Architecture Practice Lead

With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.

Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!

Key Responsibilities:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• All CVs should be submitted in English.

• This position is open to candidates based in countries where World Vision International is legally registered to operate.

The Enterprise Architecture Head is a permanent senior leadership role responsible for shaping, governing, and evolving the organisation's long-term technology landscape. Reporting to the Head of Technology Business Management, this role provides the architectural coherence and leadership backbone across a complex, multi-year transformation agenda spanning cloud modernisation, unified data, IAM, cybersecurity, integration, and digital capability. The role leads a growing architecture practice including an Enterprise Architect, Solution Architects, and Cybersecurity Architect while governing nascent functions in data, cloud, and integration as they mature.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Enterprise Architecture Governance & Strategy

• Define and maintain the Enterprise Architecture framework, principles, technology reference architecture, and enterprise roadmap.
• Lead architecture review processes and provide sign-off on significant technology decisions.
• Partner with the Technology Business Management office to ensure architecture decisions are visible in technology investment and portfolio governance.

Architecture Practice Leadership & People Management

• Lead, coach, and develop direct reports: Enterprise Architect, Solution Architects, and Cybersecurity Architect.
• Establish consistent ways of working, quality standards, and governance rhythm across the practice.
• Provide architectural oversight and mentorship to Data and Cloud Architects (dotted line) during their establishment phase.

Transformation Programme Architecture

• Provide architectural direction and governance across active transformation programmes including cloud migration, unified data, IAM, cybersecurity uplift, and digital capability initiatives.
• Ensure cross-domain coherence so no initiative creates architectural debt or integration complexity.

Integration Strategy & Governance

• Define and own the organisation's integration strategy covering API design principles, middleware, data flow standards, and platform choices.
• Exercise functional authority over Integration Platform Admins and Engineers (dotted line).
• Establish and govern integration patterns across third-party and internal systems.

Development Practices & Standards

• Establish and maintain organisation-wide development practices including coding standards, code review processes, branching strategies, testing standards, and technical debt management frameworks.
• Influence and evangelise adoption across development and product teams (dotted line).

Stakeholder Engagement & Technology Business Management Partnership

• Build trusted relationships with engineering, product, operations, and business leaders.
• Communicate architecture strategy and decisions clearly to technical and non-technical audiences including the CIO.
• Represent architecture in programme governance, steering groups, and vendor discussions.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE:

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
• Postgraduate qualification in IT, Business, or Architecture is advantageous.
• Architecture certifications (e.g. TOGAF, AWS/Azure Solutions Architect, or equivalent) preferred.

​​Required Professional Experience

• 10+ years of progressive experience in enterprise, solution, or technical architecture roles, with at least 3–5 years in a senior or lead architect capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading architecture governance across complex, multi-domain transformation programmes.
• Proven track record in defining and implementing integration strategy in multi-system environments.
• Experience establishing or significantly uplifting architecture governance frameworks and development standards.
• People leadership experience managing and developing small, senior technical teams.
• Comfortable operating in environments where functions and practices are still being established.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills — able to drive alignment across dotted-line relationships without direct authority.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge and/or other Qualifications

• Familiarity with technology cost/value governance.
• Experience with modern integration platforms (e.g. Azure Integration Services, AWS EventBridge, or equivalent).
• Exposure to IAM architecture, cybersecurity frameworks (e.g. NIST, ISO 27001), and data architecture principles.
• Experience in organisations undergoing significant transformation at a comparable scale.
• Prior experience working within or alongside a Technology Finance function.
• Familiarity with Agile, DevOps, and product-led delivery models.

Applicant Types Accepted:

Local Applicants Only

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