Director of Architecture & Engineering

Director of Architecture & Engineering

Phoenix, AZ (Onsite) | Private Cloud and Managed Services | Financial Services Technology

CornerStone Technology Talent Services

CornerStone Technology Talent Services is partnering with a leading organization to identify a Director of Architecture and Engineering to lead a high-impact team responsible for designing, building, and evolving a privately managed cloud and enterprise technology stack.

This role is ideal for a technically credible leader who can guide senior architects and engineers, influence architectural direction, and drive execution across complex, regulated environments.

This organization owns and operates its full infrastructure stack, including on-prem infrastructure, compute, hosting, and platform layers. This requires a leader who understands how systems are built, integrated, and scaled from the ground up.

Role Overview

This leader will own both strategy and execution across architecture and engineering, managing a team of 10 consisting of 3 engineers and 7 architects. The role is highly engaged in strategic planning, major releases, and platform upgrades, while also overseeing project intake and delivery execution.

A key focus of this position is helping define and execute a three-year technology vision while ensuring strong alignment between architecture, engineering, and operations.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture Strategy and Technical Leadership

Define and drive enterprise architecture across on-prem infrastructure, compute, hosting, cloud, applications, and integration layers
Lead architectural decisions for major initiatives, upgrades, and platform evolution
Partner with executive leadership to build and execute a three-year strategic roadmap
Facilitate constructive technical debate and influence outcomes toward scalable and maintainable solutions

Plan and Build Ownership

Own the end-to-end Plan and Build lifecycle, including project intake, prioritization, and execution
Ensure solutions are engineered, tested, and production-ready prior to transition to operations
Oversee both project-based work and ongoing intake-driven initiatives
Drive successful transition of solutions into operational support models

Team Leadership and Development

Lead, mentor, and align a team of senior architects and engineers
Establish clear priorities, accountability, and execution discipline
Help the team align around goals and deliver effectively
Foster a culture of collaboration, ownership, and long-term retention

Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Ensure alignment with regulatory frameworks such as NIST and PCI
Drive standards for security, resiliency, and disaster recovery
Maintain architectural governance while enabling delivery agility

Cross-Functional and Executive Partnership

Partner with Infrastructure, Operations, Security, and Product teams
Act as a trusted advisor to the CTO and executive leadership
Support internal and client-facing architectural discussions as needed

Required Qualifications

8+ years of progressive experience in enterprise technology architecture across infrastructure, cloud, application, and integration domains
5+ years of leadership experience guiding senior technical professionals or architecture teams
Proven experience leading architecture and engineering teams at the Director level or higher
Strong background in on-prem infrastructure, compute, hosting, and private cloud environments
Ability to balance technical depth with strong leadership capability
Experience owning delivery, including project intake and Plan and Build lifecycle
Demonstrated ability to influence architectural direction and lead through technical discussions
Experience working within regulated environments, including NIST and PCI
Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills
Stable career progression with demonstrated tenure and long-term impact

Preferred Experience

Managed services or MSP environment experience
Experience supporting multi-client or shared services environments
Financial services or other regulated industry background

Work Environment and Interview Process

Onsite role in Phoenix, AZ, including data center exposure
Interview process includes CTO interview, panel interview, and final interview with COO

Additional Context

This is a critical leadership hire where leadership capability and culture fit are prioritized over purely hands-on technical depth. The organization has strong retention and is seeking someone who will build long-term impact.

They are specifically looking for a leader who can step in, align the team, take ownership of goals, and help drive execution of a three-year vision while guiding architectural decisions in a collaborative but decisive manner.