328 Enterprise Architect Consultant

Job Title: Enterprise Architect Consultant
Location (On-site Remote or Hybrid): Sacramento CA (hybrid)
Contract Duration: Contract until 12/31/2026
Work Hours: 8AM - 5PM

SCOPE OF WORK:
Seeking a leased employee EA Consultant to lead the tactical execution of enterprise architecture (solutions guidance standards enforcement architectural runway) while designing and standing up the EA Office integrated with PMO and BRM within a unified Strategy & Governance department. Establish shared services for intake orchestration AI and data architecture enablement and financial analytics and co-own process automation and AI enablement for project managers and shared services specialists.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
A. Tactical EA ( 50%)

• Solution Architecture & Guidance: Produce solution intents architecture decision records (ADRs) and reference architectures aligned to enterprise standards.
• Standards & Patterns: Curate cloud data integration security and AI/ML patterns (e.g. Azure reference implementations data mesh vs. warehouse).
• Architecture Governance: Chair/coordinate Architecture Review Board (ARB); manage exceptions waivers and technical debt logs.
• Road mapping: Maintain capability maps and technology roadmaps; ensure fit to business strategy and PMO portfolio plans.
• Risk & Compliance: Embed security/privacy by design; align with regulatory and data governance requirements.
• Vendor/Tool Evaluation: Conduct comparative assessments; Change Management: Participate in Change Management Review Boards to assess and validate.
• Software Purchase Evaluation: Evaluate software purchase requests and approve or decline based on SMUD policies including security and inventory review.
• Project Technology: Evaluate and validate software proposed in overall solutions for specific projects.
• Architecture Design and Strategy: Develop and maintain enterprise architecture frameworks including business capability maps technology roadmaps and IT standards.
• System Integration: Evaluate and integrate IT systems ensuring interoperability and scalability across applications and platforms.

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Work with senior management technical specialists and business units to align IT solutions with organizational strategy.
• Technology Assessment: Research emerging technologies recommend architecture changes and advise on system strategies.
• Documentation and Communication: Create and maintain architectural models transition plans and business cases for IT investments.
• Technology Lifecycle Governance: Manage acquisition request intake processing risk management cybersecurity procurement and end-of-life (EOL).
• Enterprise Technology Standards: Establish governance to define develop and enforce enterprise standards.

B. EA Office Design Stand-Up & Integration ( 50%)

• Operating Model: Define mission scope decision rights (RACI) engagement model with PMO/BRM and service catalog (e.g. solution reviews standards stewardship).
• Processes: Establish demand-to-delivery lifecycle: intake triage architecture initiation design reviews ARB delivery checkpoints benefits traceability.
• Org & Roles: Define EA lead domain architects (data app infrastructure security) architecture analysts and integrate shared services.
• Tooling: Implement common tooling (e.g. repository for artifacts ADRs patterns; Power BI dashboards; Power Automate workflows; M365 Copilot for documentation).
• Metrics & Reporting: Develop dashboards to monitor architectural compliance reuse rates cycle times risk posture and benefit realization.
• Change Management: Communicate charter develop playbooks onboarding and training; facilitate adoption across business units.

B1. Shared Services Capability Build-Out

• Intake & Triage (Business Analyst): Standardize request forms categorization priority scoring and routing; automate workflows.
• AI/Data (AI & Data Analyst): Establish data architecture guardrails metadata management data lineage Master Data Management (MDM) migration frameworks; define AI use-case registry risk controls model governance and prompt libraries.
• Value Analytics: Enable intelligent resource optimization for unbiased decision-making efficient resource allocation and financial planning. Use variance analysis forecast models and link portfolio financials to business outcomes.

B2. Process Automation & AI Enablement (with PMO)

• PMO Automation: Automate stage gates risk logs RAID logs status reports and deliverable reviews; implement Copilot for PMs (agenda drafting summarization action item extraction).
• Shared Services Automation: Build low-code applications for request triage architecture review scheduling and financial reconciliations.
• Data-Driven Governance: Integrate portfolio data architectural compliance data and financial information into unified Strategy & Governance dashboards.

B3. Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Single Face to Business Units: Present integrated services; simplify engagement and escalation pathways.
• Executive Reporting: Provide concise outcome-oriented updates on architecture health delivery risks and transformation value.

DELIVERABLES (Backlog and will be Prioritized once Onboarded)
Foundational Artifacts

• EA Office: Charter Operating Model Service Catalog Engagement Playbook
• Decision Rights/RACI: RACI matrix ARB Charter Exception/Waiver Policy
• Standards & Reference Architectures: Cloud data integration security AI standards
• Capability Maps and Roadmaps

Automation & Tools

• Intake & Triage App/Workflow: Power Automate / Power Apps
• Portfolio & Architecture Dashboards: Power BI
• Copilot Enablement: Templates prompts and governance guidelines
• ADR Repository and Architecture Artifact Library: SharePoint / DevOps

AI & Data

• AI Use Case Registry and Model Risk Controls
• Data Migration Playbook and Data Governance Guardrails: Lineage catalog quality
• Reusable Data Pipelines and Integration Patterns

Financial

• Automated Budget & Forecast Dashboard: Project cost baselines benefit tracking models

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS
Experience:

• Experience implementing AI and automation in IT governance/processes
• Bachelor s in Engineering / Technical Sciences
• 15 years in IT roles including IT infrastructure data management and business systems
• Knowledge of cloud platforms enterprise data management SQL and software architecture
• frameworks
• 15 years of experience in enterprise data architecture data migrations and data
• management
• 15 years of experience mapping business functionality to IT solutions assessing risks and
• optimizing processes
• Demonstrated experience designing and developing Enterprise Governance models to support
• various IT processes like technology procurement cybersecurity AI project integrations and
• business enablement
• Strong interpersonal skills to

Skills & Competencies
Architecture & Technology

• Enterprise & Solution Architecture: Capability modeling architecture runway ADRs
• Cloud & Integration: Event-driven architectures identity/access management
• Data & AI: Data architecture governance ETL/ELT data migration; AI/ML lifecycle prompt engineering model governance

Process & Governance

• Operating Model Design: Decision rights organizational design service catalogs
• Portfolio & Demand Management: Intake triage prioritization capacity planning
• Architecture Governance: Architecture Review Board (ARB) standards stewardship exception handling

Automation & Tooling

• Power Platform: Power Automate Power Apps Power BI
• M365 Copilot: Enablement and guardrails
• DevOps Tooling: Azure DevOps Jira for backlogs and documentation
• Data Catalog/Lineage Tools: e.g. Microsoft Purview or equivalent

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

• Certifications in TOGAF ITIL/COBIT Azure SAFe (or equivalent)
• Master s in Engineering / Technical Sciences

SOFT SKILLS & LEADERSHIP

• Executive communication changing leadership stakeholder management
• Systems thinking analytical problem solving conflict resolution
• Coaching/enablement mindset; cross-functional collaboration