Senior Enterprise Architect

Job Title: Senior Enterprise Architect

Location: Chicago, IL (Hybrid 3 Days onsite in every week)

Duration: 6 Months

Job Description:

Project Overview

We are seeking an experienced technical professional to oversee the resiliency and compliance posture of critical third-party technology providers.. The successful candidate will have deep experience in IT architecture, operational resiliency, incident response, and regulatory interactions within highly regulated industries.

Qualifications (must haves):

8+ years in IT infrastructure, application architecture, or cybersecurity within a regulated industry.

5+ years overseeing critical third-party technology or SaaS vendors.

Direct experience preparing for and participating in regulatory examinations (e.g., OCC, FFIEC, FCA, PRA, DORA, EBA).

Strong knowledge of resiliency frameworks (ISO 22301, NIST SP 800-34, FFIEC Business Continuity Handbook).

Proficiency in cloud, on-prem technologies, network architecture, and data protection strategies.

Excellent communication skills for both technical and regulatory audiences.

Nice to Have:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or related field.

Proven experience conducting SaaS or cloud risk/risk/resiliency assessments.

Regulatory Engagement & Compliance

Monitor emerging regulatory requirements (e.g., DORA, FFIEC, OCC, FCA, MAS, OFSI, PRA, AUS) and ensure alignment across vendor relationships.

Partner with Legal, Compliance, and Risk teams to interpret regulatory guidance into actionable technical controls.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Work with Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Business Continuity, DR, and Procurement teams to integrate third-party oversight into enterprise resiliency strategy.

Experience in both financial services and technology vendor environments.

Familiarity with global regulatory bodies and cross-jurisdictional compliance challenges.

Key Skills & Competencies

In-depth understanding of public cloud, private cloud, on-prem, and SaaS Well-Architected Frameworks, especially the resiliency and reliability pillars.

Familiarity with SaaS architectures and the unique aspects of SaaS resilience and shared responsibility.

Strong experience in vendor risk assessments, including SLA analysis, disaster recovery, business continuity, and operational reliability.

Excellent analytical, documentation, and communication skills, with the ability to translate technical findings for business stakeholders.

Ability to create architectural diagrams.

Key Competencies:

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Ability to influence without direct authority.

Skilled at translating technical issues into regulatory-friendly language.

Comfortable operating in high-pressure, high-visibility situations.

Tasks & Responsibilities:

Conduct detailed resiliency assessments for 3rd party vendor-hosted and SaaS solutions using principles from the Well-Architected Frameworks, focusing on reliability, operational excellence, security, cost optimization, and performance efficiency.

Evaluate the architecture or develop the architectural diagrams of external SaaS workloads and confirm alignment with organizational resilience, disaster recovery, and business continuity requirements.

Assess vendor readiness for high availability, failover, data integrity, and recoverability, including review of disaster recovery plans, backup procedures, SLA uptime guarantees, and testing/validation routines.

Document findings and remediation recommendations, track remediation efforts, and provide regular reporting on vendor resilience posture, risk, and compliance status.