Sr. Director of Architecture
Job Description
Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Join us for an exciting opportunity at Albertsons Companies, where innovation and customer service go hand-in-hand!
At Albertsons Companies, we are looking for someone who’s not just seeking a job, but someone who wants to make an impact. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to lead, innovate, and contribute to the growth of a company that values great service and lasting customer relationships. This position offers the chance to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment that’s constantly evolving.
Main responsibilities:
The Senior Director of Architecture is a strategic technology leader responsible for defining and driving enterprise architecture across cloud, platform, infrastructure and security domains. This role ensures alignment between business strategy and technology execution, with a strong emphasis on cloud-first architectures (most notably Azure and Google Cloud Platform), AI enablement, and secure, scalable digital platforms.
The role leads cross-functional architecture teams and partners with engineering, security, product, and business leaders to deliver resilient, cost-effective, and future-ready solutions. This role is critical in shaping the organization’s technology future, driving cloud-first, AI-enabled, and secure platforms that enable business growth and innovation. The Senior Director of Architecture will serve as a key strategic partner in delivering modern, scalable, and resilient enterprise capabilities.
Location: Pleasanton, CA
1. Enterprise Architecture Leadership
- Define and evolve enterprise architecture strategy aligned to business goals.
- Establish architecture principles, standards, and governance across all domains.
- Drive modernization initiatives including cloud migration, platform engineering, and legacy transformation.
- Lead architecture review boards and ensure adherence to standards.
- Align architecture roadmaps with capital planning and investment governance.
- Partner with FinOps to optimize total cost of ownership (TCO).
- Drive rationalization of application portfolio and vendor footprint.
2. Enterprise Architecture Governance & Operating Model
- Define and operationalize enterprise architecture governance, including intake, review, and exception processes.
- Establish reference architectures, reusable patterns, and decision frameworks.
- Drive adoption of EA tooling (e.g., Planview).
- Govern technology lifecycle management and technical debt reduction.
- Define build vs. buy vs. partner strategy.
- Rationalize vendor ecosystem and ensure interoperability across platforms.
3. Cloud Strategy & Foundations (most notably Azure & GCP)
- Own multi-region, multi-cloud strategy with deep expertise in Azure and GCP.
- Define and implement cloud foundations including landing zones, governance, and guardrails.
- Establish best practices for scalability, reliability, cost optimization (FinOps), and performance.
- Drive cloud-native and hybrid architectures leveraging containers, Kubernetes, and serverless.
- Define edge compute infrastructure strategies to support retail business and store intelligence with AI and Data
4. AI & Data Platform Enablement
- Champion AI/ML adoption across the enterprise, including generative and Agentic AI use cases.
- Define architecture for AI and data platforms supporting analytics, real-time processing, and AI workloads.
- Ensure integration of AI capabilities into core business platforms and developer workflows.
- Define AI and Data governance strategy for enterprise adoption of capabilities like low-code/no-code AI Agents
- Partner with data science and engineering teams to operationalize AI (MLOps, AIOps).
5. Infrastructure & Network Architecture
- Oversee global infrastructure architecture including compute, storage, and network design.
- Define modern network architectures supporting hybrid, multi-cloud and edge connectivity.
- Ensure high availability, disaster recovery, and business continuity strategies.
6. Security, Identity & Zero Trust
- Lead architecture for enterprise security with a Zero Trust model.
- Define identity and access management (IAM) strategies including federation, SSO, and privileged access.
- Define strategy for non-human identities and security controls for AI and Agentic workloads in the enterprise
- Ensure compliance with regulatory and security standards.
- Partner with security teams to embed security-by-design principles.
7. Integration & B2B Architecture
- Define integration strategy including APIs, event-driven architecture, and messaging platforms.
- Lead B2B integration initiatives (EDI, partner connectivity, ecosystem platforms).
- Promote reusable integration patterns and API governance.
8. Data & Database Architecture
- Establish strategy for transactional and analytical data platforms.
- Define standards for database technologies (SQL, NoSQL, distributed systems).
- Ensure data governance, quality, and lifecycle management.
9. Observability & Reliability Engineering
- Define enterprise observability strategy (logging, metrics, tracing).
- Implement SRE practices including SLIs/SLOs and incident management.
- Drive proactive monitoring and performance optimization.
10. Developer Enablement & Integrated Toolchain
- Guide platform engineering initiatives to improve developer productivity through integrated toolchain
- Define internal developer platforms (IDP), CI/CD pipelines, and tooling standards.
- Promote DevOps and DevSecOps practices across teams.
- Define strategy and roadmap for enabling AI-assisted and agentic SDLC practices
11. Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and lead high-performing architecture teams.
- Partner with executives and business leaders to translate strategy into technical roadmaps.
- Influence organizational change and technology adoption.
- Manage vendor relationships and evaluate emerging technologies.
We are looking for candidates who possess the following:
- 10 plus years of leadership experience in enterprise architecture, cloud, and infrastructure roles with 5 plus years of people management at a Director (or similar) level
- 15 plus years of overall technology experience in large enterprise environments
- Deep expertise in Azure and GCP cloud platforms.
- Strong experience in multi-cloud and hybrid architectures.
- Proven leadership in large-scale digital transformation initiatives.
- Expertise in security architecture including Zero Trust and IAM.
- Experience with AI/ML platforms and data architecture.
- Strong understanding of integration patterns, APIs, and event-driven systems.
- Experience in retail, supply chain, or large-scale enterprise environments.
- Familiarity with Kubernetes, microservices, and serverless architectures.
- Knowledge of FinOps and cloud cost management.
- Certifications in Azure, GCP, or enterprise architecture frameworks (TOGAF, etc.).
- Strategic thinking and business alignment
- Technical depth across cloud, infrastructure, and security
- Strong leadership and organizational influence
- Innovation mindset with focus on AI and emerging technologies
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
- Successful delivery of cloud and AI transformation and maturity initiatives
- Improved system reliability, scalability, and security posture
- Increased developer productivity and platform adoption
- Reduction in operational costs through optimized architectures
- Adoption of standardized architecture practices across the enterprise
We also provide a variety of benefits including:
- Competitive wages paid weekly
- Associate discounts
- Health and financial well-being benefits for eligible associates (Medical, Dental, 401k and more!)
- Time off (vacation, holidays, sick pay). For eligibility requirements please visit myACI Benefits
- Leaders invested in your training, career growth and development
- An inclusive work environment with talented colleagues who reflect the communities we serve
Our Values – Click below to view video: ACI Values
A copy of the full job description can be made available to you.
#LI-MF1
Albertsons Companies is at the forefront of the revolution in retail. Committed to innovation and fostering a culture of belonging, our team is united with a unique purpose: to bring people together around the joys of food and to inspire well-being. We want talented individuals to be part of this journey!
Locally great and nationally strong, Albertsons Companies (NYSE: ACI) is a leading food and drug retailer in the U.S. We operate over 2,200 stores, 1,732 pharmacies, 405 fuel centers, 22 distribution facilities, and 19 manufacturing plants across 34 states and the District of Columbia. Our well-known banners include Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, ACME, Shaw’s, Tom Thumb, United Supermarkets, United Express, Randalls, Albertson’s Market, Pavilions, Star Markets, Market Street, Carrs, Haggen, Lucky, Amigos, Andronico’s Community Markets, King’s, Balducci’s, and Albertson’s Market Street.
Our vision is to be a retail leader admired for national strength with deep local roots, offering an easy, fun, friendly, and inspiring experience, no matter how customers choose to shop with us. We celebrate the rich diversity of the communities we serve, and strive to create a workplace where everyone has equal access to opportunities and resources, and can fully contribute to their and our company’s success.
Bring your flavor
Building the future of food and well-being starts with you. Join our team and bring your best self to the table.
Disclaimer
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of work performed by the employees assigned to this job and are not the official job description for the position. All employees must comply with Company, Division, and Store policies and applicable laws. The responsibilities, duties, and skills of personnel may vary within store and/or from store to store and the official job description will be provided during the application process.
Albertsons is an Equal Opportunity Employer
This Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, or on any other basis prohibited by law. Consistent with applicable state and local law, the Company will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
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