Director, Tech Solutions, Enterprise Architecture

WHO YOU'LL WORK WITH

Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry. 

WHERE YOU'LL FIT WITHIN THE TEAM

As part of the Technology Solutions Group at Bain, the Enterprise Architecture (EA) team has a vision to become a trusted advisor in technology.  We ensure business value is defined, recognized, optimized, and realized by solving business process challenges through technology consultation.  The EA team is a trusted partner to the business functions, addressing cross-functional challenges and focusing on end-to-end business outcomes. As a firm, Bain’s strategy and mission to out-team, out-innovate, and out-grow as we play for #1, hinges on a world-class, customer-centric technology experience.

WHAT YOU'LL DO 

The Director, Enterprise Architecture sits within the Tech Solutions Group and plays a critical role in driving the evolution of Bain’s business, data, and technology architecture while fostering innovation. This role focuses on enabling seamless interoperability of high-value datasets across systems, driving strategic platform decisions, and designing robust technical frameworks to guide and govern design and development across the enterprise. This role will shape high-level system design and integration strategies to drive consistency and alignment across technology teams. Additionally, they will explore and evaluate emerging technologies, facilitate build vs. buy decisions, guide implementation, and partner with stakeholders to facilitate the delivery of impactful, future-focused solutions. Leveraging strong business acumen, the Director will ensure our data, technology, and innovation initiatives are aligned with firm priorities to solve some of our most complex challenges. The role also provides technical leadership, mentoring, and governance to other teams both within and outside TSG.

Essential Functions

Strategy and Alignment (25%)

• Partner with business and technology leaders to define and maintain the enterprise architecture vision and strategy in alignment with organizational goals and business priorities
• Act as a bridge between business and technology, ensuring architectural decisions support strategic objectives and deliver business value.
• Develop an enterprise-wide blueprint for major domain interactions, highlighting crucial integration points and ensuring compatibility between current systems and new initiatives.
• Develop and communicate roadmaps for key architectural domains (data, application, infrastructure, security) to align stakeholders and guide execution.

Architecture Design and Governance (25%)

• Design the cross-domain blueprint for the Enterprise, including capabilities, functions and services required.
• Establish and enforce architectural frameworks, principles, standards, and best practices to ensure consistency, scalability, and security across the enterprise
• Lead the design of high-level architectures to guide and govern design and development for core systems, integrations, and platforms, ensuring a cohesive and efficient technology ecosystem.
• Govern and review technology initiatives to ensure alignment with architectural standards and long-term strategies, while addressing risks and gaps.

Data Integration and Interoperability (25%)

• Define strategies for data democratization and interoperability, breaking down silos and enabling seamless access and integration across teams and systems.
• Advise on design of APIs, integration layers, and scalable data architectures to support real-time data sharing and advanced analytics.
• Develop and maintain a high-level data capability map to document critical datasets, ownership, and opportunities for better connectivity.

Innovation and Technology Assessment (20%)

• Conduct research and evaluate emerging technologies, identifying trends and opportunities that can drive business innovation and fill • gaps in the existing technology stack.
• Assess and recommend new tools, platforms, and solutions by balancing technical feasibility with business impact.
• Drive proof-of-concept initiatives and collaborate with cross-functional teams to validate and implement new technologies.

Other responsibilities, as needed (5%)

• Contribute to creation of playbook and other materials/artifacts that capture Enterprise Architecture strategy, progress, etc.
• Create and maintain a vision for the architecture team and roles, with potential to manage Enterprise Architecture professionals and their professional development"

ABOUT YOU

Experience

• 10-15 years of proven and progressive experience in IT 
• Proven work experience as an Enterprise Architect or similar role
• 2+ years of technical leadership in a large enterprise/professional services company
• Extensive experience managing a global team of varying levels and areas of technical expertise
• Experience defining strategy and operationalizing enterprise architecture practices by establishing standards, best practices, and maintaining EA tools to ensure consistent execution across the organization.

Skills & Abilities

• Ability to define, articulate, and communicate a cohesive enterprise architecture strategy that aligns with organizational goals and priorities
• Exceptional ability to convey complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, fostering understanding and support for architectural decisions
• Strong ability to influence for impact, including making a compelling business case
• Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to assess risks, identify gaps, and propose effective architectural solutions
• Strong collaboration skills to partner with cross-functional teams, business leaders, and technical teams to drive alignment and deliver impactful solutions
• Proven ability to quickly come up to speed on existing architecture, processes, and systems, and identify areas for improvement to drive immediate and long-term enhancements.

Technical Knowledge

• Deep understanding of Enterprise Architecture and Business Architecture best practices and frameworks, including their application across business, data, technology, and application domains
• Strong understanding of modern technology stacks, including cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), AI/ML technologies, and API ecosystems
• Expertise in designing horizontally integrated, scalable data architectures and strategies for data democratization, interoperability, and API development
• Proficiency in establishing, applying, and understanding governance frameworks, standards, and policies for architecture and technology initiatives
• Awareness of trends in enterprise technology, including innovation in data analytics, automation, digital transformation, and security best practices

Regardless of an individual’s background, the successful candidate will be:

• Collaborative – knows how to work with and through others to drive results and make change happen in the pursuit of world-class customer user experiences
• Entrepreneurial, proactive, and productive – knows how to prioritize what needs to be done and rallies colleagues to get things accomplished; “roll up the sleeves” type of attitude
• Bright – both insightful and creative, strong problem-solving skills, and pragmatic “real-world” sense of what is actually “do-able”. Able to harness knowledge and expertise of the best industry content to support analytics at Bain
• Articulate and compelling – engaging and concise in oral and written communication skills with interpersonal “presence”; adaptable across executive, technical and Bain audiences
• Energetic, with drive, enthusiasm, and natural skills in relationship development – well-connected, with an extensive and/or growing network of potentially relevant relationships
• A great colleague and teammate - passionate about the task at hand and fun to be around; someone with whom Bainies go out of their way to work with

WHAT MAKES US A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future.

We are proud to be consistently recognized as one of the world's best places to work with our “One Bain” culture, a champion of diversity and a model of social responsibility. We are currently ranked #1 on Glassdoor's Best Places to Work list, and we have maintained a spot in the top four on Glassdoor's list for the last 13 years. We believe that diversity, inclusion and collaboration is key to building extraordinary teams. We hire people with exceptional talents, abilities and potential, then create an environment where you can become the best version of yourself and thrive both professionally and personally.  We are publicly recognized by external parties such as Fortune, Vault, Mogul, Working Mother, Glassdoor and the Human Rights Campaign for being a great place to work for diversity and inclusion, women, LGBTQ and parents.

U.S. COMPENSATION INFORMATION

Compensation for this role includes base salary, annual discretionary performance bonus, 401(k) plan with an annual employer contribution based on years of service and Bain’s best in class benefits package (details listed below).

Some local governments in the United States require a good-faith, reasonable salary range be included in job postings for open roles. The estimated annualized compensation for this role is as follows:

• In Chicago, Illinois, the good-faith, reasonable annualized full-time salary range for this role is between $243,000 - $292,500. Placement within this range will vary based on several factors including, but not limited to experience, education, licensure/certifications, training and skill level.
• For all other locations, the good-faith, reasonable annualized full-time salary range for this role is commensurate with competitive geographic market rates for this role and will vary based on several factors including, but not limited to experience, education, licensure/certifications, training and skill level
• Annual discretionary performance bonus
• This role may also be eligible for other elements of discretionary compensation
• 4.5% 401(k) company contribution, which increases after 3 years of service and is 100% vested upon start date

Bain & Company's comprehensive benefits and wellness program is designed to help employees achieve personal independence, protection and stability in the areas most important to you and your family.

• Bain pays 100% individual employee premiums for medical, dental and vision programs, offering one of the most comprehensive medical plans for employees without impacting your paycheck
• Generous paid time off, including parental leave, sick leave and paid holidays
• Fully vested 401(k) company contribution
• Paid Life and Long-Term Disability insurance
• Annual fitness reimbursements