Enterprise Architect
Company: COLAS USA
Job Location: DENVER, COLORADO, USA
Type of Contract: Regular
Posting Start Date: 8/27/26
Job Description:
MISSIONColas is one of North America's largest road and infrastructure groups, and Colas ISS provides the technology and data services that keep the business running. We are looking for an Enterprise Architect to be the design authority across three pillars-Data Engineering, Application Development, and our ERP ecosystem-and across the integration that connects them.
This is a broad role. You will set target-state architectures, standards, and integration strategy, and you will be the architect brought into new initiatives as they arise. We are not looking for an expert in all three pillars. We are looking for a strong architect with real depth in at least one, the range to operate credibly across the others, and the appetite to take on ground you have not covered before.
You set direction; delivery teams own implementation. Your counterparts are the Senior Data Engineer, who owns the build of our Databricks platform, the Application Development leads, and the JD Edwards team on ERP data, interfaces, and extensions. With all three you hold the line on standards while staying pragmatic about delivery reality, cost, and legacy constraints, and you keep Colas ISS aligned with the architecture direction of the Colas group.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITSCompensation*:
$133,560.00 - $165,000.00 USD*Estimated target starting compensation; final compensation will be determined based on an assessment of an individual's qualifications, education, and experience relevant to the role.
Benefits: Full-time salaried exempt employees are eligible for Colas Group benefits, as outlined in the plan documents. Available benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance, term life insurance, supplemental life insurance, 401(K) with company match, short- and long-term disability. Other benefits include paid holidays, paid sick leave, accrued vacation time off, and paid parental leave.
Other Compensation: This position may be considered for annual bonus compensation.
RESPONSIBILITIESTarget-State Architecture & Standards- Establish and maintain the target-state architecture across the three pillars, aligned to business strategy, IT cost objectives, and the security strategy.
- Publish and apply reference architectures, design patterns, and standards, and evolve the architecture reference framework.
- Encode standards as templates, reference implementations, and golden paths, so the approved way to deliver is also the easiest way.
Architecture Across the Three Pillars- Define the integration strategy that connects them: service bus and API patterns, event-driven and batch integration, master data flows, and agent-to-system standards such as MCP.
- Own the enterprise data governance framework-data domains, ownership and stewardship, policy, classification, and quality standards.
- Provide architecture direction for Application Development initiatives, including application, API, and integration patterns.
- Provide architecture direction for ERP (JD Edwards) initiatives, including data structures, extensions, interfaces, and the flow of ERP data into analytics.
AI & Agent Governance- Set the governance model for how AI agents and assistants reach enterprise data and systems: identity, entitlements, approval thresholds, auditability, and lifecycle.
- Define what it takes for our estate to be AI-ready-semantic clarity, metadata quality, and certified datasets agents and analytics both depend on.
Self-Service & Citizen Development Governance- Set the governance model for business-built solutions: who may build what, on which platforms, with which data.
- Design guardrails that enable business teams rather than restrict them, and a review path for promoting what they build into supported assets.
Architecture Assurance & Advisory- Instruct the architecture aspects of new work during opportunity and scoping, then act as referent architect through design and delivery.
- Review existing architectures across the estate, identify gaps, risk, and technical debt, and sequence remediation into pragmatic roadmaps.
- Advise on build-versus-buy and technology selection, leading structured platform and vendor evaluation including total cost of ownership.
- Chair architecture review for significant designs, and hold delivery teams to agreed standards without owning their delivery.
- Partner with the Senior Data Engineer and Application Development leads so enterprise direction becomes working implementation-they own the how and the when.
Influence, Innovation & Group Alignment- Maintain an ongoing technology watch and bring innovation into the estate deliberately, separating genuine advantage for Colas from noise.
- Evangelize reference architectures and standards, and communicate architecture, risk, and cost trade-offs to leadership in plain language.
- Produce architecture decision records, reference models, and diagrams so direction and its rationale survive staff and vendor turnover.
- Coordinate with the Colas Digital Solutions architecture and security functions to keep local architecture consistent with group strategy.
EXPERIENCE- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Engineering (equivalent to "BAC+5"); or equivalent practical experience.
- Minimum of 12 years of professional IT experience, including 5+ years in a solution or enterprise architecture role (must-have).
- Subject-matter depth in at least one of our three pillars-data platform, application development, or ERP-together with the technical breadth to operate credibly across the others (must-have).
- A track record of designing and delivering integration between systems, and of making architectural decisions stick across teams you do not manage (must-have).
- Demonstrated ability to take on an unfamiliar technology domain and become productive in it quickly. This role will repeatedly put you on new ground, and appetite for that matters more to us than having covered all three pillars already.
- Experience with enterprise data warehouse or lakehouse architecture and data governance-or the judgment to govern it alongside a senior data engineer who owns the build.
- Experience with application and integration architecture: APIs, service-oriented or event-driven design, and modern application landscapes.
- Exposure to ERP data and integration is valuable; JD Edwards experience is a plus rather than a requirement.
- A defensible view of how AI agents and other automated consumers should be granted access to enterprise data and systems.
- Experience operating in a multi-entity or international group, ideally alongside a group or parent-company architecture function, a plus.
- Preferred certifications: TOGAF; Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305); a data-platform or integration architecture certification is a plus.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS- Enterprise Architecture: Target-state modeling, reference architectures, roadmaps, and architecture governance, grounded in a recognized framework such as TOGAF (must-have).
- Integration Architecture: Enterprise service bus and API management, messaging, event-driven and batch patterns, master data flows, and reliable system-to-system exchange (must-have).
- Architectural Range: Credible across data, application, and ERP domains-deep in at least one, conversant enough in the others to set direction and challenge a design (must-have).
- Data Architecture: Lakehouse and data warehouse architecture, Databricks, dimensional and semantic modeling, data governance, and master data management (a strong plus).
- Application Architecture: Application and integration patterns, APIs, service-oriented and event-driven design, and modern web application landscapes (a strong plus).
- ERP: JD Edwards data structures, interfaces, and extension patterns, and the flow of ERP data into reporting and analytics (a plus).
- AI & Agent Governance: Governing how AI agents and assistants access enterprise data and systems-identity, entitlements, autonomy limits, auditability, and lifecycle (a strong plus).
- Self-Service Governance: Governance models for business-built solutions and low-code platforms, fusion-team patterns, and guardrails designed to enable delivery rather than gate it.
- Azure Platform: Landing zones, ADLS Gen2, Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Entra ID, Key Vault, and the networking and security fundamentals underpinning them.
- Security & Compliance: Security-by-design, data classification, access and entitlement models, and applicable regulatory considerations.
- Cost Management: Total cost of ownership, licensing and consumption modeling, and cloud cost governance.
- Technology Evaluation: Structured build-versus-buy assessment, proof-of-concept design, and vendor evaluation.
- Architecture Documentation: Architecture decision records, reference models, and standard notation (ArchiMate, UML, or C4).
- Business Domain: Construction, infrastructure, equipment, or finance domains a plus.
SOFT SKILLS- Influence Without Authority: Driving adoption of standards and architectural direction across teams you do not manage - essential to this role.
- Intellectual Range: Comfortable moving between problem domains, and willing to be the least experienced person in the room while you get up to speed.
- Pragmatism: Balancing ideal architecture against delivery reality, cost, and legacy constraints; producing direction teams can actually execute.
- Communication Skills: Conveying complex technical concepts and architectural trade-offs to technical and non-technical audiences, including executive leadership.
- Collaboration: Working effectively across IT, business, and international group functions, including offshore and vendor partners.
- Critical Thinking: Evaluating options rigorously and making informed, defensible decisions.
- Leadership: Mentoring technical staff and shaping technical decision-making across multiple teams.
- Adaptability: Openness to change and emerging technologies, and comfort with a landscape that is actively being modernized.
- Autonomy: Operating independently in the role and bringing a clear view of your activity and priorities to management.
- Empathy: Understanding team and stakeholder perspectives to foster collaboration and buy-in.
DISCLAIMERThis job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of duties, responsibilities, or qualifications and may be amended to meet business needs.
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