Sr Solutions Architect - Digital Enablement

Company InformationSolid reputation, passionate people and endless opportunities. That’s Travelers. Our superior financial strength and consistent record of strong operating returns mean security for our customers – and opportunities for our employees. You will find Travelers to be full of energy and a workplace in which you truly can make a difference.Job CategoryTechnologyTarget Openings1Job Description SummaryDigital Enablement is charged with developing digital capabilities across Travelers and supports enterprise web, mobile, content and social capabilities. We deliver digital capabilities that enable Travelers to engage in a manner that attracts customers, builds loyalty and deepens relationships while differentiating the Travelers Experience. The initiatives in this group will employ advanced technologies and methodologies in order to deliver critical business functionality incrementally while adhering to business and technical architectural principles of reuse and multi-device deployment. In support of these strategic initiatives, the Digital Enablement area is seeking a Senior Solutions Architect. This individual should have a combination of hands-on architecture experience as well as solid leadership skills. The ideal candidate must be comfortable working in a large, complex, business and technology environment. This individual must be recognized as a proven delivery manager, technologist and team leader, with proven experience interacting with business and technology partners.Primary Job Duties & ResponsibilitiesThis individual will be involved at a strategic and tactical level to design, develop and implement highly complex projects supporting a business and/or technology area.

Has a significant role in the creation, implementation, and support of complex systems and applications.

Provides solution architecture services to project teams. Solutions provided must meet key quality attributes and adhere to enterprise standards.

Ensures architectural compliance of solutions and introduces recommendations for changes to reference models when necessary.

Collaborates with business leaders to determine how to best use technology to enable growth and success.

Understands potential impacts of proposed solutions on other systems, processes or projects. Articulates and documents these design considerations, tradeoffs, benefits and recommendations.

Constantly develops knowledge of current and emerging technologies. Identifies new and emerging solutions, assesses their relevance and potential value to the organization and present information to teammates and management.

Works across multiple projects and systems to develop, communicate, and mentor others on design and implementation standards, guidelines and best practices.

Assists in the execution of departmental and corporate programs.

Identifies and consults on software practices and patterns to improve efficiency, scalability and quality.

Adopts and communicates new concepts, ideas, techniques, best practices, and technology patterns. Mentors others on these new concepts.

In addition to working with individual projects, the Senior Solutions Architect may work on a number of initiatives managed by the Enterprise Architecture office. The incumbent may participate in developing the strategy and tactics for the modernization and replacement of legacy software components. This role will work with colleagues to establish and maintain methods and best practices for software architecture, to extend and refine reference models, and to keep current on standards, techniques, tools and enabling technologies. Minimum Qualifications

High School diploma or equivalent required.

3 years of experience in enterprise, application, and/or information architecture required.

Education, Work Experience, & Knowledge

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a related field preferred.

Minimum of 5 years IT experience in enterprise, application, and information architecture design.

Minimum of 7 years work experience in application development

Experience with application delivery processes and project management is a plus.

Job Specific Technical Skills & CompetenciesTechnical KnowledgeHas a broad conceptual understanding of capabilities and direction of technology particularly in the development of web, mobile, API, and cloud technologies. The candidate must have an in-depth knowledge of the technology required and the needs of business environment necessary to support assigned projects.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Decision-making skills with the ability to take appropriate risks

Strong analytical skills

Ability to operate independently and solve problems

Ability to make decisions in a rational, systematic, and logical manner

Ability to effectively interact and communicate with all levels within the company and external constituents.

Solid understanding of current and emerging application architecture concepts such as REST, Event-Driven architecture, Microservices, and Serverless.

Knowledge of modern web, mobile, and database technologies such as React, Vue, Node.js, .NET Core, Redis, MongoDB

Experience with cloud native technologies (AWS – Lambda, EC2, S3, DynamoDB, RDS) and/or platform as a service (Kubernetes, Pivotal Cloud Foundry) and Infrastructure as code (Terraform) is preferred

Experience with automated deployment pipeline technologies such as Jenkins, CodeDeploy, CircleCI, UCD is preferred.

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) experience a plus.

Business Knowledge & Partnership Effectively contributes to, and communicates with the immediate team, systems staff, other business units, service offices, agents, and customers, through a collaborative style. Demonstrates ability to adjust priorities based on changing situations. Able to handle several priority projects at once.Problem Solving & Decision MakingDemonstrates advanced analytical and diagnostic skills dealing with issues that are often novel and not readily defined, lack known precedent or appear contradictory. Able to develop solutions by applying accepted processes or creating new approaches to leverage technology from abstract information. Sees the big picture and is fully aware of technology and business directions. Has experience building/maintaining highly robust and scalable applications or services. Considers a variety of alternatives to arrive at a timely, practical solution. The candidate must openly debate and defend recommendations.Other qualifications include:

Demonstrates sound analytical and diagnostic skills dealing with issues that are not readily defined and/or conflict with available information

Understands where to obtain information needed to make the appropriate decisions.

Demonstrates ability to break down a problem to manageable pieces and implement effective, timely solutions

Identifies the problem versus the symptom

Manages problems that require involvement of others to solve

Reaches sound decisions quickly

Carefully evaluates alternative risks and solutions before taking action

Optimizes the use of all available resources

Develops solutions to meet business needs that reflect a clear understanding of the objectives, practices and procedures of the corporation, department and business unit

Team OrientationThis role maintains partnerships across the organization, and is able to influence senior management, peers and staff through an inclusive style and recognition of their abilities to achieve results. Other qualifications include:

Recognition that the success of the team is above personal interest

Ability to establish effective, cross-functional relationships with members of other business, IT and leadership teams

Self-ManagementThis role manages functional objectives and priorities supporting multiple assigned business units. Responsibilities are assigned with a great amount of latitude for setting priorities and decision-making using generally accepted guidelines. Results are reviewed with next level manager for clarification according to predefined objectives.Commitment to Quality ResultThe candidate creates an atmosphere where business partners’ issues are dealt with professionally and in a timely manner. This role suggests solutions that make sense and are in line with future technology direction. Other qualifications include:

Communicates openly and effectively in a manner consistent with the audience

Demonstrates an adaptive style that is flexible and effective in gaining cooperation of others

Anticipates and responds to management requests for information with timely, accurate findings

Advocates for the business, contributes opinions and influences others’ opinions through excellent verbal and written communication

Communication This role collaborates with IT and business leaders to determine how to best use technology to enable growth and success. Other qualifications include:

Works across multiple projects and systems to develop, communicate and mentor others on design and implementation standards, guidelines and best practices

Communicates within peer groups and several levels above

Influences senior members of both IT and business leadership teams

Communicates effectively through both verbal and written formats

Able to read an audience and adjusts style to the audience's reactions

Stakeholder Management This role must develop a good understanding of the most important stakeholders and record this analysis for reference and refresh during the project. The incumbent must be able to win support from senior leaders regarding the performance management concepts being promoted.Planning and Project ManagementThis role develops operational plans and provides resource estimation for task planning. Proposes action plans that are timely, realistic and positive. Sets appropriate goals for projects and monitors progress against the plan.Financial AwarenessThis role understands and has input to the budget process and is responsible for cost-effective expense control of assigned projects. Has responsibility for important and confidential information.Environmental / Work Schedules / Other

Remote workers considered.

Equal Employment Opportunity StatementTravelers is an equal opportunity employer.