Principal Architect | Strategic Enterprise Architecture

NielsenIQ; Pune District; On-site; INR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working environment

Volunteer time off

Job summary

NielsenIQ is seeking a Principal Architect to lead strategic enterprise architecture across NIQ platforms. You will shape target-state architecture, drive AI-enabled solutions, and partner with Product, Engineering, Security, and Data Science to translate strategy into measurable outcomes.

The role emphasizes experience in data, analytics, and AI-enabled platforms, with a focus on governance, standards, and scalable architecture across global products.

Qualifications

• Experience with ArchiMate, capability-based planning methods, and enterprise architecture repositories such as ADOIT.
• Hands-on engineering or architecture with APIs, Python, databases, data pipelines, cloud-native platforms, MLOps or LLMOps.
• Knowledge of product operating models, agile delivery, portfolio planning, FinOps, and investment governance.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the portfolio target-state architecture and rolling three-year technology roadmap.
• Serve as the named strategic architecture partner for the portfolio with cross-functional collaboration.
• Define and contribute reusable reference architectures, patterns, and guardrails for AI, cloud, security, and observability.

Skills

ArchiMate

Capability planning

Architecture repos

APIs

Python

Cloud-native

MLOps

LLMOps

Azure AI Foundry

Azure OpenAI

Tools

ADOIT

Job description

Principal Architect | Strategic Enterprise Architecture

• Full-time

About NIQ:NIQ is a leading global consumer intelligence company, helping clients understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what they should do next. Our data, technology, AI, and analytics capabilities power decision‑making for some of the world's most important consumer, retail, and technology businesses.

AI is central to NIQ's next stage of growth. We are building trusted, scalable, and high-impact AI capabilities that transform how insights are created, delivered, and adopted across the business. This role will help shape the platforms, operatingmodel, and leadershipsystemneeded to make that ambition real.

Our NielsenIQ Technology teams are building and evolving Connect, a unified, global, open data ecosystem powered by AI, cloud and on-premises technologies. Clients around the world rely on NielsenIQ data and insights to innovate and grow. As a Principal Architect within the Enterprise Architecture team, you will define architecture for key components and capabilities across NIQ platforms, ensuring alignment with business strategy, product objectives, technology standards, and the long‑term platform vision. You will partner with architecture peers, Product and Operations leaders, engineering leaders, and development teams to take solutions from initial requirements through design, delivery, and production operation. A key focus of this role is shaping the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, and agentic AI across the enterprise. The successful candidate will combine broad enterprise architecture experience with practical knowledge of AI‑enabled systems and will grow into an end‑to‑end platform architect as their knowledge of NIQ's platforms expands.

Role Mandate:Act as the strategic Enterprise Architecture partner and single point of architecture accountability for an assigned NIQ product portfolio. The role connects business and product strategy to target‑state architecture, capability ownership, technology roadmaps, governed standards, and delivery feedback. It is intentionally strategic while remaining close enough to Product, Engineering, Solution Architecture, and Architecture Practice teams to ensure that direction is actionable and produces measurable outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the portfolio target‑state architecture and rolling three‑year technology roadmap, aligned with business priorities, product strategy, engineering plans, and enterprise transformation goals.
• Serve as the named strategic architecture partner and single point of EA accountability for the assigned portfolio, building trusted working relationships with Product, Engineering, Operations, Data Science, Security, and business leadership.
• Create and maintain business‑capability, domain, application, data, and platform maps that expose ownership, dependencies, duplication, maturity gaps, lifecycle risk, and opportunities for simplification or growth.
• Translate strategic priorities into clear architecture outcomes, transition states, investment options, sequencing recommendations, and measurable decision criteria.
• Guide platform‑placement and build‑versus‑buy decisions, balancing enterprise reuse and standards with appropriate portfolio autonomy, speed, cost, resilience, and client commitments.
• Define and contribute reusable reference architectures, patterns, guardrails, and decision trees, including patterns for AI, Generative AI, agentic AI, data, integration, cloud, security, and observability.
• Drive adoption of approved architecture standards and bring standards, reference architectures, major exceptions, and cross‑functional decisions through the lightweight EA governance process for ratification.
• Own visibility of portfolio architecture risks, strategic exceptions, technical debt, capability gaps, and cross‑portfolio dependencies; ensure actions, owners, and escalation paths are clear.
• Partner with the Solution Architecture pillar to triage architecturally significant demand, shape initiatives early, and ensure delivery‑level learning feeds back into portfolio strategy, standards, and roadmaps.
• Assess emerging technologies and market shifts, especially AI and agentic commerce, and convert relevant signals into adoption guidance, controlled experiments, investment recommendations, and roadmap implications.
• Enable self‑service architecture by creating high‑quality, reusable content for NIQ architecture knowledge repositories and supporting AI‑enabled access to standards, patterns, decisions, and portfolio views.
• Establish and run an effective operating cadence, including strategic portfolio reviews, intake alignment with Solution Architecture, reference artifact alignment with the Architecture Practice, and architect‑only sessions to drive capability and domain consistency.
• Define outcome‑oriented measures for the portfolio, such as roadmap adoption, reuse, simplification, risk reduction, decision cycle time, standards adoption, and value realized from technology investments.
• Support M&A due diligence and integration planning by assessing capability fit, architecture compatibility, technology risk, redundancy, security considerations, and potential integration paths.
• Mentor architects and engineering leaders, communicate complex decisions clearly, and influence across organizational boundaries without relying on direct authority.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in data, analytics, measurement, consumer intelligence, retail, media, or other information intensive product environments.
• Knowledge of ArchiMate, capability‑based planning methods, and enterprise architecture repositories such as ADOIT.
• Experience with product operating models, agile delivery, portfolio planning, FinOps, and outcome‑based technology investment governance.
• Experience supporting technology due diligence, post‑merger integration, platform consolidation, or large‑scale modernization and simplification programs.
• Hands‑on engineering or architecture experience with APIs, Python, databases, data pipelines, cloud‑native platforms, MLOps or LLMOps, or enterprise AI platforms such as Azure AI Foundry and Azure OpenAI.
• Thinks in business capabilities, portfolios, platforms, and multi‑year outcomes rather than isolated projects.

Successful Profile

• Balances enterprise consistency with purposeful autonomy and avoids governance for its own sake.
• Creates clarity from complexity, makes decision ownership explicit, and converts strategy into reusable architecture assets.
• Builds trust through early engagement, pragmatic recommendations, transparent trade‑offs, and reliable follow‑through.
• Uses delivery feedback to continuously improve target states, standards, patterns, and investment guidance.

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off

NIQ may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools at various stages of the recruitment process, including résumé screening, candidate assessments, interview scheduling, job matching, communication support, and certain administrative tasks that help streamline workflows. These tools are intended to improve efficiency and support fair and consistent evaluation based on job‑related criteria. All use of AI is governed by NIQ's principles of fairness, transparency, human oversight, and inclusion. Final hiring decisions are made exclusively by humans. NIQ regularly reviews its AI tools to help mitigate bias and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. If you have questions, require accommodations, or wish to request human review were permitted by law, please contact your local HR representative. For more information, please visit NIQ's AI Safety Policies and Guiding Principles: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/info/niqs-ai-safety-policies/

About NIQ

NIQ is the world's leading consumer intelligence company, delivering the most complete understanding of consumer buying behavior and revealing new pathways to growth. In 2023, NIQ combined with GfK, bringing together the two industry leaders with unparalleled global reach. With a holistic retail read and the most comprehensive consumer insights—delivered with advanced analytics through state‑of‑the‑art platforms—NIQ delivers the Full View.

For more information, visit NIQ.com

Want to keep up with our latest updates?

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At NIQ, we are steadfast in our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace that mirrors the rich diversity of the communities and markets we serve. We believe that embracing a wide range of perspectives drives innovation and excellence.All employment decisions at NIQ are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws.We invite individuals who share our dedication to inclusivity and equity to join us in making a meaningful impact.To learn more about our ongoing efforts in diversity and inclusion, please visit the https://nielseniq.com/global/en/news-center/diversity-inclusion

By clicking the link above or any third‑party link within this posting, you are leaving this site and going to a third‑party website where the third‑party website's terms and privacy policy apply