Senior Enterprise Architect: Strategy & Transformation

Northwestern Mutual; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 176,000 - 264,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwestern Mutual is seeking a Principal Enterprise Architect / Business Architect to shape enterprise strategy, capabilities, and technology. The role bridges business vision with execution, aligning operating models, capabilities, and platforms across the organization.

You will lead architecture programs, collaborating with technology, risk, and business teams to deliver scalable, compliant designs that support insurance, investment, and wealth management solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture or related leadership roles.
• Experience applying business architecture concepts such as capabilities and value streams.
• Financial services, insurance, or wealth management experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of cloud, data architectures, security, and integration patterns.
• Ability to influence without authority across organizational boundaries.
• Familiarity with architecture frameworks such as TOGAF or SAFe.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain enterprise architecture strategies, principles, standards, and target-state roadmaps that support business objectives.
• Partner with technology, data, security, and platform teams to guide solution design and ensure alignment with architectural standards.
• Provide architectural oversight and consultation for major initiatives, transformations, and investment decisions.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and architectural patterns (cloud, API-based architectures, data platforms, AI enablement) and assess their business impact.
• Reduce technical complexity and risk by rationalizing applications, platforms, and integrations across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with risk, security, and compliance partners to ensure architectures meet regulatory and resiliency requirements.
• Translate enterprise and business-unit strategies into clear business capabilities, value streams, and operating models.
• Develop and maintain business capability maps and link them to technology roadmaps and investment portfolios.
• Partner with business leaders, product owners, and transformation teams to clarify business outcomes, dependencies, and trade-offs.
• Support portfolio planning and prioritization by connecting strategic objectives to capabilities, initiatives, and technology investments.
• Enable business transformation by identifying capability gaps, redundancies, and opportunities for simplification or acceleration.

Skills

Influence without authority

Stakeholder management

Facilitation

Communication

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or a related field

Tools

TOGAF

SAFe

Job description

Northwestern Mutual is seeking a Principal Enterprise Architect / Business Architect to shape enterprise strategy, capabilities, and technology. The role bridges business vision with execution, aligning operating models, capabilities, and platforms across the organization.

You will lead architecture programs, collaborating with technology, risk, and business teams to deliver scalable, compliant designs that support insurance, investment, and wealth management solutions.