Enterprise Architect — SAP Focus
Information & Technology > Application/Web DevelopmentSummary
The Enterprise Architect (EA) operates at the highest strategic level of organizational technology governance, defining and maintaining a cohesive, future-oriented enterprise architecture that tightly aligns business strategy, IT capabilities, data assets, applications, and underlying technology infrastructure. This role answers the fundamental question: “Are we building and evolving the right systems, in the right way, to support long-term business success?” Unlike Solution Architects (project/program focus), Technical Architects (deep engineering design), or Data Architects (data-domain specialization), the EA maintains an enterprise-wide, multi-year perspective. They develop architecture principles, roadmaps, and target-state visions; govern the application portfolio and technology choices; rationalize legacy systems; drive major transformations (e.g., cloud adoption, ERP modernization like SAP S/4HANA, data platform consolidation); and ensure cross-domain coherence across business, application, data, technology, and security architectures. Through executive engagement, governance boards, and risk-informed decision-making, the EA minimizes redundancy, controls technical debt, optimizes costs, and positions the organization for sustained agility and competitiveness.
Responsibilities
Define and communicate the enterprise architecture vision, principles, standards, and multi-year transformation roadmaps aligned with business strategy and objectives.
Lead enterprise architecture governance processes, including architecture review boards, solution design approvals, standards enforcement, and compliance monitoring.
Perform application portfolio analysis to identify redundancy, obsolescence, and modernization opportunities; define and drive toward a target-state architecture.
Develop business capability models, map capabilities to applications and technologies, and assess strategic alignment and gaps.
Create and maintain cross-domain alignment across ERP platforms (e.g., SAP S/4HANA), data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, Spark), integration layers, cloud strategies, and security architecture.
Conduct technology lifecycle management, vendor evaluations, risk assessments, and “what-if” scenario modelling for major architectural decisions.
Build business cases, total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses, and executive-level presentations that translate complex architectural trade-offs into strategic impact.
Advise senior leadership (CIO, CTO, CDO) on technology direction, investment prioritization, and risk mitigation.
Monitor emerging technologies and industry trends to inform proactive evolution of the enterprise architecture.
Qualifications and Requirements
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree or MBA often preferred.
10+ years of progressive experience in IT, with at least 5–7 years in enterprise, solution, or domain architecture roles leading large-scale transformations.
Proven track record defining and governing enterprise architecture in complex, multi-billion-dollar organizations or large-scale programs.
Extensive experience with major enterprise transformations (cloud migrations, ERP implementations like S/4HANA, data platform modernization, application rationalization).
Demonstrated ability to influence and align C-level executives, business unit leaders, and architecture teams around long-term strategy.
Strong familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks (TOGAF, Zachman, FEAF) and scaled Agile approaches (SAFe).
Relevant certifications highly desirable: TOGAF Certified, Certified Enterprise Architect (e.g., from The Open Group), SAFe Agilist/Architect, cloud provider strategic certifications (AWS/GCP/Azure Enterprise/Professional level).