Executive Director of Platform Architecture

Job Title: Executive Director, Platform ArchitectureLocation: Chicago, IL (Onsite – Hybrid - 3 days in a week)Position Type: Fulltime permanent positionResponsibilities:Qualifications:The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions.Required:12+ years of experience in infrastructure, platform, or systems architecture, with at least 3 years in a people leadership or team lead roleDemonstrated experience defining and governing infrastructure architecture standards across multiple domains at organizational scaleBroad, hands-on knowledge across infrastructure domains:cloud (AWS), on-premises data center, networking, compute, storage, and container platformsDeep experience with AWS architecture — VPCs, EC2, EKS, MSK, S3, IAM, KMS, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, and security servicesStrong working knowledge of Kubernetes — cluster architecture, workload design, multi-tenancy, networking (CNI), and operational patterns at scaleExperience with Apache Kafka as enterprise streaming infrastructure — deployment, operations, and topology designDemonstrated experience leading GitOps and infrastructure-as-code programs — Terraform, Helm, ArgoCD, Flux, or equivalentExperience with hybrid and on-premises/cloud connectivity architecture — network design, routing,firewalling, and security zoningAbility to lead through influence and authority — building alignment across Engineering, Security, Operations, and GovernanceStrong communication skills — able to represent infrastructure strategy to executive leadership and translate architecture decisions into actionable standards for engineering teamsPreferred:Experience in financial services, particularly regulated environments (SIFMU, clearinghouse, exchange, or bank)Familiarity with Regulation SCI, CPMI-IOSCO, or equivalent financial market infrastructure regulatory frameworks and their implications for infrastructure designExperience with Apache Flink or equivalent stream processing frameworks in production environmentsExperience with enterprise observability platforms — OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, or equivalentFamiliarity with low-latency and high-performance computing patterns relevant to risk and clearing workloads AWS Solutions Architect — Professional certification or equivalentExperience with enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAFTechnical Skills:Cloud: AWS foundational and advanced services — EC2,EKS, MSK, S3, VPC, IAM, KMS, Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, CloudWatchContainer platforms: Kubernetes (EKS or self-managed),Docker, Helm, container networking (CNI)Streaming and processing: Apache Kafka, Apache FlinkGitOps and IaC: Terraform, ArgoCD, Flux, Helm, GitHub Actions or JenkinsNetworking: routing protocols, firewalling, load balancing,DNS, hybrid connectivity, network security zoningStorage: block, object, and file storage architecture; backup and recovery patternsObservability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, or equivalentUnix/Linux environments; artifact management (Nexus, Artifactory)Education and/or Experience:BS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, or a similar technical field, or equivalent practical experience.12+ years of relevant work experience.Certificates or Licenses:AWS Solutions Architect — Associate or Professional (preferred)Primary Duties and Responsibilities:To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily.Lead the Platform Architecture TeamLead, develop, and set direction for a team of principal architects covering cloud, on-premises infrastructure, networking, compute, storage, and observability domainsOwn the Platform Architecture vision: deliver the resilient, scalable foundation upon which critical market functions depend — making resilience the default, not the exceptionEnsure individual architect domain expertise is synthesized into coherent, enterprise-wide platform standards — not siloed recommendationsManage team priorities, capacity, and delivery against architecture commitments across programs and initiatives Develop team members through coaching, feedback, and exposure to enterprise-scale architectural challengesDefine and Govern Platform Architecture Standards:Establish and maintain authoritative platform architecture standards spanning cloud (AWS), on-premises data center, hybrid connectivity, networking, compute, storage, and container platformsDefine reference architectures and infrastructure patterns that Engineering and application teams can consume without requiring per-project architecture engagement Own non-functional requirements standards at the platform level — availability, fault tolerance, disaster recovery, latency, throughput, and capacity — as first-class concerns applicable across all tiers of Client's system portfolioEnforce platform standards through Architecture Review Board participation and design review processesMaintain infrastructure architecture documentation, ADRs, and transition plans that accurately reflect current and target stateDrive Infrastructure Modernization and Cloud StrategyOwn Client's infrastructure architecture strategy for cloud adoption — defining what moves to AWS, what remains on-premises, and how hybrid connectivity is structuredEnsure cloud architecture patterns for networking, security, identity, and compute are consistent, compliant, and operationally sound across all workloads Drive GitOps and infrastructure-as-code adoption — pipeline standards, environment promotion, configuration management, and secrets management at enterprise scaleLead architecture direction for container platform (Kubernetes/EKS), streaming infrastructure (Kafka), and stream processing (Flink) as foundational platform capabilitiesIdentify and systematically reduce infrastructure risk — single points of failure, end-of-life dependencies, capacity constraints, and gaps in recovery capabilitiesPartner Across the Organization:Serve as the primary platform architecture partner to Application Architecture, ensuring application designs are grounded in platform reality and platform capabilities evolve to meet application needsCollaborate with Engineering, Security, and Operations to ensure platform architecture decisions are implementable, operable, and aligned to security requirementsEngage with Technology Leads, program management, and senior leadership to represent platform architecture in strategic planning, budgeting, and vendor decisionsCoordinate with Governance/Risk and Compliance to ensure platform architecture satisfies Client's regulatory obligations under Regulation SCI and CPMI-IOSCO resilience principlesEnsure Operational Resilience:Establish observability standards — metrics, logging, distributed tracing, and alerting — as platform-level capabilities delivered to all application teamsDefine and govern disaster recovery, business continuity, and resilience architecture across infrastructure domainsDrive capacity planning and performance engineering practices; ensure the platform is sized and architected ahead of demand, not reactive to itLead platform architecture participation in incident postmortems; ensure operational findings drive durable infrastructure improvements