Enterprise IT Architect

Colruyt Group; Belgique; Remote; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Colruyt Group is seeking an Enterprise IT Architect to shape and govern strategic transformations. You will define the target operating model, determine technology investment horizons, and lead via collaboration with a core team of transformation and enterprise architecture professionals.

You will ensure architecture governance across roadmaps, programs, and projects, while mentoring Solution IT Architects and driving alignment between business and IT.

Qualifications

• Experience in defining and governing enterprise-wide IT strategies and roadmaps.
• Ability to translate business strategy into target operating models and architectures.
• Stakeholder management with C-level and senior management.

Responsibilities

• Create coherence and alignment between programs and projects.
• Governing evolution of information systems across business units.
• Guide Solution IT Architects in defining project architecture.
• Review IT architecture for projects and ensure alignment with program level goals.
• Develop and maintain reference models for IT architecture.
• Deliver training on architectural methods and governance.
• Define program scope and action plans to achieve target IT architecture.
• Align Business and IT Architecture at program level.
• Organize program/project reviews and governance bodies.
• Monitor dependencies and orchestrate cross-program improvements.

Skills

Enterprise Architecture

Strategy alignment

Governance

Roadmap planning

TOGAF

ArchiMate

Tools

TOGAF

ArchiMate

Job description

As an Enterprise IT Architect, you play a crucial role in defining, supporting and governing strategic transformations.

During the shaping of the target operating model with management (C-level), you bring in those elements of the IT Strategy which might influence the outcome of this exercise. You take the lead in determining the relevant technology investment horizon based on the differentiation nature of the business and IT functions to be delivered.

We change it

After developing the strategic framework and the target operating model, you will define the To Be target of the business and application functions, together with the Enterprise Business Architect. Subsequently, you will define the projects and their relationships required to deliver the To Be architecture.

You don't do this alone, but collaborate closely with the other members of your core team, consisting of the following roles:

• Transformation manager / Roadmap coordinator
• Business representative
• Enterprise Business architect
• Change manager
• Representative of the IT Organization

In this way we guarantee a balanced roadmap which takes sufficient account of the various important aspects such as business priority, change readiness of the organization, architectural optimization, risks, resource availability, dependencies, costs, revenues, timing... In the program team there is NO hierarchy: everyone looks at the proposals based on their expertise and the goal is to have the team members challenge each other to come up with the best solution for the organization.

We govern it

Once the roadmap is ready and approved, you will remain responsible for its implementation. Together with the core team you will start projects that will realize parts of the roadmap architecture. In concrete terms, this is done by handing over to the mirror role at project level: the IT solution architects are your mirror role at project level.

Next, you will continue to follow up on the projects (from an Enterprise IT Architecture perspective) by organizing communities and setting up reviews.

During the implementation phase, significant adjustments may still need to be made to the architecture: e.g. based on feedback from the projects, changing market conditions and/or the annual review of the roadmap.

Finally, during the process, you will monitor the dependencies of your roadmap with the other strategic roadmaps of the organization.

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Why choose Myreas?

Our origin: the EA context of the Colruyt Group

The Colruyt Group is the only "Architecture-driven" company in Belgium and maybe even in Europe. Decisions are not made by those who hit the table the hardest, they are made by an architectural process and architectural boards! The management takes all decisions based on an architectural foundation and rationale.

C-Level is being given EA training to learn “Architecturese” (the language of EA’s)

C-level must explain and defend the architectural recommendations to the Colruyt Group Architecture board (CEO, COO, CIO, Head of Bus. Arch, Head of IT Arch) in order to demonstrate their full commitment

Our extensive toolset

Our methodology for applying Enterprise Architecture is firmly rooted in TOGAF and ArchiMate, which we’ve been putting to work relentlessly keeping what worked well, tossing what didn’t and adding what was missing.

The result is an extensive toolset fit for the purpose of applying Enterprise Architecture. This toolset encompasses Strategy definition, Enterprise Business, Application and Technology Architecture, Transformation & Portfolio Management and specific deepdives in Architectural Notation, Tooling and governance.

As said, we took a lot of inspiration from TOGAF and ArchiMate, but we enriched our methodology with other tools and techniques such as the Target Operating Model framework (from Ross & Weill) or Pace Layering (from Gartner) to name just two.

Our collaboration between business and IT

The Enterprise Architects are always staffed in "duo" (an Enterprise IT Architect and an Enterprise Business Architect). Together they collect the high-level architectural requirements, translate these into different options and make recommendations to the management. Enterprise Architects are staffed in duo because each discipline has its own focus (Business or IT) and by challenging each other. they arrive at the best proposal. In addition, there are EA governance structures at Corporate Level, Capability Level and Program Level.

The mindset of a start-up

A start-up

Myreas is a small niche company, with a flat structure and a minimum of company rules. Myreas staff are shaping their own company and all colleagues are invited to help: “We will define our future together!”.

Discover our most important soft skills

Single focus on EA

Most EA companies start with EA, but due to customer demand and the fact that TOP EAs are so hard to find, they start hiring solution architects, project managers, analysts, test managers...Over time, the EA population within these companies is less than 10%.
At Myreas, we hire ONLY EAs (not even Solution Architects)!

It is the mission of Myreas to find the best EAs and to make them better (we call that the TOP Gun spirit!). Less than 5% of the people invited pass the tests and receive a proposal. Our mission is to grow towards 25 TOP Transformation Managers, 25 TOP Enterprise IT Architects and 25 TOP Enterprise Business Architects.

Effective and efficient Training and Coaching

There are no Belgian consulting companies with an EA methodology because it is extremely difficult to develop one when everybody is working for different clients and using different methodologies, not to mention the problem of how to train/coach people effectively in such a context.

Because of the lack in methodology, it is also most unlikely that there is a decent Quality Assurance in place. Recommendations and deliverables are fully dependent on the personal experience of the EA executing the strategic mission, rather than the EA company they are working for.
At Myreas we do things differently: it is the mission of Myreas to train and coach our colleagues and since all our colleagues are working at the same physical location, with the same context and culture, using the same methodology, same deliverables and stakeholders, we are able to organize this very efficiently and effectively. The outcome and recommendations are not dependent on the individual, but supported by the Myreas EA community through the existing governance processes and boards.

From Strategy to Realization

At Myreas we remain responsible for the architecture: we translate the strategy into a roadmap of changes and remain responsible for the governance during the implementation of the roadmap. EAs see the results of their recommendations!

The human side of consultancy

Respect for the work life balance

At Myreas, we don’t expect our colleagues to work excessive hours.

At Myreas, we don’t expect our colleagues to travel each week.

At Myreas, we don’t expect our colleagues to do business development if they want to take a next step in their career.

No “Up or Out” principles

At Myreas, we don’t apply “Up or Out” principles. We grow within!

No stressful onboarding, no client-switching

At Myreas, the client context and culture remains the same so there is no stressful onboarding each time and no continually switching clients.

Colleagues should do the things that give them energy.
We hope that all colleagues will help us to build Myreas but that is not an obligation: we believe that colleagues should do the things that give them energy.

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Tasks and responsibilities

The Enterprise IT Architect has the following responsibilities:

• You create coherence and alignment between the various programs and projects.
• You support the various business units and domains in governing the evolution of their Information Systems. You collaborate with Enterprise Business Architects, Portfolio and Transformation Managers to translate these plans into a roadmap with concrete projects.
• You guide Solution IT Architects in defining the project architecture.
• You review the IT architecture of projects.
• You create reference models for IT architecture.
• You develop, document and provide training on architectural methods.

The Enterprise IT Architect has the following responsibilities within a program:

• Defining the scope of the IT architecture (deliverables, approach) within the program so that the Transformation manager can create an integrated plan and a cost estimate.
• Further detailing the target IT architecture at the program level, the transition steps necessary to evolve towards this target IT architecture so that the objectives set by the program owner can be achieved in the most efficient and effective way.
• Developing the roadmap (in terms of content) and matching dependencies with the other programs and projects, so that together they realize the objectives and operating model of the organization in the most efficient and effective way.
• Aligning the Business Architecture at the program level so that both business and IT architecture are fully aligned.
• Transferring (handing over) the architecture framework and architectural scope of a specific project to the Solution IT Architects.
• Organizing project reviews to validate whether the solution IT architecture and the solution IT architecture deliverables are in line with the Enterprise IT architecture at program level.
• Reporting the Enterprise IT Architecture evolutions, planning and points for attention during corporate gate reviews.
• Managing enterprise IT architecture evolutions due to changes such as new strategic goals, new dependencies and new insights from solution IT architecture.
• Supporting the growth in maturity of IT architecture within the program and giving advice/coaching to the Solution IT Architect (at project level).
• Developing the enterprise IT architecture at an organizational level enabling the enterprise wide view to be built step by step.
• Validating the changes to the IT architecture during the implementation of the program so that the objectives and target operating model are set.
• Actively contributing to the functioning of the core team so that the program becomes a success!
• Actively contributing to the community of IT architecture so that the IT architecture of the organization becomes more coherent.

The Enterprise IT Architect has the following tasks during the course of the program:

• Fixing the scope of the program
• Defining a plan of action to create the target IT architecture
• Defining the IT architecture deliverables and validating them with the IT Architect Responsible for the review of the program
• Determining the migration strategy to the IT architecture to be and defining the steps required to move from as-is architecture to the to-be architecture
• Defining and aligning the dependencies with the other programs and projects and documenting them in the dependencies log
• Coaching and guiding the Solution IT Architect(s)
• Validating the solution IT architecture deliverables and validating whether these are in line with the proposed IT architecture at program level and in the roadmap
• Integrating the IT architecture deliverables at program level in the documentation of the Enterprise IT architecture
• Developing/organizing the IT architecture governance at program and project levels
• Monitoring that the realization of the program remains in line with the operating model of the domain or operating unit developed, and the organization.
• Taking matters to the Corporate Portfolio Board and the Architecture Board (CEO, COO, CIO, Head of Bus. Arch, Head of IT Arch) in the event of issues
• Balancing the IT architecture concerns versus the other concerns within the core team
• Providing advice on all elements of the program (Transformation Management, Change Management, IT Architecture, Business/IT Resources, ...)
• Taking the lead with the stakeholders (business, project teams, ...) on the choices made in the core and program team
• Being a point of contact for the program
• Ensuring that any concerns raised across the various disciplines are discussed in the core team and that a decision is formulated
• Validating the IT architecture proposals in the community of Enterprise IT Architects.
• Giving input and feedback to the colleague Enterprise IT Architects on their proposals.

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