Head - Enterprise Architecture (Data Digital & IT)

Novartis India; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 2,500,000 - 3,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Novartis India is seeking a Head of Enterprise Architecture in Hyderabad to lead the enterprise architecture vision and governance across Data, Digital & IT. This role requires over 20 years of experience in IT systems and demonstrates a strong background in enterprise architecture practices. Responsibilities include establishing architectural standards, leading the architecture community, and mentoring engineering talent. The position offers a critical role in aligning technology with business strategy, enhancing compliance, and promoting continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 20+ years of experience in building and maintaining IT systems.
• 10+ years in enterprise architecture and technology governance.
• Strong understanding of technology landscapes and architecture frameworks.
• Experience in evaluating technology solutions and driving standardization.

Responsibilities

• Lead the enterprise architecture vision and governance.
• Establish architectural standards and ensure compliance.
• Provide oversight for technology decisions.
• Build and mentor enterprise architects.

Skills

Enterprise architecture leadership

Strategic technology governance

Communication skills

Experience with cloud and data architecture

Change leadership

Job description

Summary

Location: Hyderabad

We are looking for Head of Enterprise Architecture to lead the enterprise architecture vision, governance, and operating model across Data, Digital & IT (DDIT). This role will set the strategic direction for architecture standards, methods, and practices, ensure their effective adoption, and drive service excellence, consistency, and continuous improvement across the organization.

Major Accountabilities

Enterprise Architecture Strategy and Governance

• Refine and lead the enterprise architecture governance model, including standards, methods, processes, tools, and decision forums, in alignment with IT strategy and leading practices.
• Establish and govern enterprise architecture standards, technology principles, and variants to ensure end to end solutions adhere to architectural and business requirements.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for architecture issues, trade-offs, and decisions, ensuring consistency, transparency, and alignment across business and technology stakeholders.

Architecture Oversight and Technology Direction

• Provide architectural oversight for key technology and solution decisions to ensure alignment with platform strategy, digital, data, and integration principles, as well as business and non-functional requirements.
• Guide target architecture and roadmaps to ensure technology strategies, transition plans, and future state designs are coherent, scalable, and aligned to business and IT priorities.
• Lead architecture for AI and other automation solutions across the enterprise, providing thought leadership on their applicability and overseeing architecture reviews for major initiatives and technology evaluations to ensure solutions are scalable, supportable, and sustainable.
• Responsible for defining enterprise architecture guidelines, target architectures, technology roadmaps, and consolidation opportunities across the landscape.

Optimization, Reuse, and Continuous Improvement

• Drive reuse, simplification, and rationalization across the technology landscape by promoting usage of AI, Automation and standardization of platforms, shared architectural assets, and effective application of enterprise patterns.
• Partner with business, and technology leaders to identify technology risks, inform investment and portfolio decisions, and improve the efficiency, resilience, and value across IT landscape.
• Define and monitor architecture KPIs and performance measures to assess outcomes, maturity, compliance, and contribution to strategic and operational goals.
• Advance enterprise architecture maturity by continuously improving governance processes, strengthening architecture capabilities, and driving service excellence across IT.

Architecture Community and Capability Building

• Build and lead the Architecture Community of Practice, fostering consistency, knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and adoption of enterprise standards across the organization.
• Develop and mentor enterprise architects, strengthening capability, depth of expertise, and leadership across the architecture function.
• Responsible for communicating standards, roadmaps, and architectural direction across the architecture community and broader stakeholder groups.

Architecture Repository and Knowledge Management

• Oversee architecture repositories and artefacts to ensure key domain, cross functional, and enterprise standard solutions are documented, current, and accessible.

Minimum Requirements

• Overall 20+ experience in building and maintaining IT systems.
• 10 plus years of experience in enterprise architecture, technology strategy, and governance within complex global IT environments.
• Proven experience leading enterprise architecture practices, standards, and governance across business, application, data, infrastructure, and platform domains.
• Strong understanding of technology landscapes, target architectures, roadmaps, and portfolio rationalization to support business transformation and operational excellence.
• Demonstrated ability to align technology strategy with business priorities and guide architectural decisions across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Solid knowledge of architecture frameworks, governance models, and leading industry practices for enterprise architecture and service delivery.
• Experience evaluating technology solutions, defining standards, and driving reuse, simplification, scalability, and rationalization across the IT landscape.
• Strong understanding of cloud, application, data, integration, and infra architecture principles.
• Strong technology delivery, program, and change leadership experience, with the ability to lead complex initiatives from strategy through execution and influence across org boundaries.
• Experience leading cross functional IT teams, mentoring architecture talent, and building strong architecture community practices in a global matrix organization.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to simplify complex topics, frame problem statements, and craft effective executive messaging.
• Experience in pharmaceutical regulatory and compliance environments is desirable.