, scalable, and operationally viable.
• Provide executive leadership with clear insight into architectural decisions, technical risks, standards adoption, and transformation priorities.
• Influence engineering teams through technical credibility, clarity, collaboration, and pragmatic decision-making rather than relying solely on formal authority.
• Drive modernization and transformation initiatives while balancing engineering efficiency, business growth, delivery speed, technical quality, and long-term maintainability.
• Champion AI-assisted development tools and agentic engineering workflows as part of the organization's evolving technology strategy.

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive experience in software engineering and technical architecture.
• 5+ years of experience in a VP, Senior Director, or equivalent architecture leadership position with enterprise-wide responsibility.
• Proven success leading and developing architecture teams and influencing large engineering organizations toward consistent standards and practices.
• Deep hands-on expertise in modern application architecture, including front-end frameworks such as React, backend technologies such as Node.js or Java, and API design.
• Strong experience with major cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Experience with modern data platforms such as Databricks or Snowflake and lakehouse/medallion data architecture.
• Demonstrated experience selecting and standardizing enterprise capabilities such as CIAM and authentication solutions, SSO, CI/CD platforms, DORA instrumentation, and AI/LLM tooling.
• Proven ability to establish architecture review processes, governance councils, decision frameworks, and ADR practices in complex, multi-team environments.
• Experience defining and implementing architecture strategies across multi-entity or post-acquisition organizations where consolidation and consistency are critical.
• Strong experience leading organizational and technology transformation, particularly within private-equity-backed or high-growth environments.
• Practical expertise with AI-assisted development tools, modern AI engineering practices, and agentic development workflows.
• Exceptional communication, relationship-building, influencing, and executive advisory skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical topics to both technical and C-suite audiences.
• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture, engineering efficiency, technology governance, cybersecurity, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Experience in data-intensive or analytics-driven organizations is preferred, particularly within automotive, financial services, information services, or related sectors.
• Strong ability to balance strategic technology direction with pragmatic implementation and delivery realities.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline; an advanced degree is preferred.

Benefits

• Competitive starting salary range of $250,000–$275,000 CAD/USD per year, depending on geographic location and factors such as skills, qualifications, experience, performance, and organizational needs.
• Remote work opportunity available across Canada.
• Executive-level opportunity to shape enterprise architecture and long-term technology strategy.
• Significant influence over major technology decisions spanning AI, application architecture, data, cloud, CIAM, UI technologies, and development platforms.
• Opportunity to lead and develop both an enterprise architecture team and a broader architecture community.
• High-visibility role partnering with senior engineering, technology, security, infrastructure, and executive stakeholders.
• Opportunity to drive technology transformation within a growing, data-intensive organization.
• Inclusive workplace committed to equal opportunity and a diverse workforce.
• Reasonable accommodations available throughout the recruitment and selection process.
• Opportunity to establish scalable architecture practices that improve engineering consistency, delivery efficiency, and business outcomes.