AVP, Senior Principal Enterprise Architect - Data

CNA

Chicago, Illinois

JOB DETAILS
SKILLS
Application Programming Interface (API), Architectural Services, Business Analysis, Business Solutions, Computer Science, Continuous Improvement, Delivery Driving, Emerging Technology, Enterprise Architecture, GCP (Good Clinical Practices), Industry/Trade Analysis, Information Technology & Information Systems, Insurance, Leadership, Mentoring, Process Improvement, Product Engineering, Risk, Risk Analysis, Strategic Analysis, System Architecture, TOGAF - The Open Group Architecture Framework, Technical Strategy, Trend Analysis, Vehicle Driving
LOCATION
Chicago, Illinois
POSTED
30+ days ago

You have a clear vision of where your career can go. And we have the leadership to help you get there. At CNA, we strive to create a culture in which people know they matter and are part of something important, ensuring the abilities of all employees are used to their fullest potential. 

Job Summary

The AVP, Senior Principal Enterprise Architect - Data is CNA’s most senior individual contributor, providing architectural leadership across complex portfolios or domain disciplines. This role connects enterprise strategy with execution, drives cross-portfolio integration, and ensures architectural alignment and reuse. The AVP, Senior Principal Enterprise Architect - Data shapes domain-level strategy, leads complex architectural initiatives, and mentor other architects to elevate architectural maturity and enterprise-wide impact. This specific role will be aligned to the Data Portfolio with a focus on aligning across our delivery value streams and driving a “Build with a Data Mindset” upstream. This connectivity between data and our upstream portfolios will be the primary responsibilities, in addition to participating in the extended leadership team that drives the portfolio. This person will lead with their proven experience across P&C Insurance domains in a delivery and Enterprise Architecture capacity.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Performs a combination of duties in accordance with departmental guidelines:

  • Domain Discipline Strategy & Leadership: Define and drive a unified architectural strategy across portfolios/products within a complex domain discipline, translating enterprise goals into actionable architectural roadmaps and modernization initiatives.

  • Enterprise-Level Strategic Influence: Serve as a strategic advisor to senior business and technology leaders, shaping investment decisions and transformation efforts that align with enterprise architecture principles and business value.

  • Cross-Portfolio Integration & Reuse: Lead the identification and development of shared capabilities, architectural patterns, and platform solutions across portfolios, ensuring consistency, reuse, and alignment with enterprise strategy.

  • Portfolio/Product Architecture: Act as the Senior EA for one or more portfolios, with full accountability for end-to-end architectural design and execution, collaborating with ARTs, product managers, and engineering teams to realize solution intent.

  • Architectural Oversight Across Domain: Provide architectural coordination and oversight across all portfolios/products within the domain, ensuring alignment of solution intent, architectural decomposition, and application strategy with domain goals.

  • Reference Architecture & Capability Strategy: Own and evolve reference architectures and capability strategies for the domain, offering clear guidance for adoption, implementation, and enterprise alignment.

  • Governance, Standards & Risk Oversight: Lead the definition and enforcement of architectural standards and guardrails across the domain, while maintaining visibility into the application landscape and associated risk posture.

  • Technology Innovation & Evaluation: Evaluate emerging technologies and trends, proposing domain-level adoption strategies that enhance business capabilities and support future readiness.

  • Mentorship & Architectural Enablement: Mentor portfolio triads and architecture peers, fostering a culture of collaboration, systems thinking, and architectural excellence across the domain.

  • Architectural Practice Advancement: Continuously improve architectural methodologies, processes, and maturity across the domain, promoting innovation and alignment with enterprise architecture frameworks.

  • May perform additional duties as assigned.

Reporting Relationship

Typically VP or above

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

  • Insurance Domain Expertise: Deep expertise driving delivery across multiple domains within Commercial P&C in an Enterprise Architecture role

  • Enterprise & Domain Strategy Leadership: Expert in translating enterprise goals into domain-level architectural strategies and roadmaps that span portfolios, platforms, and business units.

  • Advanced Enterprise Architecture & Agile Expertise: Deep proficiency in enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF) and SAFe Agile, with the ability to guide architectural practices across multiple portfolios and teams.

  • Cross-Portfolio Architecture Design & Integration: Skilled in designing and integrating scalable, decoupled, event-based, and API-enabled architectures across portfolios, ensuring reuse, consistency, and alignment with enterprise principles.

  • Technology Innovation & Strategic Adoption: Strong awareness of emerging technologies and industry trends, with the ability to evaluate, recommend, and guide strategic adoption across the domain.

  • Architectural Governance & Risk Oversight: Experienced in establishing and enforcing architectural standards, managing application landscape strategy, and assessing risk posture across portfolios.

  • Reference Architecture & Capability Modeling: Proficient in developing and evolving reference architectures and capability maps to guide strategic alignment, solution intent, and enterprise reuse.

  • Stakeholder Influence & Strategic Advisory: Exceptional communication and leadership skills to influence senior business and technology leaders, shape investment decisions, and align architectural outcomes with enterprise value.

  • Architectural Mentorship & Practice Advancement: Demonstrated ability to mentor architects and triads, elevate architectural maturity, and drive continuous improvement of architectural methodologies and practices across the domain.

Education & Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field; equivalent experience considered.

  • Advanced degree preferred.

  • Typically, a minimum of ten years of diverse experience in technology, including enterprise architecture, solution design, business analysis, and development across multiple portfolios or domains.

  • Demonstrated experience leading architectural strategy and execution across complex portfolios or domain disciplines in a corporate environment.

  • Proven ability to drive cross-portfolio integration, shared capability development, and alignment with enterprise architecture principles.

  • Experience mentoring architects and influencing architectural maturity across teams, portfolios, and business units.

  • Track record of providing strategic architectural guidance to senior leadership, shaping investment decisions and transformation initiatives.

  • Experience managing application landscape strategy and risk posture across portfolios or domains.

  • Experience in the commercial insurance industry and relevant certifications (e.g., TOGAF, SAFe Architect, GCP) strongly preferred.

#LI-GV1

#LI-Hybrid

In certain jurisdictions, CNA is legally required to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role. In District of Columbia,California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois,Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Washington, the national base pay range for this job level is$152,000 to $242,000 annually. Salary determinations are based on various factors, including but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications and location. CNA offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package to help our employees – and their family members – achieve their physical, financial, emotional and social wellbeing goals.  For a detailed look at CNA’s benefits, please visit cnabenefits.com.

CNA is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the recruitment process. To request an accommodation, please contact 

leaveadministration@cna.com

About the Company

C

CNA

CNA's approach to research is a modern iteration of the Newtonian principle that complex, dynamic processes are best understood through direct observation of events and people. That was the methodology CNA analysts first applied in the 1940s when they pioneered the field of operations research by helping the Navy address the German U-boat threat. Not content to study the problem from afar, this small group of MIT scientists insisted on deploying with Navy forces in order to observe operations and collect the data needed for meaningful analyses. Their groundbreaking work, and the anti-submarine warfare equations it produced, set a standard for operations research methods that CNA has maintained for 75 years. Today, with more than 500 professionals at our headquarters and 50 researchers in the field, CNA still takes a multi-disciplinary, real-world approach to our work. On-site analysts carefully observe all aspects of a process—people, decisions, actions, consequences—and then collaborate with a headquarters-based research team to assess data and arrive at findings. CNA's objective, empirical research and analysis helps decision makers develop sound policies, make better-informed decisions, and manage programs more effectively. Our work, which in its early decades focused solely on defense-related matters, has grown to include investigation and analysis of a broad range of national security, defense, and public interest issues including education, homeland security and air traffic management. Through our Center for Naval Analyses and Institute for Public Research, we provide public-sector organizations with the tools they need to tackle the complex challenges of making government more efficient and keeping our country safe and strong.
COMPANY SIZE
100 to 499 employees
INDUSTRY
Other/Not Classified
FOUNDED
1940
WEBSITE
https://www.cna.org/