Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture

SmartRecruiters, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 299,000; Full time

Job summary

WD seeks a Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture to lead architecture across HR tech, AI and cloud platforms. You will shape long-term strategy, govern buy-vs-build decisions, and ensure secure, scalable, end-to-end solutions for HR and employee services.

This role requires deep enterprise IT/HR architecture experience, hands-on leadership, and collaboration with CTO/HR leadership to deliver durable technology programs at scale.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in enterprise IT/HR technology architecture.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; Master's preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary architectural counterpart to the CTO, aligning DEX decisions with standards.
• Own the DEX reference architecture across HCM, payroll, timekeeping and employee services.
• Define buy-vs-build framework and act as final architectural gate for engagements.
• Set standards for agentic AI and automation across the DEX portfolio.
• Embed architecture reviews into Agile/SAFe delivery and stabilize fragmented systems.

Skills

AI fluency

Cloud architecture

Enterprise architecture

Vendor management

Security governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

TOGAF

Workday

ServiceNow

Job description

Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture

• Full-time
• Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position - Please see related compensation & benefits details below
• Salary Range: 224,500.00-299,300.00
• Business Function: Information Technology

WD is building the infrastructure behind the AI-driven data economy.

As AI scales, so does data. Every interaction, every model, every system generates data that must be stored, managed, and make accessible over time. That’s where we come in.

We combine deep engineering expertise with global-scale manufacturing to deliver the storage systems that make AI possible, powering hyperscale data centers, cloud platforms, and enterprise infrastructure worldwide.

This isn’t theoretical work. It’s real systems, at real scale, people solving some of the hardest challenges in technology today.

We’re looking for people who want to build, solve, and operate at that level.

Join us and let’s shape the future of data.

Position Summary

The Sr. Director, DEX Technology Architecture is the architectural conscience of the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) organization. This role exists to keep every buy-vs-build decision, AI investment, and platform choice tied to a coherent, durable technology strategy rather than to siloed, point-in-time decisions. Reporting into the VP of IT DEX with direct alignment to the CTO, this leader partners with HR and IT stakeholders to translate business capability needs into sound architectural choices, governs the organization's growing AI and agentic workflow footprint, and ensures new investment never outruns the discipline to fix, stabilize, and simplify what already exists.

This is a hands-on architecture leadership role, not a pure strategy seat: the successful candidate will personally evaluate vendors and proofs of concept, set enforceable engineering and data standards, and be fluent enough in modern AI, cloud, and integration patterns to challenge vendors and internal teams alike.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture Strategy & CTO Alignment

Serve as the primary architectural counterpart to the CTO organization, ensuring DEX technology decisions are consistent with enterprise architecture standards, security posture, and long-term platform direction.

Own the DEX reference architecture spanning HCM, talent, learning, payroll, timekeeping, and employee service platforms, and keep it current as the portfolio evolves.

Prevent siloed or one-off technology decisions by acting as the connective layer between HR capability owners, program delivery leads, and enterprise IT/security.

Translate multi-year DEX roadmap priorities into an architectural point of view that program and product teams can execute against.

Buy vs. Build Governance

Define and operationalize a repeatable, rigorous buy-vs-build decision framework, and act as the final architectural gate before new vendor engagements or build efforts are approved.

Apply and evolve DEX's core decision tenets on every evaluation:

Frugality — require a durable, minimum 3-year value window before any new spend is approved.

Build preference — default to building or configuring within existing platforms where feasible; shortcuts such as RPA are acceptable only when adopted intentionally, not as a substitute for a real fix.

No orphaned technology — evaluate the total cost of ownership and adoption path so tools are not abandoned shortly after purchase.

Fix-before-build — confirm that existing capability has genuinely been exhausted or is structurally broken before approving net-new investment.

Establish and run structured, low-cost proof-of-concept (POC) governance for the growing volume of AI and point-solution vendor pitches, including data-access review, success criteria, and defined exit conditions before any POC is greenlit.

Own vendor and platform evaluation scorecards, and present buy-vs-build recommendations with clear tradeoffs to DEX and CTO leadership.

AI & Agentic Systems Architecture

Set architectural and governance standards for agentic AI and automation initiatives across the DEX portfolio, including model/vendor selection, data access, and security review.

Partner with the AI Center of Excellence to evaluate emerging agentic frameworks and orchestration patterns, and to establish a consistent evaluation standard for third-party AI platform selection.

Ensure AI and automation investments are held to the same frugality and durability tenets as any other technology decision — proof of sustained value, not novelty.

Guide teams on where AI/agentic approaches genuinely reduce Tier 1 support burden and manual overhead versus where they add fragility or vendor lock-in.

Agile Delivery & Operating Framework

Embed architectural checkpoints into the organization’s Agile/SAFe delivery cadence so architecture review does not become a bottleneck but remains a genuine gate.

Partner with the Program Director and Technical PM organization on long-lifecycle deployments (e.g., timekeeping, payroll) to ensure architectural decisions are made early enough to avoid costly rework.

Contribute to sprint/PI-level governance rhythms, roadmap prioritization, and quarterly business reviews from an architectural risk and feasibility lens.

Lead a global landscape audit of broken and fragmented systems (e.g., non-working kiosks, fragmented pay and time vendors) and translate findings into a prioritized stabilization plan.

Ensure patching, stabilization, and reliability work is sequenced and resourced ahead of net-new capability investment, consistent with the fix-existing-first principle.

Define technical debt and platform health metrics that keep stabilization visible alongside new initiatives in portfolio reviews.

The ideal candidate brings a blend of enterprise HR technology depth, hands‑on data/cloud architecture experience, and modern AI fluency — the profile below reflects the caliber of background this role requires:

15+ years in enterprise IT/HR technology architecture, including experience translating workforce/HR strategy into connected, end‑to‑end technology platforms (HCM, talent, learning, payroll, timekeeping, employee services).

Demonstrated ownership of multi‑year technology strategy and portfolio governance for a CHRO/CTO‑level stakeholder group, including operating rhythms, prioritization frameworks, and OKR‑based roadmap accountability.

Direct experience architecting and delivering large‑scale platform modernization: retiring legacy systems, rationalizing integrations, and establishing scalable, governed data architecture.

Working fluency in agentic AI and modern AI/ML delivery patterns — RAG, LLM orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain/LangGraph), vector databases, and third‑party AI platform evaluation with the judgment to distinguish durable value from vendor novelty.

Enterprise architecture framework experience (e.g., TOGAF or equivalent) and a track record of embedding architecture governance into Agile/SAFe delivery models.

Hands‑on experience with major HR platforms such as Workday, HR service delivery platforms like ServiceNow), and workforce management/timekeeping systems.

Strong grounding in security and data governance — RBAC, encryption, PII protection, and regulatory frameworks such as SOX, GDPR, and CCPA.

Proven ability to build and lead high‑performing, AI‑fluent teams, and to operate as a trusted advisor to senior HR and technology executives.

Vendor management and RFP/negotiation experience, with a demonstrated bias toward frugal, durable technology decisions over point‑solution sprawl.

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; Master's degree preferred.

WD is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender‑related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.