Enterprise Architect

The Enterprise Architect (EA) at Farmer Mac will be responsible for leadership, facilitation, governance, and for defining Enterprise Architecture principles and standards. The ideal candidate will develop the enterprise solution architecture (ESA) and ensure that it is applied consistently across the IT division. The position is involved in researching, reviewing, and making recommendations on new corporate software applications, platforms, tools or innovations from the perspective of design, integration, and technical fit with other systems and the overall network. For existing applications, the EA will oversee all planning, designing, programming, and implementation of in-house software development. For software enhancements provided by an external vendor, the EA will take the lead role in reviewing and discussing all technical solution designs to ensure they meet the needs of the enterprise.

The People You Will Work With

A member of the IT leadership team, the EA will report to the Chief Information Officer and partner with enterprise business owners, product owners, project managers, cybersecurity analysts, operations team members, software architects, network architects, data architects, and third-party service providers.

Where and When You Will Work

The position will be based in Farmer Mac’s headquarters located at 1999 K Street NW, Washington, D.C. with an expectation of coming into the office at least twice weekly. Core business hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 5:30 p.m. eastern time. Work outside of these times may be required for planned and unplanned activities to complete time sensitive projects or to attend off-site meetings or events. Periodic travel is expected of this position.

Primary Responsibilities and Duties

• Define key solution portfolios and ensure they are managed—either by heading that activity directly or by establishing and then supporting asset-centric portfolio management disciplines (for such solution portfolios as application, service-oriented architecture [SOA] service or shared infrastructure)
• Develop, maintain, and present road maps describing the evolution of all enterprise solution portfolios from current state to future state
• Analyze enterprise business context (trends and business strategy), as well as change requirements in other EA viewpoints, to derive ESA change requirements that guide solution decisions for the enterprise
• Define principles to guide solution decisions for the enterprise
• Define models, including solution patterns, to guide solution decisions for the enterprise
• Work closely with the enterprise program management office (EPMO) or project office to ensure alignment of plans (including migration plans and road maps) with what is being delivered (projects)
• Ensure that project management or solution delivery life cycle efforts and project architects specifically leverage all aspects of EA—separately by EA viewpoint (for example, business, information and technology) and via guidance at the ESA level across those viewpoints
• Assist with governance activities associated with ensuring ESA and, thus, EA compliance
• Consult with application or infrastructure development projects to harmonize systems or infrastructure with the ESA and identify when it is necessary to modify the solution architecture to accommodate project needs
• Ensure that all individual solution architecture design and analysis work—particularly as specific solutions are created or upgraded in projects by project architects or solution architects—is documented in a structured fashion matching the EA framework and is stored in a common place
• Understand and advocate the principles of business and IT strategies, as well as of EA development and service delivery. Be prepared to “sell” the EA process, overall, not just for ESA, its outcome and ongoing results, and to lead the communication, marketing, or educational activities needed to ensure ESA success and use
• Coordinate with enterprise business, information, and technology architects
• Recommend and implement an Enterprise Architecture, Topology, Integration, auditing tool, environment and/or process for current “as-is” state and future management and documentation

Desired Skills and Qualifications

• Hands-on expertise in “low-code/no-code” solutions and ability to ensure architecture takes full advantage of native platform configurations
• Experience with Microsoft Azure platform and services, knowledge of CRM solutions/Salesforce, extensive experience designing and implementing secure enterprise end to end solutions
• Excellent interpersonal skills in areas such as teamwork, facilitation, and negotiation
• Strong leadership skills
• Excellent analytical and technical skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent planning and organizational skills
• Ability to understand the long-term (“big picture”) and short-term perspectives of situations
• Ability to focus on solutions that are aligned for efficiency and reusability across the enterprise
• Ability to estimate the financial impact of ESA and individual solution architecture alternatives
• Ability to define multiple solution options to business problems
• Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of new technologies
• Knowledge of all aspects of Enterprise Architecture
• Knowledge of key aspects of the mortgage/financial industry, commercial lending business
• Basic knowledge of business process reengineering principles and processes
• Basic knowledge of information principles and policies
• Strong understanding of Cloud technologies, network and data center architecture, as well as application development methodologies
• Understanding of micro-services design, service orchestration, and API security.
• Ability to gauge the strategic direction of the company and how to adjust EA accordingly
• Track record of remaining unbiased toward any specific technology or vendor, and for being more interested in results than personal preferences
• Track record of thinking about more than technology issues, and for integrating the technical with the business and information aspects for complete solutions
• Capability for being thoughtful and collaborative in a team setting
• Ability to motivate teams to remain focused on long-term results
• Demonstrated ability to lead innovation experiments to drive business value

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent professional experience
• Minimum of 10 years of hands-on design and implementation experience in IT, with knowledge in a minimum of 5 of the following technical disciplines:
  • Application development
  • Systems integration
  • API design
  • Microservices design
  • Network design
  • Middleware
  • Servers and storage
  • Database management
  • DevSecOps
• Exposure to multiple, diverse technologies, and processing environments
• Project solution architecture experience

Farmer Mac is an equal opportunity employer.

NO EMPLOYEE OR JOB APPLICANT WILL BE DENIED OPPORTUNITIES OR BENEFITS AT FARMER MAC BASED ON RACE, RELIGION, COLOR, SEX, AGE, NATIONAL ORIGIN, DISABILITY, VETERAN STATUS, CITIZENSHIP STATUS, GENETIC INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER BASIS PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

Farmer Mac has adopted an affirmative action program plan to create a workforce that is an accurate reflection of the demographics of the qualified available workforce in the relevant job market. A summary report is available upon request.