Manager, Enterprise Solutions Architecture

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Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 320,000 students in 600+ schools and employing approximately 40,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Office of Information and Technology Services (ITS) works to build the capacity of schools to use information and technology, maintain network infrastructure, and security standards, and support other departments to meet district goals. ITS provides innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of education for students, reduce the administrative burden on educators, facilitate parent interaction, increase community engagement, and support CPS’ mission of transparency by focusing on the ease and equity of access to information. 

Job Summary:

The Manager of Enterprise Solutions Architecture (EA) will lead, develop, and execute the enterprise architecture approach for the CPS Information & Technology Services (ITS) Department. This position will proactively and holistically help guide the District through transformation and optimization initiatives by assisting with planning, designing, innovating, orchestrating, and operationalizing the digital enterprise. The Manager of EA's focus will include helping CPS standardize business architecture, simplify business processes, optimize costs, and mitigate risks, as well as helping business leaders understand, monetize, and operationalize existing, new, and emerging technologies. Reporting to the Director of Enterprise Architecture, the Manager of EA will lead a team of business, solutions, data, and security staff performing Architecture services and capabilities, participate as a voting member of the CPS Architecture Review Board (ARB), and provide TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) guidance/leadership to other Architecture competencies producing EA, Integration, ERP, and Data Architecture (DA) artifacts. There are three Managers of EA, managing Business Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, or Infrastructure Architecture.

The Manager of Enterprise Solutions Architecture (EA) will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

Assist with the development of an implementation plan for the modern Enterprise Architecture and execute based on business strategy, requirements, and the varying IT strategies for project- or product-driven delivery teams. Recruit, onboard, and provide direction, guidance, and strong leadership to the Enterprise Architecture team, including performance management, to ensure robust learning and career development consistent with the CPS values and mission; foster collaboration and effective integration of efforts with division-wide initiatives Formulate, translate, advocate, support, and execute business strategy to achieve the organization's targeted business outcomes. Assist the Director of Enterprise Architecture in the development and application of standards and minimal viable architectures through the EA governance model, informed by the business strategy and corporate governance.  Clarify accountability and provide the focal point for agile, effective, and efficient decision-making. Lead the analysis of business and operating models, market trends and the technology industry to determine their potential impact on the enterprise's business strategy, direction, and architecture. Construct a technology-enabled business and operating model and provide viable options and visibility into execution issues. Develop a 5-year enterprise architecture roadmap and lead the analysis of the business's future-state capabilities as well as both the current and future IT environment to detect critical deficiencies and recommend solutions for improvement to drive the business forward. Present gap analyses and/or IT investment roadmaps that reflect the status of the existing IT estate, namely, its ability to contribute to future-state business capabilities around ecosystems and digital platforms. Identify critical skills, competencies, and career paths for EA team members and recommend training to help them develop and progress in their careers. Ensure the role of EA in the project and product governance setting is one of guidance, advice and oversight. Plan and manage a talent pool of domain architects that work with EA and non-EA related disciplines to deliver the organization's goals, objectives, and outcomes. Effectively guide external Service Integrators/Providers and internal architects in the implementation of the strategy, providing guidance and reviewing architecture plans and designs to ensure methodology, best practices, and standards as well as the overall quality of the solution, vision, and conceptual design. Provide recommendations for technology standards, guidelines and frameworks; oversee and/or support the governance of EA principles and framework(s) to assure compliance to the EA strategy  Ensure that any exceptions are well justified and documented through a formal waiver process. Analyze the impact of technology exceptions and their effect on future IT and enterprise goals. Oversee major deliverables tied to an EA Competency (including but not limited to Enterprise Business, Enterprise Security, Enterprise Data/Information, Enterprise Infrastructure, Enterprise Platforms, Enterprise Integration, Enterprise Portfolio Architecture and the CPS Architecture Review Board) Track and apply existing, new, and emerging innovative technologies anchored in the business and operating model to assess their potential, and use agile, DevOps, and lean approaches to evolve and manage innovation. Run technology experiments to create new platforms and services and integrate the best of these into steady-state operations for the organization. Conduct regular reviews and audits of existing systems and architectures to identify opportunities for optimization and improvement. Develop a portfolio of services designed to meet business and stakeholder needs and deliver in an agile and time-boxed way. Lead and facilitate interaction with business leaders, product managers, and product owners in a business-driven conversation over the risks and implications of the product decision to the line of business, business unit, and greater enterprise. Other duties as assigned.

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Manager of Enterprise Solutions Architecture (EA) must possess the following qualifications: 

Education Required: 

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field from an accredited college or university.  Relevant certifications such as The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), Zachman Framework, Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DODAF), Control Objectives for Information Technologies (COBIT), or IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), preferred

Experience Required: 

Minimum of six (6) years of relevant professional experience in progressively responsible ITS roles, including the following, is required:  Minimum of three (3) years of experience in a supervisory/management position responsible for leading teams of direct reports in the ITS or technology field Experience performing definition and implementation of enterprise solutions using leading software and hardware platforms;  Experience with backend integration to legacy applications and to SaaS  Experience with vendor facilitation, management, and partnering Experience with IT Systems Architectures, IT management tools and techniques Experience in application systems and data design and deployment methodologies and techniques, or other architectural competencies, including security and infrastructure design and deployment. Integration experience in areas such as information, solutions or technical architecture, application development, middleware, information analysis, database management or operations in a hybrid environment (i.e. Cloud, on-prem), preferred Ten (10) years of the experience above, including seven (7) or more years in people management positions leading teams, preferred

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 

Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, including listening, consultative and negotiation skills, with the ability to facilitate or lead presentations articulating new ideas and concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.  High levels of technical skill and IT expertise, integrity, honesty, humility, credibility, and the courage to make difficult yet necessary decisions Ability to lead and influence internal and external stakeholders across multiple levels of the organization  Strong leadership and leadership development skills; ability to coach highly skilled managers and IT professionals toward excellence and build the capacity of technical teams Ability to articulate a vision, set high standards, and effectively guide teams and stakeholders in the realization of expectations set Effective strategic planning capabilities, including the ability to establish long-term vision and goals, and align/manage activities toward goal fulfillment; capable of thinking strategically and acting pragmatically Ability to build collaborative relationships with a variety of constituent groups, including external partners, to ensure the entire system operates in the most effective manner possible to support organizational success Knowledge of operations, budget/finance, management, and organizational development; capable of estimating, cost / benefit analysis, ROI, needs analysis, project scheduling, evaluation techniques, and understanding sales, service, and RFP processes, etc. Expert-level knowledge of project management, including budget and resource management; ability to manage large-scale strategic and architectural initiatives In-depth, up-to-date knowledge/understanding of the following: Business ecosystems, SaaS, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), ERP (i.e. SAP, Oracle), platform as a service (PaaS), APIs, Open data, Microservices, DevSecOps, Event-driven IT, Predictive analytics and AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning), etc. Technology, trends, and techniques in the IT industry All components of holistic enterprise architecture, as well as technology architecture theories, implementations, and technology solutions Strategic planning techniques and principals Proficient in architecture methodologies, standards, practices, governance, reference patterns Ability to define problems, analyze data, and outline valid conclusions and action steps Familiarity with information management practices, system development life cycle management, IT services management, agile and lean methodologies, infrastructure and operations, and EA and ITIL frameworks. Capable of following Company policies and practices while representing CPS in an ethical and professional manner in all interactions with employees, governmental agencies, vendors, contractors, suppliers, students, and the Chicago community

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois. Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. “Up-to-date” on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters.

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