Principal Architect - Architecture Function Lead

Company Description

Why Wellmark: We are a mutual insurance company owned by our policy holders across Iowa and South Dakota, and we’ve built our reputation on over 80 years’ worth of trust. We are not motivated by profits. We are motivated by the well-being of our friends, family, and neighbors–our members. If you’re passionate about joining an organization working hard to put its members first, to provide best-in-class service, and one that is committed to sustainability and innovation, consider applying today!

Why Wellmark Technology? Wellmark is building innovative, modern solutions using cutting edge technology. We are driving organizational transformation and business strategy by empowering our technology team to innovate new and elegant solutions to enhance the customer experience. Together, we are leaning into the future, owning the outcome, and driving organizational change to transform how we work. 

Job Description

We are seeking a Principal Architect to serve as the steward of our architecture function. This is a cross-cutting leadership role within the architecture organization operating under a Product Operating Model and SAFe.

You will be accountable for the standards, governance, tools, and enablers that allow the broader architecture team to operate effectively. You will own architectural decision records, BiZZdesign metamodel, and the Communities of Excellence that connect Architects with the wider engineering organization.

This role is deeply rooted in systems thinking. You will ensure that our architecture function enables - rather than gates - product teams, and that our logical architecture models in BiZZdesign provide a coherent, enterprise-wide view of our system landscape.

What you will do: 

Architecture Standards & Governance

• Define, maintain, and evolve enterprise architecture standards, principles, and guardrails that guide solution design across all portfolios
• Own and curate the Architecture Decision Record (ADR) library, ensuring decisions are documented, discoverable, and consistently applied
• Establish architecture review processes aligned to the SAFe Epic lifecycle, ensuring quality and consistency during the Analyzing phase
• Collaborate with Architects to translate corporate strategy into actionable architectural guardrails and technology standards

BiZZdesign Metamodel & Tooling Governance

• Own the BiZZdesign metamodel: define and govern the modeling standards, viewpoints, and ArchiMate conventions used across the enterprise
• Ensure the BiZZdesign repository maintains a coherent, navigable, and up-to-date view of all 60 systems and their interdependencies
• Define the logical-to-physical diagram handoff standards that Staff Engineers consume when translating architecture outputs into implementation designs
• Drive adoption and proficiency of BiZZdesign across the architecture organization, providing training and support as needed

Architecture Practice & Knowledge Management

• Facilitate the Architecture Practice, fostering cross-portfolio knowledge sharing, pattern reuse, and continuous learning
• Curate and maintain architecture knowledge assets including reference architecture, pattern libraries, and technology radar inputs
• Bridge the architecture organization with Engineers and delivery teams, ensuring architecture outputs are consumable and actionable

Systems Thinking & Cross-Portfolio Coherence

• Apply systems thinking to identify emergent dependencies, feedback loops, and unintended consequences across the system landscape
• Partner with Architects to ensure portfolio-level architectural decisions maintain enterprise coherence and avoid fragmentation
• Contribute to capability mapping and modeling efforts to ensure architecture enables end-to-end flow of value

Qualifications

Preferred:

• SAFe certifications (e.g., SAFe Architect, SAFe Portfolio, or SAFe Program Consultant)
• TOGAF certification or equivalent enterprise architecture framework training
• BiZZdesign certification or demonstrated advanced proficiency with the BiZZdesign platform or similar platforms
• Experience managing architecture at scale across many systems and multiple capabilities
• Background in cloud-native architecture (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and modern integration patterns (event-driven, API-first, microservices)
• Master’s degree in relevant technical or management discipline

Required:

• Bachelor's degree or direct and applicable work experience.
• Minimum 9 years of experience of which could be any combination of the following: Security application experience including program controls, processes, secur