Cloud Solution Architecture Lead Director

You will lead a team of Architects, partner closely with Product, Engineering, Experience Design, Data, and Security, and serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership. This role balances experience excellence, platform modernization, and AI‑driven innovation, ensuring that digital solutions are intuitive for members, efficient for teams, and compliant with healthcare regulations.

Key Responsibilities

Member‑Centric Architecture Strategy

• Own the architecture vision and roadmap for Aetna’s member‑facing digital platforms (web, mobile, APIs).
• Ensure architectures are explicitly designed to improve member experience outcomes such as simplicity, accessibility, personalization, reliability, and trust.
• Translate business and experience goals into clear target‑state and transitional architectures.

Digital Platform & Experience Leadership

• Provide architectural oversight for end‑to‑end member journeys, spanning UI, API, integration, data, and cloud layers.
• Drive consistent adoption of modern experience architectures (micro‑frontends, API‑first, domain‑driven design, event‑driven patterns).
• Partner with UX and Product to ensure architecture enables rapid experimentation and iteration without compromising quality or compliance.

AI & Intelligent Solutions

• Define architectural patterns for AI‑enabled digital experiences, including personalization, intelligent search, conversational interfaces, decision support, and operational automation.
• Partner with Data, AI, and Engineering teams to ensure responsible, secure, and scalable use of AI, aligned with regulatory and ethical standards.
• Evaluate and guide build vs. buy decisions for AI platforms, tools, and vendors.

Governance, Quality & Compliance

• Establish architecture standards, guardrails, and reference architectures that enable teams to move fast with confidence.
• Ensure non‑functional requirements (performance, availability, security, resilience, accessibility, observability) are embedded into all solutions.
• Collaborate with Security and Compliance to ensure adherence to ADA, PCI, PII, PHI, and healthcare regulatory requirements.

People Leadership & Organizational Impact

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high‑performing team of Architects; set clear expectations and growth paths.
• Foster a culture of experience‑first thinking, technical excellence, and pragmatic decision‑making.
• Actively participate in hiring and shaping the future architecture talent strategy.

Executive Partnership & Influence

• Serve as a trusted architecture advisor to senior Product, Digital, and Technology leaders.
• Communicate complex architectural concepts in clear, outcome‑focused narratives tailored for executive audiences.
• Influence across organizational boundaries to align teams around shared platforms and standards.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in enterprise application development and architecture, with 5+ years in architecture leadership roles.
• Proven experience leading member‑facing digital platforms at scale.
• Deep expertise in cloud‑native architectures (AWS, GCP, Azure), APIs, microservices, and distributed systems.
• Strong understanding of modern digital experience architectures (web, mobile, personalization, accessibility).
• Experience defining and governing AI‑enabled architectures in regulated environments.
• Exceptional communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience operating in Agile / SAFe or similar scaled delivery environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in healthcare, insurance, or other regulated consumer digital industries.
• Hands‑on experience with AI/ML platforms, event streaming, and data‑driven architectures.
• Strong grasp of observability, reliability engineering, and resilience patterns.
• Experience modernizing legacy platforms while maintaining uninterrupted member experience.

Leadership Characteristics

• Member‑first mindset with a passion for improving digital health experiences.
• Outcome‑driven and pragmatic; balances innovation with delivery.
• Comfortable operating at strategic, cross‑enterprise scale.
• Trusted leader who builds strong teams and durable platforms.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience (HS diploma + 4 years relevant experience)