Technical Solution Architect

Job Overview
The technical solution architect is accountable for proactively and holistically leading or supporting EA activities that create deliverables that guide the direction and development for technological responses to disruptive forces, and driving targeted business outcomes. Technologies may include data center, infrastructure, cloud, mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.
Technical solution architects provide the leadership, facilitation, analysis and design tasks required for the development of an enterprise's technical architecture. They create deliverables that help develop target-state guidance (reusable standards, guidelines, individual parts and configurations) for evolving the technical infrastructure across the enterprise, in order to enable business strategy and deliver targeted business outcomes. They facilitate and orchestrate the delivery of targeted business outcomes through technical decisions.
Scope of Activities
• Work with EA peers (e.g., enterprise, business, information and solutions architects) to analyze enterprise business context (business strategy and trends), as well as change requirements in other enterprise architecture viewpoints (such as business, information and solution) to derive the technology architecture future state. This includes defining the requirements, principles and models that guide technology decisions for the enterprise.
• Understand technology trends and the practical application of existing, new and emerging technologies to enable new and evolving business and operating models.
• Drive digital innovation by leveraging innovative new technologies and approaches to renovate, extend, and transform the existing core technology base and IT estate.
• Define high-level migration plans to address the gaps between the current and future state, typically in sync with the IT budgeting or other capital planning processes.
• Lead the analysis of the current technology environment to detect critical deficiencies and recommend solutions for improvement. In addition, lead the analysis of technology industry and market trends to determine their potential impact on the enterprise as well as on the enterprise technology architecture.
• Coach, mentor and collaborate with technical subject matter experts and EA peers to develop technology architecture that enables and drives new business capabilities and operating models.
• Assist with designing the governance, assurance and standards activities associated with ensuring enterprise technology architecture compliance.
• Oversee, or consult on, technology implementation and modification activities (for example, projects), particularly for new or shared infrastructure solutions. Consult on application or infrastructure development projects to harmonize systems or infrastructure with the enterprise technology architecture, and identify when it is necessary to modify the enterprise technical architecture (ETA) to accommodate immediate or future project needs.
• Oversee and facilitate the research, evaluation, and selection of hardware and software technology and product standards, as well as the design of standard configurations.
• Identify the organizational impact (for example, on skills, processes, structures and culture) and financial impact of the enterprise technology architecture.
• Document necessary enterprise technology architecture design and analysis work, possibly including project postmortem documentation and metric collection.
• Help the enterprise architect define metrics to measure and demonstrate enterprise technology value.
• Understand, advocate, and augment the business and IT strategies — and, more specifically, EA development and service delivery. Be prepared to "sell" the EA process (overall, not just for enterprise technology architecture), its outcome and ongoing results, and to lead the communication or marketing activities needed to ensure enterprise success and use.
• Report straight-line or dotted-line to the enterprise or chief enterprise architect.
• Lead and potentially manage a team of technical architects, while also virtually leveraging subject matter experts from any other needed technical area.
• Collaborate with business constituents, other EA team members, project teams and staff in various IT functional areas as needed to fulfill the responsibilities described above.
Credentials and Experience
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent experience
• Seven plus years of design and implementation experience in IT, with a deep knowledge in a minimum of four years of the following technical disciplines: infrastructure and network design, application development, application programming interfaces (APIs), middleware, servers and storage, database management, and operations
• Exposure to multiple, diverse technical configurations, technologies and processing environments (such as inside-out, outside-in and outside-out)
Skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills in areas such as teamwork, facilitation and negotiation
• Strong leadership skills
• Excellent analytical and technical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent planning and organizational skills
• Knowledge of many, if not most, aspects of an enterprise technology architecture
• Knowledge of information principles and processes
• Knowledge of financial models and budgeting
• Understanding of network and security architecture
• Understanding and knowledge of system development life cycle methodologies (such as waterfall, spiral, agile software development, rapid prototyping, incremental, synchronize and stabilize, and DevOps)
• Understanding and knowledge of IT service management (ITSM) and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
• Knowledge and understanding of different modeling languages (such as UML and ArchiMate)
• Understanding and knowledge of IT standards and controls
• Understanding of IT security, infrastructure, and governance
• Experience with enterprise architecture
• Experience working with IT architecture frameworks

Additional Experience
• SAP Business Warehouse
• AWS and Azure
• ServiceNow
• Data Management
• Software Development LifeCycle
• Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
Competencies
• Ability to understand the long-term ("big picture") and short-term perspectives of situations and how they relate to achieving targeted business outcomes
• Ability to estimate the financial impact of technology alternatives
• Ability to apply multiple technical solutions to enable future-state business capabilities that, in turn, drive targeted business outcomes
• Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of existing, new and emerging technologies that enable and drive new business designs and models

Required Experience

At Graphic Packaging International (NYSE: GPK), we produce the box you may have poured your child's cereal from this morning, the microwaveable tray that heated your lunch, the paper cup that held your coffee throughout the day, and the carrier of those bottles of craft beer you may enjoy tonight! We're one of the largest manufacturers of paperboard and paper-based packaging for some of the world's most recognized brands of food, beverage, foodservice, household, personal care and pet care products. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, we are a team of collaborative, innovative, passionate individuals who are committed to providing consumer packaging that makes a world of difference.

With almost 18,000 employees working in more than 70 locations in North and South America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, we strive to be an environmentally responsible leader in our industry and in the communities where we operate. We are committed to workplace diversity and offer compensation and benefits programs that are among the industry's best to reward the talented people who make our company successful.

If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more about us at

Inspired Packaging. A World of Difference.

Graphic Packaging is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All candidates will be evaluated on the basis of their qualifications for the job in question. We do not base our employment decision on an employee's or applicant's race, color, religion, age, gender or sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic identity, genetic information, disability, veteran/military status or any other basis prohibited by local, state, or federal law. Click here to view the EEO is the Law Poster