Enterprise Architect Lead Engineer

Job Title: Enterprise Architect Lead Engineer
Location: Minot, North Dakota
Experience Required: 12+ Years
Employment Type: Contract
Interview Type: In-Person or Webcam

We are seeking an experienced Enterprise Architect Lead Engineer to guide and drive large-scale technology architecture initiatives across the organization. This role requires a strategic thinker who can align business needs with scalable technical solutions, ensuring standards, governance, integration, and modernization across enterprise systems. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience building enterprise architecture frameworks, driving digital transformation, and collaborating with executive, business, and technical teams to achieve long-term technology maturity goals.

The selected candidate will be responsible for shaping enterprise-wide architecture blueprints, defining roadmaps, guiding technology adoption, and providing oversight to engineering and implementation teams. This role combines thought leadership, hands-on architecture expertise, and the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.

• Develop and maintain enterprise architecture strategies, frameworks, and reference models supporting long-term technology goals.

• Lead the creation of architecture roadmaps for applications, data, infrastructure, security, and cloud environments.

• Evaluate current systems and recommend modernization, consolidation, cloud migration, and integration solutions.

• Ensure alignment between business requirements and technical designs across departments and programs.

• Provide architectural governance and ensure compliance with standards, policies, and best practices.

• Partner with stakeholders including business leaders, engineering teams, and project managers to deliver enterprise solutions.

• Lead architecture reviews, risk assessments, and design validation workshops.

• Guide technology selection, vendor evaluations, and tool adoption based on enterprise needs.

• Support digital transformation, automation strategies, and large-scale system implementations.

• Provide mentorship to technical teams and contribute to technical leadership decisions.

• Ensure architectural documentation, diagrams, and technical specifications are maintained and accurate.

• Monitor trends, emerging technologies, and industry best practices to keep systems future-ready.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field.

• 12+ years of relevant experience in enterprise architecture, system architecture, or technology leadership roles.

• Strong expertise in architecture frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman, or FEAF.

• Proven experience designing large-scale enterprise systems across applications, data, cloud, and infrastructure domains.

• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

• Ability to develop architecture diagrams, models, technical designs, and documentation.

• Strong understanding of API integration, microservices, virtualization, DevOps, and modernization initiatives.

• Experience leading cross-functional teams and managing enterprise-level technology programs.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to translate complex technical information into business language.

• Experience with cybersecurity architecture and compliance frameworks is highly desirable.

• Relevant certifications such as TOGAF, AWS/Azure Architect, PMP, or CISSP are preferred.