Enterprise Platform Architect- Network & Security

Address: USA-IL-Chicago-300 South Riverside Plaza
Store Code: ADUSA Executive Administration (5158794)
Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands - Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Our associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.
Primary Purpose
The Network and Security Enterprise Platform Architect II is tasked with leading the design, evolution, and governance of a secure, scalable network infrastructure across our retail enterprise. This role is critical in shaping our strategic approach to network architecture and cyber defense-spanning brick-and-mortar stores, corporate offices, data centers, and cloud environments.
This role combines technical acumen with strong interpersonal skills, including effective communication, problem-solving, and decisive decision-making, to ensure Network and Cyber Security environments are robust and adaptable to evolving needs.
In this role, you will lead the design and evolution of an enterprise network and security architecture across all domains by collaborating with infrastructure, DevOps, application, and security teams to ensure a consistent implementation of secure networking principles. This role will be key in influencing the adoption of a Zero Trust architecture, SASE, SD-WAN, and cloud-native security models and will help the organization evaluate and recommend new technologies and vendors to improve performance, scalability, and security posture. You will provide architectural oversight for major programs and projects across all domains, and you will serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on enterprise risks, investment priorities, and architectural trade-offs.
As part of the Technology Enablement Platform, Enterprise Platform Architects are domain experts who focus on technology-driven areas. They develop standards, patterns, and decision frameworks to guide architectural and engineering practices. Their primary mission is to equip the architecture and engineering community with deep technical expertise, set technical standards, and ensure the organization builds resilient, stable, predictable, and scalable solutions that enhance operational excellence.
Our flexible/hybrid work schedule includes 3 in-person days at one of our core locations (Chicago, IL | Quincy, MA | Salisbury, NC) and 2 remote days.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.
Duties & Responsibilities
The Enterprise Architect II is a senior-level role that involves leading IT architecture's strategic design and governance across technology platforms. This role defines and drives technology roadmaps, influences enterprise strategy, and fosters innovation. In this role, behavioral skills such as leadership, decision-making, and strategic thinking are critical to success.
Enterprise Platform Architects are specialists within our Technology Enablement Platform, focusing on technology-driven domains. As domain experts, they develop standards, patterns, and decision frameworks that guide architectural and engineering practices. Their primary mission is to equip the architecture and engineering community with deep technical expertise, establish technical standards, and ensure the organization builds resilient, stable, predictable, and scalable solutions that support and enhance operational excellence.
Leadership:

• Lead cross-functional IT teams to establish a high-performing, service-driven culture focused on architecture excellence.
• Mentor junior and mid-level architects, driving the development of next-generation IT talent within the organization.
• Act as a change agent, challenging the status quo to improve business performance, productivity, and innovation.

IT Solution Architecture:

• Design enterprise-level architecture solutions that are commercially viable, scalable, and aligned with long-term business strategies.
• Steer the overall architecture governance, ensuring solutions adhere to enterprise standards, market trends, and security compliance.

IT Architecture Target State and Roadmap:

• Define and manage architecture roadmaps for technology platforms, ensuring alignment with global IT strategies and enterprise goals.
• Provide strategic input to senior leadership on IT investments and portfolio management, ensuring architecture roadmaps are fully integrated with business objectives.

Reference Architectures, Models, Standards, and Patterns

• Define and Maintain Standards: Develop and maintain architecture standards, reference models, guidelines, and patterns relevant to your area of responsibility. Collaborate with the architecture governance team to ensure these standards remain current and aligned with organizational needs.
• Decision Frameworks: Create decision frameworks, including use cases and decision trees, to guide the selection of appropriate patterns and standards across various scenarios.

• Implementation Guides: Develop comprehensive implementation guides or detailed user manuals to instruct the architecture community on the correct application of standards and patterns. These guides-sometimes referred to as "how-to" or "survival guides"-serve as practical resources to support solution design and implementation.

Risk, Compliance, Security:

• Architectural Governance: Lead the architectural governance process to ensure all solutions adhere to security, privacy, and regulatory requirements, aligning with organizational standards and best practices.
• Risk Awareness and Mitigation: Champion a culture of risk awareness and proactive mitigation, embedding security and compliance considerations into every architecture decision.

Innovation & New Technology:

• Stay abreast of emerging technology trends and integrate them into the IT roadmap.
• Work with third-party vendors to align their innovation roadmaps with the organization's strategy.

Financial Management:

• Align architectural decisions with financial budgets, ensuring that total cost of ownership (TCO) is controlled and minimized- measuring the impact of architecture decision on CapEx and Run Cost (OpEx)
• Ensure technical debt is managed, informing the software lifecycle process including Gartner TIME and 6Rs.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science or related fields OR equivalent work experience; advanced certifications (e.g., TOGAF, ITIL) are preferred.
• 12+ years of relevant professional experience
• Demonstrated experience providing technical guidance and leadership to development teams.
• Demonstrated experience translating business requirements into architectural deliverables and technical specifications.
• Extensive experience in IT architecture leadership, strategy development, and governance.
• Strong influence and decision-making skills with proven success in guiding complex IT transformations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certification: TOGAF, ITIL Foundation
• MSc Computer Science/Information Management, Post graduate degree is preferred.
• Agile Methodology and/or Scrum,
• Consultancy Skills
• ArchiMate Modeling, Experience with BiZZdesign EA Tool

Salary Range: $ 151,200 - $226,800
#LI-CW1 #LI-Hybrid
At Ahold Delhaize USA, we provide services to one of the largest portfolios of grocery companies in the nation, and we're actively seeking top talent. Our team shares a common motivation to drive change, take ownership and enable our brands to better care for their customers. We thrive on supporting great local grocery brands and their strategies.
We offer an experience where our associates are valued; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging are infused in our business and our employees are representative of the communities that we serve. We believe in total wellness, which encompasses a blend of physical, financial and emotional wellness.
We believe in collaboration, curiosity, and continuous learning in all that we think, create and do. While building a culture where personal and professional growth are just as important as business growth, we invest in our people, empowering them to learn, grow and deliver at all levels of the business.
Job Requisition: 435670_external_USA-IL-Chicago