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The role of the enterprise architect is crucial. Enterprise architects are tasked with a complex mandate: to design, implement and govern IT infrastructures that not only align with but also actively propel business strategies.
So, what does an enterprise architect do? Let’s examine this multifaceted role, from its critical functions and necessary skills, to the potential career paths and evolving tools and certifications that keep it at the forefront of technological advancement.
What Does an Enterprise Architect Do?
The enterprise architect role plays a critical part in aligning a company’s IT infrastructure with its business goals, ensuring that the technological systems support the organization’s overall strategy.
The enterprise architect’s primary function, according to PwC’s Scott Petry, is establishing the standards, processes and tools an organization should use to manage data and conduct business.
The role is facing a lot of challenges right now, said Petry, as almost every company is fighting its way through a lot of change.
“It's a really high change environment right now,” he explained. “And that's really hard for a function who's sort of defined as finding the right way to do things, trying to make sure that it's controlled and managed and organized and structured in a way that's disciplined and process oriented.”
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Enterprise Architect Job Description and Requirements
The job description of an enterprise architect encompasses designing and implementing IT systems architectures that support the strategic objectives of an organization.
While technical in nature, the base skills needed to accomplish this goal are very industry aligned. “You need to understand the business before you can understand the solutions that enable that business,” explained Petry.
Beyond that, Tim Westbrock, enterprise architect at FIS Global, says there are nonetheless certain essential skills for the enterprise architect position, including:
- The ability to listen first.
- The ability to simplify the complex.
- The ability to handle abstract concepts without knowing all details.
- Communication skills over technology depth.
And amid the fast pace of tech developments, one aspect of the job that is changing, said Petry, is the way in which one executes on enterprise architecture, with the biggest difference being more data-driven about it.
“Instead of paper diagrams of how the architecture is, or written documents of what you can and can't do, it becomes a very sensed enterprise,” he explained. “You use data to know what you have, you use data to govern choices. And then you can talk about really advanced things, like can you use generative AI or simulations or digital twins to help you evolve your enterprise architecture in real-time or in near real-time so that you can keep up with the pace of change.”
Enterprise Architect vs. Solution Architect
There can be different types of architect inside an organization, and Westbrock says that can cause confusion about who does what. For instance, it’s important to know where an enterprise architect’s role ends, and when the solution architect’s role begins.
“Someone acting in an enterprise architect role does not design/architect solutions. A solution architect does. An enterprise architect does not select technologies; Solution, system, data, cloud, AI and other domains (infrastructure, network, security, etc.) select technologies.”
An enterprise architect establishes a vision and principles to guide lower-level architectures and technologies to be consistent with each other, avoids technical debt and redundancy when it makes sense and oversees when there is a difference of opinion among the architecture community, Westbrock explained.
The best way to address the misunderstanding, he said, is “to establish differentiable and discrete job descriptions and a RACI [responsible, accountable, consulted and informed] diagram for each architecture role relative to planning, governance, strategy, portfolio management, technology selection, design and development.”
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Enterprise Architect Career Path
For those interested in enterprise architect jobs, Petry recommends first picking an industry that you love. Then, get to know that industry’s systems. Why? “Because the things they talk about, the types of systems they stitch together, the types of data they manage, become very important,” he said.
Learn how all the systems work together and try to earn your way up to understanding the enterprise, Petry continued. “If you understand the business and how the business is structured, then you can be an expert.”
For this role, you also have to be process-oriented, Petry claimed, because there’s a process to architecture.
“How you define an architecture has to do with: who are the stakeholders and users of those systems? What are the outcomes that you're trying to accomplish? What are the cost pressures that you need to adhere to? What are the overall data structures that you need to manage? There's a lot of layers to that process.”
So, he said, to be able to articulate the process, give it value, help it be faster, do everything to make it better, you must first understand the process.
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Enterprise Architect Salary
The average base salary for an enterprise architect in the US is $147,612 per year, according to Payscale. However, total pay is often more when factoring in bonuses, profit sharing and commissions.
Like most jobs, enterprise architect pay is influenced highly by experience level. Total yearly enterprise architect salaries based on experience include:
- Entry level (less than one year of experience): $87,000
- Early career (one to four years of experience): $106,000
- Mid-career (five to nine years of experience): $134,000
- Experienced (10 to 19 years of experience): $147,000
- Late career (20 years or more of experience): $156,000
Enterprise Architect Software and Tools
Enterprise architects use a variety of tools to create, analyze and maintain complex architectures that align with business strategies. A lot of these tools, said Petry, are automated.
Key enterprise architecture tools include:
- ADOIT: Designed for enterprise architecture management, ADOIT facilitates the visualization, analysis and governance of IT architectures, promoting better decision-making and strategic alignment.
- Bizzdesign Enterprise Studio: This tool supports designing, analyzing and managing enterprise architecture. It integrates different business perspectives like strategy, processes and IT landscapes into one cohesive framework.
- LeanIX: An enterprise architect tool focused on IT portfolio management, offering capabilities to manage IT investments and optimize the IT landscape to better support business operations.
- MEGA International: This tool aids in enterprise governance and architecture planning, enabling efficient control over IT investments and enhancing enterprise efficiency.
- Planview: This tool focuses on portfolio management and organizational strategy execution, helping enterprise architects ensure that their IT initiatives align with business priorities.
- Software AG Alfabet: Facilitates IT planning and portfolio management, helping organizations manage IT investments and optimize their IT landscapes to support business operations more effectively.
- Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect: Ideal for planning, tracking and managing sophisticated information systems architectures, this enterprise architect tool facilitates simulation, validation and collaborative design.
Related Article: Why Future Workplace Tools Can't Ignore UX
Enterprise Architect Certification
Enterprise architects must continually develop their skills and knowledge to stay ahead in the rapidly changing IT landscape, and enterprise architect certifications are a key part of this professional development.
Some of the most popular choices include:
- Archimate 3 Certification: Ensures knowledge in the ArchiMate modeling language for enterprise architecture, aligning with frameworks like TOGAF.
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect: Validates expertise in designing and deploying scalable and efficient systems on Amazon Web Services.
- Certified Enterprise Architect (CEA) by FEAC Institute: Specializes in the Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework, suitable for architects in or working with the federal government.
- Certified Information Systems Architect (CISA): Offered by ISACA, CISA is a standard for those who audit, control and assess an organization’s IT and business systems.
- CISSP Information Systems Security Architecture Professional (CISSP-ISSAP): A concentration within CISSP, this certification is for professionals focusing on the architecture aspects of information security.
- Google Professional Cloud Architect: Certifies skills in designing, developing and managing robust, secure, scalable, highly available and dynamic solutions to drive business objectives on Google Cloud.
- TOGAF 9 Certification: This certification from The Open Group indicates proficiency in designing, planning, implementing and governing enterprise IT architecture.
- Zachman Certification: Focused on the Zachman Framework, this enterprise architecture certification helps professionals apply established best practices and principles.
Future Outlook for Enterprise Architects
Within the past two years, the demand for enterprise architects waned. According to data from Indeed, there was a 30.7% decrease in the number of US enterprise architect job postings (per one million jobs on the platform) from March 2022 to March 2024.
However, this decrease could be due to the difficulty in hiring for such a role. According to a 2024 Info-Tech report, 93% of IT departments surveyed said they have significant or moderate difficulty in hiring enterprise architects. And, to address this skills gap, organizations said they're turning to building more internal capabilities as well as hiring more generalists instead of specialists. Still, if IT teams can tackle these challenges, the job market for enterprise architects could be poised to make a recovery.
