Chief IT Architect (Montreal)

Context and Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Director of Architecture, Data Governance, and Methodology, the mandate of the Chief Architect will primarily involve collaborating on the overall vision of enterprise architecture and guiding its implementation. They will be responsible for coordinating the efforts of the architecture team, ensuring that solutions proposed by different architects align with the CTO’s medium and long-term vision and that of the organization. The Chief Architect will work closely with managers and key stakeholders to understand business and technological objectives, ensuring that the proposed architecture supports these goals. They will be responsible for defining general architecture standards and principles, ensuring their consistent application across all projects. In addition to other responsibilities, the Chief Architect will define the appropriate methodology for architecture design and implementation. This methodology must be structured to ensure effective coordination among different members of the architecture team and, importantly, to facilitate efficient information sharing, appropriately simplifying and adapting to various internal (Executive Committee, managers, technology implementation advisor, development team) and external audiences (schools, ministries, suppliers). The Chief Architect will also oversee architecture implementation, identifying potential issues and proposing appropriate solutions in collaboration with the architecture team and technology implementation advisors. They will assess the impact of new technologies and industry trends on enterprise architecture (including business, application, web, data, and technology architecture) and propose adjustments accordingly.

Specifically:

• Take charge of the architecture vision for software solutions and business processes and develop strategies for the organization to evolve architecture principles;
• Coordinate the assessment of sector software solution maturity and align plans to ensure sustainability;
• Create and implement a plan to reduce technical debt, facilitating technological evolution and ongoing team monitoring;
• Act as a reference for teams on high-level technological directions and architecture principles;
• Establish guidelines and best practices in software solution development and process optimization, while considering business needs;
• Conduct technology watch and participate in proof of concepts to enhance software solution efficiency;
• Provide recommendations to management on technological directions, operational model evolution, risks, and potential impacts of technologies used across all solutions.
• Supervise and evaluate staff under their responsibility and support their skills development;

Your Profile:

Hold a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, combined with relevant work experience.

Concrete experience required in:

• Concrete experience in an Agile/SAFe and DevOps architect role;
• Concrete experience in modeling business architecture and processes, ideally in a business transformation context.
• Experience with ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) software development best practices;
• Experience with agile software development and Scrum methodology;
• Experience with domain-driven design (DDD), SOLID principles, and object-oriented development;

Profile – Soft Skills:

• Ability to work on complex and large-scale software solutions;
• Curiosity and ability to quickly grasp new technologies;
• Analytical mindset and strong attention to detail;
• Ability to influence and pragmatically engage stakeholders in strategic recommendations;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and teamwork abilities;
• Excellent ability to listen and communicate effectively;
• Leadership, perseverance, and tenacity to be a positive change agent within the organization;
• Excellent time management, ability to handle ambiguity, and manage multiple priorities simultaneously to meet deadlines;
• Proficiency in French, both oral and written.