Senior Manager Solutions Architecture

Sr Mgr Solutions Architecture-INF000401

The Sr. Manager Solutions Architecture position is responsible for recruiting, managing, and motivating a staff of business-focused Solution Architects creating technical responsibilities for business solutions at U. S. Cellular. The Sr. Manager Solutions Architecture partners with the Enterprise Architects and USCC's business leaders to identify technology solutions in response to business needs as well as to proactively identify technologies which will enable the business. This position requires previous management experience as well as the ability to work at the conceptual level, driving from abstract business concepts to practical technical solutions which fit into USCC's defined architecture frameworks. A high degree of creativity, hands on experience, and technical leadership is required. Ensures technology strategies and approaches are aligned, integrated and synchronized, as well as effectively translated for development.

Role Specific Responsibilities

- Working with the Enterprise Architects, responsible for managing enterprise architecture frameworks, methods, processes, toolsets and governance with a focus spanning all four architecture domains: Business, Operations, Systems and Data, and Technology.

- Champions the EA program, and actively promotes the value of EA across technical and business constituencies.

- Develops metrics for gauging the effectiveness of the SA team and its impact on both technology and the business.

- Provides leadership in portfolio governance, providing input into project interdependencies and sequencing.

- Uses broad knowledge of business processes and technologies to identify potential business and technical risks, documents potential risks, and recommends alternate designs and architectures which minimize risks

- Is viewed as an architecture and technology thought and strategy leader across the enterprise.

Business Partnership

- Works with business and IT leadership define success criteria for the EA program.

- Works with and advises business technology leaders to help define application of a broad spectrum of technologies to shape future business directions. Provides leadership in developing technology strategies that tie directly to current and future business strategies.

- Provides input to business technology leaders on how technology can be leveraged to business advantage

- Is viewed as a trusted advisor to senior IT and business managers - one of the first people they come to with a business issue that may have a technical solution.

People Management

- Is an accomplished leader of people and can motivate and inspire a senior team of business and technology professionals by constantly raising the bar.

- Assumes a leadership role on the Enterprise Architecture team, working with Enterprise Architects and Solution Architects to shape the EA program.

- Manages the team of Solution Architects who creates and maintains current and future enterprise architecture frameworks and high level designs as well as related documentation, such as: reference architectures, business function and business process flows, application system and interface schemas, data flows and database schemas, high level infrastructure schemas, entity relationship diagrams.

- Provides directional leadership to the team to create and maintain roadmaps and technology transformation plans, which describe the changes required to go from current to future architectures.

- Oversees product or technology evaluations and proof of concept studies and publishes results.

- Recruits, manages, and motivates a staff of Solution Architects who work with the Enterprise Architects and business leadership to design technology solutions for USCC.

- Actively coaches, mentors, and grows SA team members, ensuring each associate is performing to the best of his/her ability.

- Provide Real Time feedback to team members on performance and growth opportunities. Performs periodic formal performance appraisals.

- Is committed to USCC's Dynamic Organization principles, and instills them in every associate.

- Is able to build, lead, and retain a strong team of Solution Architects. Is viewed and respected by team members as a leader.

- Is able to foresee when team members are having difficulty, and takes steps to overcome the difficulty before team members or projects are negatively impacted.

- Is adept at coaching and mentoring, and is committed to USCC's Dynamic Organization principles.

- Is able to build and maintain strong and trusted relationships throughout the organization, including business leaders and technology leaders.

- Is adept at teaching architecture and technology concepts to a wide variety of constituencies, including business users and technical staff.

- Is able to foresee the political ramifications of technology decisions, and considers the full gamut of politics and organizational dynamics when developing architectures and designs.

- Is equally comfortable and adept at communicating with the business and technology at all levels in the organization. Has a high degree of facility in making technology concepts understandable to non-technologists.

- Is viewed as a change agent within the corporation, committed to continuous improvement of the business. Is viewed as a champion of technologies that can positively impact the business.

- 10-12 years of information technology experience across a wide variety of technology disciplines

- Five years of management experience.

- Bachelors degree in Computer Science, MIS, Information Management, Engineering, or related discipline, or equivalent experience required. Advanced degree in a related discipline is a plus.

- Strong expertise in the design and development of enterprise technical solutions spanning multiple business and technical disciplines.

- Demonstrated deep experience in leading architects in the Business, Operations, Systems and Data, and Technology domains.

- Demonstrated broad experience with a variety of technologies, which will include one or more of the following: web application development, BSS/OSS, middleware, security, networks, and platform computing.

- Excellent project management, organizational and planning skills.

- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

- Excellent presentation skills and the ability to present concepts to both executive leadership and technical communities.

- The Solution Architect Manager will have an understanding of the wireless communication business as well as strong competency in at least one business function, combined with a broad understanding across all technical domains.

- Demonstrated knowledge of the wireless communications and cellular industry.

- Maintains a comprehensive understanding of all four architecture domains (business, operations, systems and technologies) and how they map to each other in the enterprise.

- Maintains a broad understanding of all the underlying technical architecture domains in the enterprise: application and interfaces, data, middleware, Infrastructure (operating systems, servers, networks, desktop), and operations management architectures.

- Understands current and future business drivers and imperatives, technical drivers and imperatives, and translates them into future architecture models required to drive the business.

- Maintains technology industry best practices knowledge of a broad variety of technologies, architecture frameworks, and architecture methodologies.

- Maintains a broad knowledge of technologies applicable to wireless communications and the cellular industry.

- Understands and applies modeling techniques pertinent to the architecture domains.

- Understands current and future business drivers and imperatives, technical drivers and imperatives, and ensures they are incorporated into future architecture models required for business functions.

- Maintains a broad knowledge of technologies applicable to wireless communications and the cellular industry.

Direct Reports:

- 8 - 10 Sr. Solutions Architects

J2W:LI

Job: Information Technology
Location(s): Illinois-BENSENVILLE_IL