Staff Enterprise Architect

Are you a visionary Enterprise Architect passionate about building from the ground up and making a measurable impact on how a company operates? SoFi is seeking a Staff Enterprise Architect to establish and shape our Enterprise Architecture practice—a rare opportunity to build your own shop, set best practices, and influence the future of our business operations and technology alignment.

You’ll join a collaborative, mission-driven environment where your voice and expertise will be critical in designing the strategic frameworks that guide our growth. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds who are excited to take ownership and drive cross-functional impact.

What You’ll Do

As the founding member of our Enterprise Architecture function, you'll bring a holistic approach to aligning business operations with scalable technology and data strategies. This is a hands-on, high-impact role where you'll lead the creation of frameworks, processes, and governance from the ground up, with a strong focus on improving business operational efficiency.

Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and implementing our Enterprise Architecture framework and best practices.
• Partnering closely with senior leaders across business and technology to drive strategic alignment.
• Evaluating and optimizing key corporate processes with an eye on operational excellence.
• Leading architectural vision for major operational initiatives, from strategy to implementation.
• Mentoring teams on architecture standards, governance, and scalable design principles.
• Collaborating within the Architecture Squad and being hands-on during the buildout phase.

What Sets This Role Apart

• Greenfield Opportunity: You'll have the autonomy to create and define the EA practice from scratch, selecting the tools, methodologies, and roadmaps that work best for SoFi.
• Cross-Functional Impact: You'll work across multiple business domains—operations, data, technology—and serve as a key strategic partner to executives and product leaders.
• Inclusive Culture: We believe diversity drives innovation. We’re committed to fostering a supportive environment where different perspectives are not only welcome—they're essential.

What We’re Looking For

Experience:

• 10+ years of experience spanning multiple architecture domains: business, applications, data, and technology.
• Proven success aligning enterprise technology with business strategy and process improvement initiatives.

Business Architecture:

• Understanding of core business functions and corporate processes.
• Experience with goal-setting methodologies (e.g., OKRs, cascading goals).
• Familiarity with financial impact metrics like ROI, EVA, and NPV.

Applications & Data:

• Strong knowledge of application portfolio management and operational roadmapping.
• Experience with SaaS integration, data management (MDM), and modern data architectures (e.g., data lakes, ETL, real-time streaming).
• Proficiency in integration patterns: ESB, microservices, RESTful APIs.

Technology Infrastructure:

• Foundational knowledge in cloud (preferably AWS), networking, storage, and compute.
• Familiarity with infrastructure automation tools and CI/CD pipelines.

General Enterprise Architecture:

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Familiarity with architecture frameworks like TOGAF, SAFe, Zachman, ITIL, or Agile methodologies.

Education & Certifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in Information Systems, Business, or related field.
• TOGAF certification is strongly preferred.

We're Excited About You If You:

• Thrive in ambiguity and love building from the ground up.
• Are a natural collaborator who values team input and diverse perspectives.
• Have a passion for operational excellence and scalable design.
• Want to shape how enterprise architecture is done at SoFi—not just execute a roadmap.