Lead Engineer, Enterprise Architecture

CO-US DuCharme, McMillen & Associates; Fort Wayne (IN); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP eligibility

Company paid parental leave

Generous time off

Great Places to Work Certified

Multiple benefit plans

Job summary

DMA seeks a Lead Engineer, Enterprise Architecture to set future-state technology direction and align major initiatives with our strategy. You will lead a small architecture team, shape complex solution design, and contribute hands-on in delivering high‑impact projects.

You will partner with business leaders, IT security, data, and delivery teams to drive standards, governance, and reuse across the enterprise, including AI-enabled initiatives and emerging technologies.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain DMA's current-state, future-state, and transition architecture with enterprise standards and reference patterns.
• Partner with business leaders to translate objectives into practical technology strategies and options.
• Engage early in initiatives to shape requirements and evaluate alternatives before development begins.
• Ensure major technology initiatives align with business strategy and long‑term roadmap.
• Lead solution architecture for significant requests with trade-offs, risks, and implementation guidance.
• Facilitate architecture discussions across stakeholders to drive informed decisions.
• Establish and lead architecture governance, reviews, standards, and risk management.
• Lead build-versus-buy evaluations and assess third-party solutions for fit and security.
• Provide architecture leadership for AI-enabled solutions and emerging technologies.
• Establish governance for AI solutions with security, data, and compliance teams.
• Collaborate with engineering to translate architectures into implementable designs.

Skills

Enterprise architecture

AI / GenAI

Solution design

Leadership

Governance

Job description

Company Culture and Benefits

• 2026 Great Places to Work Certified


• Employee stock ownership program eligibility begins on day one of employment (ESOP contribution is targeted at 6% of your annual compensation)


• Company paid parental leave


• Generous time off package


• Multiple benefit plans , eligibility begins on day one of employment


• Culturally focused on work/life balance, and the overall wellness of our employees

This is a hybrid position with an expectation to be in our Fort Wayne, IN or Indianapolis, IN office a minimum of two days per week. This position does not qualify for relocation assistance.

Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. This position does not qualify for employment-based sponsorship.

Position Summary

The Lead Engineer, Enterprise Architecture is a senior, hands‑on architecture leader responsible for establishing DMA's future‑state technology architecture and ensuring that significant business and technology initiatives are intentionally aligned with the company's strategy, enterprise capabilities, and long‑term technology direction. The role leads a small architecture team and operates as a player‑coach: setting enterprise direction, shaping complex solutions before delivery begins, and personally contributing to high‑impact solution design.

This role partners with business leaders, IT leadership, security, data, systems, engineering, delivery teams, and vendors to translate business needs into practical solution options. It establishes architecture standards and governance, guides build‑versus‑buy decisions, identifies cross‑system dependencies and risks, and helps DMA move from an organically grown environment toward a coherent target state.

The position also provides architecture leadership for emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence. Innovation is pursued selectively to advance business outcomes and the approved enterprise architecture, rather than as a separate objective.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Define and maintain DMA's current‑state, future‑state, and transition architecture, including enterprise standards, principles, reference architectures, and reusable solution patterns.


• Partner closely with business leaders and stakeholders to understand strategic objectives, business capabilities, operational challenges, and emerging needs, translating them into practical technology strategies and solution approaches.


• Engage early in business initiatives to help shape requirements, evaluate alternatives, identify dependencies, and ensure proposed solutions address the underlying business need before significant investment or development begins.


• Ensure major technology initiatives align with DMA's business strategy, enterprise capabilities, security requirements, data strategy, platform direction, and long‑term technology roadmap.


• Lead solution architecture for significant business and technology requests, developing solution options, conceptual architectures, trade‑offs, risks, dependencies, and implementation recommendations.


• Facilitate architecture and solution‑design discussions across business stakeholders, engineering, data, security, systems, delivery teams, and external vendors to drive well‑informed decisions.


• Establish and lead architecture governance, including solution reviews, architecture standards, design decisions, exceptions, dependencies, and technical risk management.


• Lead build‑versus‑buy evaluations and assess third‑party solutions for business fit, enterprise alignment, integration, security, data considerations, scalability, supportability, and long‑term maintainability.


• Provide architecture leadership for AI‑enabled solutions, including generative AI, intelligent agents, retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG), document intelligence, automation, Microsoft Copilot, and other emerging technologies.


• Help establish architectural standards and governance for AI solutions, partnering with security, data, systems, legal/compliance, and business stakeholders to ensure solutions are appropriately designed, governed, and operationalized.


• Partner with engineering leads and delivery teams to validate technical feasibility and translate approved architectures into implementable designs while maintaining alignment with the broader enterprise direction.


• Identify opportunities to reduce architectural fragmentation, redundant capabilities, technical debt, unnecessary complexity, and inconsistent technology patterns across DMA's environment.


• Support technology investment and portfolio decisions by identifying opportunities for enterprise reuse, shared capabilities, platform consolidation, modernization, and strategic technology adoption.


• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 2 - 3 technical professionals while remaining personally engaged in high‑impact enterprise and solution architecture work.


• Commun