Enterprise Architect Zions Bancorporation’s Enterprise Technology and Operations (ETO) team is transforming what it means to work for a financial institution. With a commitment to technology and innovation, we have been providing our community, clients, and colleagues with the best experience possible for over 150 years.
The Opportunity:
We are seeking an experienced Enterprise Architect who combines deep, foundational architectural rigor with high-level strategic business acumen. At Zions, this role operates at the "sweet spot" of scale: we are a premier $90B+ western regional bank facing complex, enterprise-level engineering challenges, yet nimble enough that a talented architect will see the direct, tangible impact of their decisions. You will own the foundational target-state architectures across our business, data, application, infrastructure, and security domains. Building upon that foundation, you will act as a strategic partner to our business executives - translating long-term business goals into dynamic technology roadmaps, modernizing our technology governance to be an enabler rather than a blocker, and safely driving our enterprise AI strategy.
Key Responsibilities:
Enterprise Architecture Foundation & Practice:
- Develop, maintain, and mature target-state architectures and strategic roadmaps across business, data, application, infrastructure, and security domains.
- Define core architectural principles, integration patterns (e.g., API-led, event-driven), and technology standards to ensure scalable, resilient, and standardized solutions across the enterprise.
- Manage baseline architectures to actively identify and reduce technical debt, driving continuous application portfolio simplification and rationalization.
- Guide the technical design of complex solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards and seamless integration across transactional, analytical, and core banking systems.
Enablement-First Governance:
- Lead and participate in Architecture Review Boards (ARB) and Technology Strategy Boards, enforcing compliance to technology and regulatory standards.
- Actively modernize and simplify Zions' Technology Governance. Respect the critical nature of our regulatory environment while evolving our review frameworks into an "enablement-first" model that uses automated guardrails and playbooks to accelerate delivery teams.
Business Architecture & Strategic Alignment:
- Partner directly with executive business leaders to define capability models and perform value stream analysis.
- Act as a trusted advisor in portfolio management and investment prioritization, ensuring our technology spend is ruthlessly aligned to our highest-value business capabilities.
- Guide enterprise sourcing strategies, objectively evaluating market solutions against internal capabilities to maximize investment value and operational agility.
- Optimize executive-level decision-making by embedding rigorous trade-off and risk analysis into the architectural discipline, ensuring leaders have clear visibility into the long-term impacts of technology investments.
Innovation & AI Strategy:
- Govern the enterprise adoption of emerging technologies, including Generative and Agentic AI. Establish the architectural boundaries, data privacy guardrails, and integration patterns necessary to safely deploy AI in a highly regulated environment.
- Continuously monitor industry trends and emerging platforms, evaluating their potential value to Zions' digital transformation.
Qualifications:
Professional Experience & Technical Foundation:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Technology Management, or a related field.
- 8+ years of proven experience in enterprise architecture, solutions architecture, or IT leadership, with a strong track record of designing complex, enterprise-scale systems.
- Deep, hands-on understanding of modern architectural paradigms, including cloud computing (AWS/Azure), CI/CD, microservices, containerization, and data lake modernization.
- Demonstrated ability to produce strategically focused written content, architectural artifacts, and formal presentations for technical and non-technical audiences.
The Mindset & Soft Skills:
- Executive Gravitas & Translation: Proven ability to sit with business leaders, understand their operational goals, and translate those objectives into a coherent technology strategy without relying on technical jargon.
- Diplomatic Disruption & High EQ: Strong emotional intelligence to challenge legacy thinking, negotiate conflicting priorities, and drive transformation through influence and collaboration rather than mandates.
- Comfort with Ambiguity & Systems Thinking: The ability to connect dots across highly siloed departments, resolve conflicting requirements, and bring order to complex business and technical challenges.
Nice to Have Experience:
- Experience in banking or other financial services sectors (e.g., knowledge of core banking systems such as TCS BaNCS, FIS, Fiserv).
- Working understanding and certifications in related frameworks such as TOGAF and BIAN.
- Experience using formal EA repository software (e.g., BizzDesign, Orbus).
- Knowledge of regulatory direction and industry-related frameworks (e.g., FFIEC controls) in highly regulated environments.
Location & Work Environment:
This position is a hybrid work-from-home schedule with a minimum of three days per week in the office at the new Zions Technology Center in Midvale, UT. The Zions Technology Center is a 400,000-square-foot technology campus in Midvale, Utah. Located on the former Sharon Steel Mill superfund site, the sustainably built campus is the company’s primary technology and operations center. This modern and environmentally friendly technology center enables Zions to compete for the best technology talent in the state while providing team members with an exceptional work environment with features such as:
- Electric vehicle charging stations and close proximity to Historic Gardner Village UTA TRAX station.
- At least 75% of the building is powered by on-site renewable solar energy.
- Access to outdoor recreation, parks, trails, shareable bikes, and locker rooms.
- Large modern cafe with a healthy and diverse menu.
- Healthy indoor environment with ample natural light and fresh air.
- LEED-certified sustainable building features, including the use of low VOC-emitting construction materials.
Benefits:
- Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance - START DAY ONE!
- Life and Disability Insurance, Paid Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
- Health Savings (HSA), Flexible Spending (FSA) and dependent care accounts
- Paid Training, Paid Time Off (PTO) and 11 Paid Federal Holidays
- 401(k) plan with company match, Profit Sharing, competitive compensation in line with work experience
- Mental health benefits including coaching and therapy sessions
- Tuition Reimbursement for qualifying employees
Apply now if you have a passion for impactful outcomes, enjoy working collaboratively with co-workers, and want to make a difference for the clients and communities we serve.
