The VGM Corporate IT department is a dynamic team dedicated to providing innovative technical solutions to a large enterprise organization. Our corporate team partners with all business units within VGM Group and its subsidiaries to provide valuable technology solutions at all levels of the organization.

Why this role matters

The Enterprise Solutions Architect is a strategic leader responsible for designing and governing the application landscape across all IT areas within VGM Group. This role ensures that applications are modern, cloud-ready, scalable, and aligned with business goals. The architect will champion modern engineering practices including DevOps, API-first design, AI ready and cloud-native development, while enabling business and IT leaders to make informed technological investment decisions. This role also provides architectural governance, roadmaps, and standards to ensure agility, security, and innovation across the enterprise.

What’s more? At VGM Group, we are 100% employee owned. Click to view more about VGM!

Reporting Accountability: VP of IT Delivery

Working Location: On-site at least four days per week in Waterloo, Iowa

Work Hours Classification: Full-Time, 40+ hours per week

What you'll do

Provide overall direction, guidance, and definition of IT applications and technology solutions to effectively support the corporate business strategy
Define and evolve the enterprise application architecture strategy with a focus on cloud adoption, DevOps enablement, and platform modernization.
Partner with business and IT leaders to align technology solutions with strategic objectives and ensure the best technological investment and decision is made.
Lead the design of scalable, secure, and resilient application ecosystems using microservices, APIs, and event-driven architectures.
Guide the adoption of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (IaC), and automated testing frameworks.
Establish architectural standards, patterns, and governance processes to ensure consistency and compliance.
Lead cross-functional architecture reviews and ensure alignment with enterprise goals.
Assist in the mentorship and growth of our development teams, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
Stay current with emerging and automation technologies and assess their potential impact on the business.
Collaborate with security, data, and infrastructure teams to ensure holistic architectural decisions.
Work on highly complex projects that require in-depth knowledge across multiple specialized architecture domains
Promote the EA process, outcomes, and results to the organization and senior leadership
Ensure recommendations are based on business relevance, appropriate timing, and deployment
Work with senior leadership to approve allocation of budget to meet architectural initiatives critical to business/mission success
Collaborate with project management and IT leaders to ensure progress towards architectural alignment with project goals and requirements
Perform other duties and complete other projects as assigned

What will make you successful

Education and experience:

10 or more years of IT work experience including architecture design and deployment, systems lifecycle management, and infrastructure planning and operations
Proven success and experience with Azure Cloud, .net infrastructure, SQL, microservice solutions, Snowflake or similar technologies
Proven thought leader with 10 or more years of experience managing multiple, large, cross-functional projects and influencing senior level management and key stakeholders
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, computer engineering, system analysis, or a related field, or equivalent work experience
Requires exposure to multiple, diverse technologies and processing environments
Knowledge of all components of holistic enterprise architecture, business re-engineering principles and processes, and basic knowledge of financial models and budgeting

Skills and competencies:

Strong written and verbal communication skills
Strong presentation and interpersonal skills with the ability to present ideas in an understandable way for technical and non-technical team members

Physical requirements:

Operation of office equipment and using technology efficiently such as computers, phones, misc. office equipment
Visual abilities to include reading, distance vision and peripheral vision
Moving throughout the VGM facilities when needed
Lifting and transporting moderately heavy objects, such as computers, devices, and peripherals

Learn more about VGM Group, Inc.:

Headquartered in Waterloo, Iowa, VGM is a 100% employee-owned company providing business and professional services to thousands of business customers across North America. Services include group purchasing, commercial insurance, management of healthcare services and networks in post-acute cases, healthcare distribution direct to patient homes, specialty consulting, online education, digital, print, and traditional marketing and more. VGM employs approximately 1,700 people across 40 states and Canada, with more than 1,100 working in Iowa. VGM has been named the Top Workplace in Iowa on multiple occasions and is proud of its role in the communities in which it serves. For more information visit www.vgmgroup.com. 

This job description reflects the general duties of the job but is not a detailed description of all duties which may be inherent to the position. Reasonably related additional duties may be assigned to the individual Associate.

VGM Group, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, pregnancy, national origin, disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

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