Director, Enterprise Architecture

When you join Sallie Mae, you become a champion for all students.

We’re on a mission to power confidence as students begin their unique journey. To help them plan their higher education, successfully finish, and prepare for life after school. To help them Start smart. Learn big.

Students need guidance navigating this important time in their life. They need someone who acknowledges that their education path is unique. They need a partner willing to evolve and not only meet but surpass their expectations. We’re changing. Because students need a better way.

We’re looking for people who are excited to drive this transformation. To break barriers and think of new ways to adapt, help, and create better experiences for students—and for each other.

This is where diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives matter. It’s where you’re empowered to bring your authentic self to work.

Feeling your best allows you to do your best. Our benefits take care of the whole you—from physical and mental to financial and professional. You’ll get opportunities to further your education and career, support for you and your family (including your pets!), paid time off to volunteer for the things that matter to you, and more.

We’re obsessed with impact and making a real difference. For us, that means putting relationships first, asking “why not?” when tackling challenges, and continuously learning new skills.

Come do more than join something, change something. For students, for future generations, for the future of education.

What You'll Contribute

The Information Architect is a pivotal role within Enterprise Architecture (EA) team, responsible for laying the foundation for the organization's data-driven future by designing a robust, scalable, and AI-ready information architecture. Your work will enable artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, and business intelligence initiatives, driving innovation and competitive advantage. By creating a unified, secure, and interoperable data ecosystem, you will empower the enterprise to harness data for transformative outcomes, such as predictive insights, personalized customer experiences across omnichannel, and operational efficiencies.

What You'll Do

• Design foundational information architecture to enable our digital and AI journey.

• Develop domain ontologies, taxonomies, and metadata standards to ensure high-quality, accessible, and interoperable data for business application and AI model training and deployment.

• Create scalable data architectures (e.g., structured, unstructured, data lakes, feature stores) to support real-time and batch processing through APIs and events.

• Design data integration strategies for seamless dataflow across environments ensuring compatibility with AI tools and frameworks.

• Collaborate with data scientists, AI engineers, and enterprise and application architects to integrate data architecture with enterprise systems and AI platforms.

• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation, including data models, and architectural blueprints.

• Communicate the value of information architecture as a core foundation to enable AI journey to stakeholders, translating complex data concepts into actionable business outcomes.

• Develop and enforce architecture standards, guidelines, and best practices to ensure consistency and quality.

• Conduct architecture reviews, assess risks, and provide recommendations for improvements.

• Support project teams throughout the development lifecycle, ensuring architectural alignment.

The above information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job; it is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in this role.

What You Have

Minimum education, skills and experience required.

• Expertise in data modeling (conceptual, logical, physical) and database design (SQL, NoSQL, Graph, data lakes, feature stores) optimized for business applications and AI & analytics.

• Strong knowledge of data governance, metadata management, data engineering, and data quality frameworks, with an emphasis on AI-ready data.

• Experience building a long-term data strategy to support AI, business intelligence, and digital transformation initiatives, ensuring scalability and adaptability for future AI advancements.

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills to design optimized (cost and performance), scalable, and well-governed data solutions.

• Strong communication skills to bridge technical and bu