Director, Enterprise Architecture – AI Innovation

** This role is not eligible for sponsorship **

Who are we looking for?

Choice Hotels—one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors—has an exciting opportunity for a Director, Enterprise Architecture within our IT Strategy organization. The Enterprise Architecture team designs how our applications, data, and platforms fit together to deliver guest, franchisee, and associate experiences at scale—while guiding smart investments that modernize our technology portfolio.

As a key member of Enterprise Architecture, you will lead “Architecture 2.0” in the age of AI—driving adoption of AI‑assisted standard work, building a living map of systems and capabilities that agents can query, and accelerating strategic decisions across applications, technologies, and business/technology capabilities.

Are you a builder–leader who blends enterprise architecture mastery with cloud fluency, AI curiosity, and the courage to simplify? Do you inspire teams, persuade diverse stakeholders, and deliver results through hands‑on proofs of concept (POCs) using vibe or spec coding? If so, apply today and #MakeItYourChoice.

Your Responsibilities

• Lead Architecture 2.0: redefine EA standard work with AI tools so architects focus on high‑value strategy, outcomes, and storytelling.
• Make architecture knowledge agent‑ready: establish and maintain a living system/application capability map (dependencies, integrations, SLAs) that AI agents can use to answer questions and propose options.
• Portfolio strategy with financial acumen: drive application rationalization, balancing innovation, risk, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Reference architectures: define and govern across cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP), SaaS (Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow), data, and integration platforms.
• Outcome‑driven roadmaps: partner with product, platform, security, and finance to translate business outcomes into capability‑based roadmaps and investment proposals.
• Hands‑on validation: accelerate delivery with POCs using vibe/spec coding and agent‑assisted development; graduate successful POCs into pilots and scale‑ups.
• AI‑DLC transformation: evolve Choice’s SDLC into AI‑Driven Lifecycle practices across architecture and engineering with copilots and agents.
• Reduce friction with agents: deploy task‑specific and orchestration agents (e.g., mapping, standards compliance, diagramming, and documenting) to automate repetitive steps and surface decision‑ready insights.
• Innovation culture: encourage experimentation with generative AI, automation, and composable platforms while ensuring accountability.
• Develop talent: coach architects in business architecture, application design, data/AI, and persuasive storytelling; champion inclusion and value differences.
• Executive storytelling: communicate architectural vision in business terms; persuade and align decisions through crisp narratives and visuals.

Your Experience, Skills & Competencies

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, or related field; Master’s preferred, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years in enterprise/solution architecture leadership with proven impact on transformation and modernization.
• Deep expertise in Enterprise Architecture, Cloud Architectures, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Enterprise SaaS.
• Hands‑on experience with modern cloud architectures (AWS/Azure/GCP), SaaS ecosystems (Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow), and integration patterns.
• Use AI tools daily to accelerate core EA tasks—discovery, dependency mapping, diagramming, documentation, scenario analysis, and executive storytelling.
• Leverage AI‑assisted architecture tools for dependency mapping and model generation; apply digital twin modeling to simulate change impact; use data‑driven design to guide modernization decisions.
• Design and operate agent‑based workflows that decrease friction across the architecture lifecycle—task agents for diagram generation and standards checks, research agents to synthesize patterns and options, and orchestration agents to route work, capture decisions, and maintain the living capability map.
• Work comfortably in Agent based IDEs such as VS Code, Kiro, Cursor, Windsurf, Claude Code or Cline to pair‑program with copilots/agents, automate repetitive coding tasks (spec/vibe), enforce standards templates, and streamline diagram/asset generation directly from the development environment.
• Strength in capability mapping, application strategy, governance, and a