Director of Architecture & Engineering

Director of Architecture & Engineering
Phoenix, AZ | Enterprise Managed Services | Financial Services Technology
CornerStone Technology Talent Services

CornerStone Technology Talent Services is seeking a strategic and execution-focused Director of Architecture & Engineering to lead enterprise architecture and engineering delivery within a complex, regulated managed services environment based in Phoenix, AZ.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for defining architectural direction, driving engineering excellence, and ensuring platforms and solutions are intentionally designed, standardized, secure, and production-ready before operational transition. The ideal candidate brings enterprise architecture depth, strong engineering governance experience, and the ability to balance innovation with regulatory discipline in multi-client environments.

This role operates at the intersection of strategy, execution, and risk management, partnering closely with executive leadership and cross-functional technology teams to deliver scalable, resilient, and compliant solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture and Engineering Strategy
Define and maintain enterprise and domain architecture roadmaps aligned to business objectives and regulated client requirements.
Translate technology strategy into architectural principles, standards, and target-state designs across infrastructure, cloud, applications, data, and integration.
Guide modernization efforts and support the development of new service offerings.

Plan and Build Delivery Leadership
Own the end-to-end Plan and Build lifecycle for major technology initiatives.
Ensure solutions are architected, engineered, tested, and fully production-ready prior to transition into operations.
Review and approve solution designs across infrastructure, cloud, platform, application, and integration domains.
Identify and mitigate architectural risk, technical debt, and design tradeoffs early in the lifecycle.

Governance, Risk, and Standards
Establish and enforce architecture standards, design patterns, and engineering best practices.
Provide architectural oversight for platform changes and new implementations.
Align designs with security, resiliency, disaster recovery, and regulatory compliance requirements.
Ensure governance frameworks enable agility while maintaining enterprise-grade control.

Leadership and Team Development
Lead and develop senior architects and engineering leaders.
Set strategic priorities across planning, design, and execution.
Drive a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional and Executive Partnership
Collaborate with Infrastructure, Operations, Security, Product, and Client Leadership teams to ensure architectural alignment.
Ensure seamless transition of engineered solutions into operational support models.
Serve as a trusted advisor to executive stakeholders and support client-facing architectural discussions as required.

Required Experience and Qualifications

8+ years of progressive experience in enterprise technology architecture across infrastructure, cloud, application, and integration domains.
5+ years of leadership experience guiding senior technical professionals or architecture teams.
Experience operating in complex, multi-platform or multi-client environments.
Enterprise architecture expertise across cloud platforms, infrastructure resiliency, integration frameworks, and modern application architectures.
Strong understanding of security, compliance, disaster recovery, and regulatory frameworks within financial or similarly regulated industries.
Demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders and make sound architectural decisions balancing innovation with risk.
Excellent executive-level communication and presentation skills.
Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, client-focused managed services environment.

Preferred Experience

Experience within financial services, credit union, fintech, or other highly regulated sectors.
Background leading architecture within shared services or managed services delivery models.

Why Partner with CornerStone TTS

CornerStone Technology Talent Services specializes in placing senior technology leaders into enterprise-critical roles where architecture, governance, and delivery discipline are essential. We understand regulated technology environments, managed services complexity, and the leadership required to align architecture strategy with operational sustainability.