Enterprise Architects

This is not an entry-level position. You will need a minimum of five years of experience in lower-level enterprise architecture positions or in a career (such as system administrator, network administrator, solutions architect, product owner, or database architect) that involve some architecture-related duties in order to qualify to work in this field. Some employers require 10 years of experience in lower-level positions.

Enterprise architects must have top-notch information-gathering and analytical skills in order to expertly assess their employer’s current and future data and technology management needs. They need to be strong communicators and effective listeners in order to gather information from top management about their needs, as well as talk to lower-level workers to understand the challenges they encounter when accessing and sharing data and using technology. The perceptions of managers and executives and line-level workers about the same topic can be very different, so it’s important that the architect has the tenacity and interviewing and analytical skills to find the truth in any situation.

Once they have assessed these needs, architects must effectively detail the business benefits of a particular type of enterprise architecture and explain how using it will save the company time (sending information between departments faster than in the past, for example) and money. They also must be able to explain it to front-line workers (who may need to be convinced that the new approach will make their jobs easier, rather than more complicated). As a result, architects must be strong communicators, but also have excellent powers of persuasion, patience when answering questions about the new architecture, the ability to explain complicated technical concepts to non-technical individuals, skill at negotiation and reaching a compromise, and enthusiasm for the new architecture. Other important traits include leadership ability; excellent organizational, time-management, and project management skills; and proficiency in systems thinking, strategic thinking, and IT governance and operations.

Enterprise architects do not need to be experts in every type of technology, but they should have extensive knowledge of common hardware and software, as well as a familiarity with cloud computing, computer security, DevOps, Agile methodologies, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.