Director of Solution Architecture - Information Technology

Alberta Blue Cross® is an Alberta based organization dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experience and community leadership. We’re committed to providing the best health coverage to over 1.8 million members and take an active role in promoting wellness. We believe in what we do—and place trust in our employees to deliver our vision.

Working at Alberta Blue Cross® means having a career where you’ll be recognized for your contributions. We value diversity, encourage our team members to maintain a healthy work-life balance and provide opportunities for career growth.

OVERVIEW 

We have an exciting opportunity for a Director of Solution Architecture to lead a team of 10+ Solution Architects at Alberta Blue Cross. Reporting to the Chief Architect, this senior leadership role combines strong people leadership with deep, practical technology solution architecture experience. The Director leads Solution Architecture practice and ensures initiatives have implementable, delivery-ready designs aligned to enterprise architecture direction, approved portfolio target states, and portfolio modernization roadmaps. 

The Director translates approved architecture direction into technology solutions that delivery teams can build, integrate, operate, and evolve. The role brings credible technical leadership across applications, integration and APIs, enterprise data, cloud, security, identity, and infrastructure, balancing business outcomes with feasibility, performance, resiliency, privacy, cost, and maintainability. The Director guides complex design decisions and supports architecture through implementation and transition to operations. 

Within the proposed Enterprise Architect target-state operating model, Enterprise Architects set enterprise direction and guardrails; Portfolio Architects own portfolio target architectures and modernization roadmaps; and Solution Architects design and guide implementation within those boundaries. The Director of Solution Architecture leads the people, capacity, technical quality, and operating practices of the Solution Architecture team. This role partners closely with Enterprise Architects, the Director of Enterprise Architecture, Domain Architects, and especially Portfolio Architects to connect delivery decisions to enterprise direction and portfolio roadmaps. 

Success in this role is achieved by: 

• Leading, coaching, developing, and aligning a team of 10+ Solution Architects with clear priorities, accountability, and a collaborative technical culture. Most of the Solution Architects are already in place but additional resources may be required depending on demand. These Solution Architects are positioned as generalists who work across various technologies. 
• Applying deep technology solution architecture experience to produce practical, secure, resilient, and delivery-ready designs for complex initiatives. 
•  Managing architecture demand, team capacity, assignments, and skills development across portfolios and delivery priorities. 
• Partnering with Portfolio Architects to align solution designs, dependencies, transition states, and technical feasibility with approved portfolio roadmaps. 
• Collaborating with Enterprise Architects, in their respective specializations, to apply enterprise guardrails, reuse enterprise capabilities and data, and resolve design risks through formal governance. 

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Lead and mature the Solution Architecture practice, including design methods, review practices, documentation, engagement models, and implementation support. 
• Lead a team of 10+ Solution Architects, including recruitment, onboarding, coaching, development planning, performance management, succession planning, and technical capability development. 
• Manage solution architecture demand and capacity; assign architects to initiatives with Portfolio Architects and delivery leaders, balancing priorities, complexity, dependencies, and skills. 
• Provide senior technical leadership for complex solutions across application, integration and API, enterprise data, cloud, security, identity, and infrastructure domains; challenge assumptions and guide design trade-offs. 
• Establish and monitor solution architecture measures for design readiness, review turnaround, guardrail alignment, reuse, technical risk, and implementation conformance. 
• Ensure solution designs leverage enterprise data and approved shared platforms, services, reference architectures, and patterns; address data ownership, quality, lineage, access, privacy, and integration with relevant domain specialists. 
• Oversee initiative-level architecture from discovery and options assessment through design, implementation support, and operational handover, maintaining traceability to business and non-functional requirements. 
• Partner closely with Portfolio Architects to translate portfolio target architectures, transition states, architecture runway, and modernization roadmaps into implementable solution designs; provide feasibility, dependency, and risk input for roadmap decisions. 
• Coach Solution Architects in system design, technology evaluation, integration, cloud adoption, secure design, cost trade-offs, and clear communication of technical decisions. 
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architects, the Director of Enterprise Architecture, and Domain Architects to interpret guardrails, obtain specialist input, and submit proposed patterns or exceptions through established governance. 
• Identify solution-level technical debt, integration constraints, implementation risks, duplication, and roadmap impacts; agree mitigation actions with portfolio, delivery, and platform stakeholders. 
• Work with business owners, engineering, delivery, security, privacy, data, platform, infrastructure and operations teams, and vendors to validate feasibility and guide implementation of approved designs. 
• Maintain transparent architecture decision records and escalate material exceptions, cross-portfolio conflicts, or changes to approved target states and sequencing; do not bypass enterprise or portfolio governance. 

POSITION SCOPE 

• Reports to the Chief Architect and leads the Solution Architecture practice, with people leadership for a team of 10+ Solution Architects. 
• Provides technical leadership and design assurance for initiatives across business and technology portfolios, from early discovery through implementation and transition to operations. 
• Owns solution architecture practice methods, team capacity and assignments, design quality, solution-level deliverables, peer reviews, and practice effectiveness reporting. 
• Provides direct leadership, coaching, prioritization, performance management, and career development for Solution Architects; builds technical depth and leadership capability across the team. 
• Is accountable for the Solution Architecture capability and design assurance, not enterprise architecture policy, portfolio roadmap ownership, project delivery management, software engineering management, or production operations. 

ACCOUNTABILITY BOUNDARIES AND ROLE CLARITY:

• The Director of Solution Architecture reports to the Chief Architect and leads the Solution Architecture practice and a team of 10+ Solution Architects. The Director is accountable for people leadership, capacity planning, technical capability, design quality, and consistent solution architecture engagement across portfolios. 
• Enterprise Architects define enterprise-wide architectural direction, principles, standards, reference architectures, target states, and guardrails. The Director of Enterprise Architecture leads the EA function and its governance and domain architecture capability. The Director of Solution Architecture applies that direction to initiative-level design and contributes delivery insight, reusable patterns, and improvement proposals; the role does not assume enterprise policy ownership or leadership of Domain Architects. 
• Portfolio Architects own portfolio target architectures, transition states, modernization roadmaps, and architecture runway. The Director of Solution Architecture partners with Portfolio Architects to align architect assignments and solution designs with roadmap priorities and approved sequencing. The team provides technical feasibility, integration, dependency, and implementation feedback that may prompt roadmap changes; ownership of portfolio roadmaps and sequencing remains with Portfolio Architects. 
• Solution Architects own solution design decisions for assigned initiatives within approved enterprise and portfolio guardrails. They produce and maintain delivery-ready architecture deliverables, guide implementation, and support transition to operations. The Director provides technical coaching, peer review, design assurance, and escalation support without removing the assigned architect’s design accountability. Material exceptions follow formal governance rather than unilateral approval by the Director or Solution Architects. 
• Enterprise Architects provide specialist design authority and guidance. Delivery and engineering leaders remain accountable for implementation, project execution, and engineering management; platform and operations leaders retain operational accountabilities. This separation connects enterprise direction, portfolio roadmaps, solution design, and delivery while keeping decision rights clear. 

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Lead and mature the Solution Architecture practice as a delivery-enabling capability within the proposed EA operating model. 
• Own consistent solution design methods, architecture deliverables, peer reviews, and design assurance from discovery through implementation. 
• Lead and develop a team of 10+ Solution Architects, including recruitment, coaching, performance management, succession planning, and career development. 
• Manage architecture demand, capacity, assignments, and reporting in partnership with Portfolio Architects, EPMO, and delivery leaders. 
• Ensure solution designs align to approved enterprise guardrails, portfolio target states, transition states, and roadmap sequencing. 
• Provide deep technical leadership and constructive challenge on complex application, integration, enterprise data, cloud, security, identity, and infrastructure designs. 
• Promote reuse of enterprise data, approved services, platforms, and patterns while meeting security, privacy, performance, resilience, operability, and cost requirements. 
• Make solution-level risks, dependencies, technical debt, and roadmap impacts visible; support mitigation and escalate decisions outside approved design authority. 
• Coordinate Enterprise, Portfolio, Domain, and Solution Architects with engineering, delivery, platform, operations, and vendor teams to guide implementation without assuming their distinct accountabilities. 
• Maintain business-to-design traceability, architecture decision records, implementation feedback, and operational handover readiness. 
• Measure practice effectiveness and improve design readiness, review responsiveness, guardrail alignment, reuse, and implementation conformance. 

KEY SUCCESS MEASURES: 

• Solution designs are delivery-ready, traceable to business and non-functional requirements, and aligned with enterprise guardrails and portfolio target states. 
• Practice reporting shows design readiness, timely architecture engagement and reviews, implementation conformance, reuse, and transparent technical risk and exception management. 
• Architecture assignments, capacity plans, role expectations, and development plans support a team of 10+ Solution Architects across portfolio priorities. 
• Solution decisions support portfolio modernization roadmaps and transition states; feasibility, dependencies, and delivery constraints inform Portfolio Architect roadmap decisions. 
• Solutions avoid unnecessary duplication and unmanaged technical debt through reuse of enterprise data, platforms, services, and approved patterns. 
• Business, portfolio, engineering, and delivery stakeholders receive practical solution options, clear trade-offs, and timely design guidance. 
• Solution designs address security, privacy, performance, resilience, operability, maintainability, and lifecycle cost, with implementation risks and deviations visible. 
• Decision rights between Enterprise, Portfolio, Domain, and Solution Architects and delivery leaders are clear; material exceptions use established governance and operational handovers are supported. 

WHAT YOU WILL HAVE:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience; advanced education is considered an asset. 
• 12+ years of progressive technology experience, including substantial hands-on solution architecture and senior technical leadership across complex enterprise initiatives. 
• Deep practical experience designing and guiding implementation of production technology solutions, including options analysis, system decomposition, integration, deployment, migration, and operational readiness—not solely enterprise architecture strategy or governance. 
• Proven people leadership experience managing and developing Solution Architects or comparable senior technical teams, with experience leading teams of 10+ and managing demand, capacity, recruitment, coaching, performance, and succession. 
• Experience establishing solution architecture practices, design reviews, decision records, implementation assurance, and meaningful measures of design readiness, quality, reuse, and technical risk. 
• Strong technical depth in solution architecture, with broad experience across application design, APIs and integration, enterprise data, cloud and hybrid platforms, security and identity, infrastructure, and non-functional requirements. 
• Demonstrated ability to partner with Enterprise and Domain Architects to apply standards, reference architectures, and guardrails, and resolve specialist design concerns through established governance. 
• Experience partnering with Portfolio Architects to translate portfolio target states, modernization roadmaps, transition states, and architecture runway into initiative-level designs and provide feasibility, dependency, and sequencing input. 
• Experience leveraging enterprise data and shared capabilities in solution designs, addressing data ownership, quality, integration, access controls, privacy, and lifecycle considerations with data and security specialists. 
• Exceptional technical communication, facilitation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills; ability to explain trade-offs to executives and guide engineering, delivery, platform, operations, and vendor teams through implementation. 

COMPETENCY MATRIX:

Technology Solution Architecture 

• Description: Guides implementable designs across applications, integration, data, cloud, security, identity, and infrastructure. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Delivery-ready designs, documented trade-offs, non-functional requirements, and implementation guidance. 

People & Practice Leadership 

• Description: Leads a team of 10+ Solution Architects through coaching, development, performance management, capacity planning, and assignments. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Clear assignments, capacity plans, development plans, consistent design methods, and peer reviews. 

Design Assurance & Governance 

• Description: Applies enterprise and portfolio guardrails; maintains decision records, reviews, and formal exception paths. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Traceable design decisions, timely reviews, visible risks, and governed exceptions. 

Portfolio Roadmap Alignment 

• Description: Translates portfolio target states and roadmaps into solutions; provides feasibility, dependency, and implementation feedback. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Designs mapped to transition states and roadmap priorities; documented input to Portfolio Architect decisions. 

Collaboration & Delivery Enablement 

• Description: Partners with Enterprise, Portfolio, and Domain Architects, engineering, delivery, operations, and vendors. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Coordinated design input, resolved integration concerns, implementation support, and operational handover materials. 

Enterprise Data & Reuse 

• Description: Leverages enterprise data, shared platforms, services, and approved patterns while addressing quality, privacy, and access. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Documented data flows, ownership and access needs, reuse decisions, and specialist review input. 

Technical Decision Framing 

• Description: Explains solution options, feasibility, lifecycle cost, risks, and trade-offs to technical teams and senior leaders. 
• Proficiency Level: Advanced
• Evidence: Clear options assessments, architecture decisions, technical documentation, and actionable recommendations. 

BEHAVIORAL INDICATORS:

Technical & Strategic Thinking 

• Connects solution design decisions to business outcomes, enterprise guardrails, portfolio target states, and modernization roadmaps. 
• Uses deep technology experience to balance feasibility, integration, delivery constraints, security, resilience, lifecycle cost, and long-term maintainability. 

Leadership 

• Provides credible technical leadership in complex design discussions, challenging assumptions constructively and helping teams reach implementable decisions. 
• Leads a team of 10+ Solution Architects with clear expectations, fair prioritization, coaching, development support, and accountability. 
• Empowers assigned Solution Architects to own designs within approved guardrails while partnering with Portfolio Architects on roadmap alignment and Enterprise and Domain Architects on architectural direction. 
• Escalates material exceptions and target-state or sequencing impacts through established governance, with clear options, risks, and recommendations. 

Analytical Skills 

• Uses structured options analysis, prototypes where appropriate, and requirements traceability to assess technical feasibility, dependencies, and non-functional requirements. 

• Communicates technical trade-offs clearly and incorporates implementation feedback into designs and future architecture practice improvements. 

Collaboration 

• Builds trust with Portfolio Architects, Enterprise and Domain Architects, business owners, engineering, delivery, enterprise data, operations, and vendors. 
• Resolves design tension through evidence, enterprise reuse, portfolio alignment, shared outcomes, and respect for distinct decision rights. 

This position will remain open until November 20, 2026.

Alberta Blue Cross® is an inclusive employer committed to a workplace that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. We empower and are advocates for our team members by welcoming, respecting and valuing their unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences.

We offer the opportunity to work in an innovative, high-energy team-focused environment. If you have the qualifications we are looking for, apply online at careers.ab.bluecross.ca

A criminal record check satisfactory to Alberta Blue Cross will be required as a condition of employment, following a conditional offer.