Architect - Technology

Wellmark, Inc.; Des Moines (IA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 155,000; Full time

Job summary

The Architect at Wellmark, Inc. in Des Moines, IA guides the architectural integrity of complex systems across the enterprise. You will shape technical direction, define nonfunctional requirements, and resolve trade-offs to connect technology decisions to business outcomes and lifecycle health.

You will lead in AI-enabled architectures, establish guardrails, and ensure risk-aware governance while collaborating with product management, engineering, security, data, and operations teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or direct and applicable work experience.
• Minimum 4 years of cloud architecture experience, including system integration, application development and system analysis.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Experience with AI, machine learning, retrieval-augmented solutions, or agent-based systems, including evaluation, monitoring, data governance, privacy, security, and human oversight.
• Depth in one or more domains such as data, security, integration, cloud, platform, or health-plan value streams.
• Experience with architecture frameworks (TOGAF, SAFe, Zachman) and enterprise governance.

Responsibilities

• Architecture and Solution Intent: Define and evolve logical architecture and solution intent for one or more systems and their interactions.
• Infrastructure Architecture and Platform Alignment: Define infrastructure capabilities, constraints, nonfunctional requirements, and risk treatments to support solution intent across cloud, on‑premises, network, compute, storage, and security.
• Upstream Shaping and Feasibility: Engage in discovery, portfolio, and product planning before investment decisions.
• Architectural Decisions: Lead designated architectural decisions from framing through commitment with documented rationale.
• AI and Agent Architecture: Determine when AI is appropriate and select architecture patterns aligned with risk.
• Standards, Guardrails, and Reuse: Apply enterprise standards and regulatory obligations.
• Lifecycle, Risk, and Technical Debt: Maintain architectural integrity through lifecycle stages and debt management.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with product, engineering, data, security, infrastructure, and other architects.
• Evidence and Continuous Improvement: Maintain architecture models, decision records, risks, and conformance evidence.

Skills

Cloud architecture

AI/ML architectures

Security & compliance

System integration

Enterprise architecture

Education

Bachelor's degree or direct and applicable work experience

Job description

Job Description

The Architect is accountable for the architectural integrity and evolution of complex systems and their interactions across the enterprise. The role engages early in business and technology planning to shape technical direction, establish system boundaries, evaluate feasibility and alternatives, define nonfunctional requirements, resolve architectural trade-offs, and connect technology decisions to business outcomes, risk, and lifecycle health.

The Architect defines logical architecture, solution intent, cross-system interactions, infrastructure requirements and constraints, architectural guardrails, transition direction, and risk treatments. The role owns designated architectural decisions through commitment and maintains the models, evidence, rationale, and traceability needed to make those decisions understandable, reusable, and defensible. The Architect works across business, product, engineering, platform, infrastructure, network, data, security, operations, compliance, and enterprise architecture while maintaining clear accountability boundaries with Platform Engineering and delivery teams.

The Architect is responsible for the safe and effective architectural use of artificial intelligence, including AI-enabled products, models, retrieval solutions, and agents. The role establishes intended use, data and autonomy boundaries, human-accountability requirements, evaluation expectations, evidence standards, monitoring, and lifecycle controls proportionate to consequence and risk.

What you will do:

• Architecture and Solution Intent: Define and evolve logical architecture and solution intent for one or more systems and their interactions.
• Infrastructure Architecture and Platform Alignment: Define the infrastructure capabilities, constraints, nonfunctional requirements, and risk treatments required to support solution intent across cloud, on-premises, network, compute, storage, runtime, identity, observability, resilience, backup, recovery, and continuity concerns.
• Upstream Shaping and Feasibility: Engage in discovery, intake, portfolio, and product planning before investment decisions are committed.
• Architectural Decisions: Lead designated architectural decisions from framing through commitment. Make trade-offs explicit; identify decision owners and affected stakeholders; and document what was decided, why, where the decision applies, and the conditions that would cause reconsideration.
• AI and Agent Architecture: Determine when AI is appropriate and select architecture patterns consistent with intended use and risk.
• Standards, Guardrails, and Reuse: Apply and evolve enterprise principles, standards, reference architectures, approved patterns, and regulatory obligations.
• Lifecycle, Risk, and Technical Debt: Steward architectural integrity across introduction, change, operation, modernization, and retirement.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner with product management, business owners, engineering, data, security, infrastructure, network, platform, operations, compliance, and other architects.
• Evidence and Continuous Improvement: Maintain architecture models, decision records, risks, assumptions, standards, and conformance evidence in governed systems of record.

Qualifications

Qualifications

Preferred

• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Knowledge of microservices, APIs, and event-driven architectures.
• Exposure to architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF, SAFe, Zachman).
• Experience in a regulated industry such as health insurance, healthcare, financial services, or government.
• Experience with product operating models, Lean Portfolio Management, SAFe, or comparable enterprise planning and delivery approaches.
• Experience with enterprise architecture modeling, architecture repositories, and governed architecture decision records.
• Experience defining testable architectural guardrails, fitness functions, policy-as-code, or delivery-pipeline conformance checks.
• Experience with AI, machine learning, retrieval-augmented solutions, or agent-based systems, including evaluation, monitoring, data governance, privacy, security, and human oversight.
• Depth in one or more relevant domains, such as business architecture, data, security, integration or interoperability, application, cloud, platform, infrastructure, network, resilience, or a health-plan value stream.
• Relevant architecture or domain certification.

Required

• Bachelor's degree or direct and applicable work experience.
• Minimum 7 years of experience of which could be any combination of the following: Security application experience including program controls, processes, security tools such as encryption at rest, encryption in transit, etc.
• Minimum 4 years of cloud architecture experience, including system integration, application development and system analysis.
• Proven experience designing and guiding complex technical systems. Strong understanding of software architecture principles and system integration. Experience collaborating across technical and non-technical teams. Ability to document and communicate architecture clearly and concisely. Familiarity with lifecycle management of systems in a large enterprise.
• Expert knowledge of network protocols and enterprise network architecture and the ability to research, architect and drive complete technical solutions, consisting of multiple technologies.
• Experience securing workloads.
• Experience migrating to the public cloud (Amazon, Google, Microsoft).
• Experience managing cloud access security brokers (CASB), including single sign on, authorization, encryption, etc.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL database systems.
• Demonstrated ability to be a self-starter who can lead others and focuses on results and desired outcomes and how best to achieve them. Flexible and adaptable to change.
• Experience managing and understanding stakeholder issues, providing clear and concise communication and counseling to stakeholders.
• Change agent with the proven ability to influence others by using appropriate skills to guide individuals or groups to accomplish work, reach consensus or take action.
• Experience using strong business knowledge and perspective, synthesize complex information and develop theories to arrive at logical recommendations. Adept at viewing situations from the stakeholder’s perspective to better address their needs and expectations.
• Ability to maintain effectiveness when experiencing major changes in work tasks or the work environment; adjusts effectively to work within new work structures, business processes, work requirements, or cultures.
• Travel required up to 5%.

Additional Information

a. System Design & Architecture: Define and evolve the end-to-end architecture of one or more systems. Develop and maintain architectural documentation (diagrams, patterns, decision records). Ensure systems are scalable, reliable, secure, and maintainable.

b. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with engineering teams to translate business needs into technical designs. Work closely with infrastructure, security, and DevOps teams to ensure holistic architecture. Serve as the architectural point of contact for delivery teams and product owners.

c. Standards & Governance: Align system architecture with enterprise architecture guidelines and principles. Participate in architecture review boards and peer design reviews. Ensure adherence to technical standards and compliance requirements.

d. Lifecycle Ownership: Oversee the full system lifecycle from concept to decommissioning. Identify architectural risks and develop mitigation strategies. Support technical debt management and system evolution planning.

e. Decision-Making & Documentation: Evaluate technology trade-offs and provide architectural guidance on key decisions. Maintain system-level decision logs and rationale for traceability. Advocate for sound architectural practices and long-term system health.

f. Other duties as assigned.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

_ _ An Equal Opportunity Employer __

The policy of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is to recruit, hire, train and promote individuals in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation due to a disability at any stage of the employment application process should contact us at [e-mail]

Please inform us if you meet the definition of a "Covered DoD official".

At this time, Wellmark is not considering applicants for this position that require any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please refer to the following resources: Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants.

Wellmark supports and expects the responsible use of AI for our workforce! We welcome the responsible use of these tools by job seekers as well and are interested in learning from you; you will have an opportunity in the application process to share which tools you used and how you applied them.