6 templates covering the general, business-focused, applications, first-hire, practice-lead, and fractional versions of the role, each with the mandate and classification written in. Download as DOCX.
The first enterprise architect posting I was asked to look at had been lifted from a bank. The company was a logistics business of about ninety people with a technology lead who had been in the seat five months, and the posting promised the new hire would own the target-state architecture across all lines of business. There were two lines of business.
The instinct behind it was sound. That company had eleven systems, four of them doing overlapping work, and nobody who could say which one held the truth about a customer. That is enterprise architecture, precisely. But the posting described a governance office, and a governance office needs something to govern and someone senior enough to back it when a standard costs a department its preferred tool.
At FirstHR we build hiring templates for companies that write their own postings between everything else. The six below cover the general portfolio role, the business-focused version, the applications and rationalization version, the first architecture hire, the practice lead, and the fractional engagement, each with the mandate and the classification note that copied enterprise templates leave out.
TL;DR
An enterprise architect governs the technology portfolio: the capability map, the application inventory, the standards, and the roadmap. It is a governance role, not a build role, and it needs a mandate to work. No federal occupation carries the title; the nearest, computer network architects, showed a national median of $134,050 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Six templates below.
What an Enterprise Architect Actually Owns
An enterprise architect owns the technology portfolio rather than any single system: which applications the company runs, which business capabilities they serve, the standards every new system is held to, and the order in which the estate changes. The output is decisions and documents, not code.
That distinction is the whole role. A build architect is judged on whether a system works. An enterprise architect is judged on whether the collection of systems still makes sense in three years, which means the job is mostly analysis, arbitration, and writing things down in a form other people will act on.
The capability map
What the business does, described independently of the systems
An owner named for every capability
A heat map of where support is weak
Refreshed when the strategy changes, not annually by ritual
The application portfolio
Every system, its owner, its cost, and its renewal date
The system of record for each data domain
Functional overlap made visible
A retirement candidate list with a migration path
Standards and governance
The integration patterns approved for which cases
The intake questions before any new purchase
A review forum with a stated turnaround
An exception register where every waiver has an expiry
The roadmap and the risk view
Target state, plus the sequence to reach it
Build-versus-buy analysis on the big decisions
End-of-life platforms and single points of failure
A portfolio view the executive team can fund
There is a simple test for whether the role is being done. Ask for the current application inventory. An enterprise architect eight weeks into the job who cannot produce a list of every system with its owner, its cost, and its renewal date has been in meetings rather than doing the work, and the job description should have said so in the first place.
Enterprise Architect vs Solution, Technical, and Domain Architects
The difference is scope and time horizon. A solution architect finishes when a solution ships, a technical architect owns how one system is built, and an enterprise architect never finishes because the portfolio keeps changing. Getting the title wrong on the posting is the fastest way to attract fifty applications and no fit.
Title
What it owns
Typical output
Usual reporting line
Enterprise architect
The whole technology portfolio
Capability map, inventory, standards, roadmap
CIO or CTO
Business architect
Capabilities and operating model
Capability model, target operating model
CIO, COO, or strategy
Solution architect
One solution or engagement
Solution design, integration map, estimate
Delivery or engineering
Technical architect
How one system is built
Design decisions, standards for that system
VP Engineering or CTO
Software architect
Application internals
Module boundaries, patterns, code standards
Engineering team
Domain architect
One domain: data, security, integration
Domain standards and reference designs
Head of architecture
Small companies most often need the fourth or fifth row and post the first by accident. If the work is designing how one system gets built, the technical architect templates fit better; if it is scoped to a project or a customer engagement, use the solution architect templates instead.
The domain versions matter too once an estate is large enough to split. A dedicated data owner is better hired against the data architect templates, and a role centered on the cloud platform belongs with the cloud architect templates. Enterprise architect is the title for the person above all of them who decides what the collection is supposed to look like.
Title the Role by Its Output
The fastest way to pick the right title is to name the artifact the role produces in its first quarter. A capability map and an application inventory mean enterprise architect. A solution design and an estimate mean solution architect. Design decisions and standards for one system mean technical architect. If you cannot name the artifact, the role is not defined enough to post yet, whatever you call it.
Does Your Company Have a Portfolio to Govern?
Enterprise architecture becomes a real job when the number of systems that must agree with each other exceeds what one person can hold in their head, and when somebody has to arbitrate between functions that want incompatible things. Below that line the work exists but the role does not, and hiring into it produces an expensive advisor with no authority.
The portfolio test
Do you have systems that must agree?
Enterprise architecture governs a portfolio, so there has to be a portfolio. Count the systems that hold a version of the same fact about a customer, an order, or an employee. If the answer is two or three, you have an integration problem a senior engineer can own. If it is a dozen across functions that never talk to each other, the governance job is real.
The arbitration test
Who currently settles the disputes?
The role exists to arbitrate between functions that want incompatible things from the same estate. If those disputes currently land on one founder or one technology leader and get resolved in a week, the mandate is already held by someone. Hiring an architect underneath that person creates advice without authority, which is the most common way this hire fails.
The mandate test
Will a standard actually stop a purchase?
Ask the honest version before posting: if the head of sales wants a tool the architect says duplicates an existing system, who wins. If the answer is the head of sales every time, you are hiring a documentation function. Write the decision rights into the posting only if the executive team is prepared to back them when it costs something.
The cheaper alternatives
Two options before a full-time hire
A fractional engagement buys the inventory, the assessment, and the roadmap in a few weeks with a defined end. Adding portfolio ownership to an existing technology leader works where the estate is small and the person has the standing to say no. Both are reversible, which a permanent senior hire is not.
I am not arguing against the role. I am arguing for hiring it at the point where it can succeed, because a governance hire that fails does more damage than no hire at all: the standards get written, ignored, and then cited as evidence that architecture is overhead. Where the tests point to a smaller version of the job, write portfolio ownership into an existing technology leader's job description and revisit in a year.
Still Using Spreadsheets for Onboarding?
Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
6 Enterprise Architect Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: company context with a real estate described, position summary, mandate and decision rights, key responsibilities, required qualifications, a classification note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you have to change.
Download All 6 Enterprise Architect Job Description Templates
General, business-focused, applications, first hire, head of practice, and fractional. All in one download.
General, Reports to CIO
The baseline version
Portfolio ownership, an explicit mandate with exception authority, and the classification note. The version to adapt when the role is a standard enterprise architect seat.
Business-Focused
Capability modeling and strategy
For the architect who starts from business capabilities rather than systems, with facilitation and executive communication written in as requirements.
Enterprise Applications
Rationalization and integration
For an estate that grew one department purchase at a time: inventory, system of record, overlap analysis, renewal review, and a retirement plan.
First EA Hire
Building the practice from zero
For a growing company with no architecture function, including a written first 180 days so the mandate and the early wins are agreed before the offer.
Head of Enterprise Architecture
Leads a team of architects
For the practice lead: governance ownership, the review board, cross-domain arbitration, and the executive-table representation, with the executive exemption noted.
Fractional / Contract
Scoped assessment and roadmap
For a defined engagement with named deliverables, an end date, a handover, and a plain warning about contractor versus employee classification.
Template 1: Enterprise Architect (General, Reports to CIO)
The baseline: portfolio ownership across capability map, inventory, standards, and roadmap, with an explicit mandate that includes time-boxed exception authority.
Enterprise Architect Job Description (General, Reports to CIO)
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State] / [Remote / Hybrid])
Reports to: [CIO / CTO / VP Technology]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year
ABOUT [COMPANY NAME]
[Company Name] runs [number] business applications across [number] functions,
supporting [number] employees and [customer or transaction volume]. Several of
those systems hold overlapping data, and no single owner has been accountable
for how they fit together. We are hiring an Enterprise Architect to take that
ownership.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Enterprise Architect owns the technology portfolio: the map of business
capabilities, the inventory of systems that serve them, the standards every new
system is held to, and the sequence in which the estate changes. This is a
•Approves with [role]: [new platform purchases above $______, anything that
changes the security or data-residency posture, system retirements]
•Advises only: [product priorities, team structure, vendor commercial terms]
•Exception authority: may grant a time-boxed exception to a standard, recorded
in the exception register with an agreed expiry date
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Maintain the business capability map and the application inventory, and keep
both accurate enough that leadership plans from them
•Define and publish the target-state architecture, plus the sequenced path from
where the estate is today
•Set architecture standards, reference patterns, and the integration approach
each new system is expected to follow
•Run the architecture review for [new systems, major changes, renewals] and
document each decision with the options rejected
•Lead build-versus-buy analysis and the technical portion of platform selection
•Identify duplicate systems and propose retirements with a migration path and a
named business owner for each
•Own the technology risk view: end-of-life platforms, single points of failure,
key-person dependencies, and integration debt
•Translate the roadmap into terms the executive team can fund and sequence
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in technology roles, including [number] years owning
architecture across more than one system
•Experience producing a capability map or application portfolio that was
actually used for planning, not filed
•Working knowledge of an architecture framework such as [TOGAF, ArchiMate, or
an internal equivalent], applied rather than recited
•Ability to hold a standard under pressure from a delivery team on a deadline
•Written communication strong enough that decisions travel without you
NICE TO HAVE
•Experience in [our industry or regulatory environment]
•Background running a system consolidation after a merger or acquisition
•[Framework or cloud certification] at the practitioner level
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before posting)
This role is exempt in nearly every case, but confirm which route you are
relying on. Where the primary duty is systems analysis and design, the computer
employee exemption applies, with a pay test of a guaranteed salary or fee of at
least $684 per week or an hourly rate of at least $27.63 per hour. Where the
primary duty is advising the business on general operations with discretion and
independent judgment on significant matters, the administrative exemption fits
better, at a salary of at least $684 per week. Job titles are not determinative:
classify on the duties actually performed. This is general information, not
legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus], [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and one paragraph on a
system you argued should be retired, and what happened.
Template 2: Business-Focused Enterprise Architect
For the version that starts from business capabilities rather than systems, with capability modeling, executive facilitation, and the operating model in scope. Requirements lean toward communication and tradeoff work rather than platform depth.
Business-Focused Enterprise Architect Job Description (Capability and Strategy)
FLSA status: Exempt (administrative exemption is usually the better fit here;
see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] is [describe the strategic change: entering a new market,
integrating an acquisition, moving from one revenue model to another]. The
technology estate was built for the previous version of the business. We need
an Enterprise Architect who starts from the business capabilities rather than
from the systems.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Business-Focused Enterprise Architect connects strategy to the technology
portfolio: which capabilities the company needs, which of them are supported
well today, where the gaps are, and what has to change and in what order.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build and maintain the business capability model with the function leaders who
own each capability
•Heat-map the capability model against system support, data quality, and cost
so investment conversations start from evidence
•Translate each strategic objective into the capability changes it requires and
the systems those changes touch
•Facilitate the tradeoff conversations between functions when two teams want
incompatible things from the same system
•Produce the multi-year technology roadmap and refresh it on a stated cadence
•Define the operating model: who owns which capability, which system is the
system of record, and who signs off on change
•Present the portfolio view to the executive team and the board in language
that does not require a technical background
•Set the measures that show whether the portfolio is improving
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in enterprise architecture, business architecture, technology
strategy, or management consulting
•Demonstrated capability modeling work that changed an investment decision
•Comfort presenting to executives who will challenge the premise, not the detail
•Enough technical depth to be credible with engineers without designing for them
•Facilitation skills: most of this role is getting two function leaders to agree
NICE TO HAVE
•Experience in [our industry], including its regulatory constraints
•Post-merger integration or carve-out experience
•Business architecture or [TOGAF] certification
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
When the primary duty is advising the business on general operations and
exercising discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance, the
administrative exemption is the cleaner route, at a salary of at least $684 per
week. Where the role still spends most of its time on systems analysis and
design, the computer employee exemption applies instead. Both are exempt, so the
practical question is which duties test you would rely on if the classification
were ever challenged. Write the primary duty into the job description and keep
it accurate as the role evolves. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a capability map or
roadmap you produced, with a note on what it changed.
Template 3: Enterprise Applications Architect
For an estate assembled one department purchase at a time: inventory, system of record per data domain, overlap analysis, renewal review, and a rationalization plan with real retirements in it.
Reports to: [CIO / Director of IT / VP Business Systems]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (computer employee exemption; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] runs [number] business applications, [number] of them purchased
in the last [number] years by individual departments. Annual software spend is
approximately $_. We are hiring an Enterprise Applications Architect to
decide what stays, what goes, and what the remaining systems are allowed to do
to each other.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Enterprise Applications Architect owns the shape of the application estate:
the system of record for each data domain, the integration layer between
systems, the rationalization plan, and the standards that stop the sprawl from
returning.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Complete and maintain the application inventory: owner, cost, renewal date,
data held, users, and the capability each system serves
•Name the system of record for every data domain and publish the map
•Identify functional overlap and produce a rationalization plan with sequencing,
migration effort, and the savings or risk reduction behind each move
•Define the integration architecture: which patterns are approved for which
cases, and the contracts systems expose to each other
•Set the intake standard for new software requests, including the questions a
department has to answer before a purchase
•Own renewal review so contracts are reconsidered before they auto-renew rather
than after
•Design the data model that reporting depends on, with the reconciliation rules
for systems that disagree
•Partner with security, finance, and legal on access, retention, and vendor risk
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years working across business applications: [ERP, CRM, finance,
service management, HR systems]
•Experience retiring at least one system and migrating its data and users
•Integration depth: [API design, event patterns, an iPaaS or middleware
platform], with an understanding of when batch is still the right answer
•Ability to build the cost and effort case for a consolidation
•Comfort telling a department leader that their preferred tool is not approved
NICE TO HAVE
•Master data management background
•Experience with [our primary platform] at administrator or architect depth
•Regulated data experience: [PII, PHI, payment data]
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Exempt under the computer employee exemption when the primary duty is systems
analysis or the design, development, documentation, testing, or modification of
systems and programs, with a pay test of at least $684 per week on salary or
$27.63 per hour. Where the role drifts toward vendor management and business
advisory work rather than systems design, the administrative exemption is the
better fit at the same salary level. Note which route applies and revisit it if
the duties change. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [benefits summary]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a short note on the
most redundant application estate you have untangled.
Template 4: First Enterprise Architect at a Growing Company
For a company with no architecture function yet. It includes a written first 180 days, so the inventory work and the early wins are agreed before the offer rather than discovered in month two.
First Enterprise Architect Job Description (Growing Company, No EA Practice)
FIRST ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State] / [Remote])
Reports to: [CIO / CTO / COO]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year [plus bonus or equity]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] grew from [number] to [number] employees in [timeframe], and the
systems grew with it, one department decision at a time. There is no
architecture function, no inventory, and no standard. This is our first
enterprise architecture hire. You will build the practice, not inherit one.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Enterprise Architect establishes the architecture function from zero:
inventory first, standards second, roadmap third, with enough early wins to earn
the mandate the role needs to work.
FIRST 180 DAYS (WRITTEN INTO THE ROLE ON PURPOSE)
•Days 1 to 45: complete the application inventory and the integration map, and
name an owner for every system
•Days 46 to 90: publish the current-state assessment, including duplicate
systems, end-of-life platforms, and the three risks worth fixing first
•Days 91 to 135: agree the standards and the intake process for new software
with [CIO, function leaders], and stand up the review forum
•Days 136 to 180: publish the target state and a sequenced roadmap the
executive team can fund
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build the inventory and the capability map that do not exist yet
•Establish the architecture standards and the exception process, and make both
light enough that people actually use them
•Set up the review forum: who attends, what gets reviewed, and how fast a
decision comes back
•Advise on in-flight decisions from the first week, because they will not wait
for the framework
•Coach the technical leads into architecture thinking so the practice survives
a vacation and eventually a departure
•Keep the overhead proportionate: this company needs judgment on paper, not a
governance bureaucracy
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number]+ years in architecture, technology leadership, or senior engineering
•Has introduced architecture practice where none existed, at a company without
a large central IT function
•Pragmatism about process weight: you can tell which artifacts earn their keep
at our size and which do not
•Credibility with engineers and with function leaders, since neither group
reports to you
•Clear writing: your influence in this role travels as documents
NICE TO HAVE
•Experience at a company of our size and stage
•Background in [our domain or regulatory environment]
•Framework certification, treated as evidence of vocabulary rather than judgment
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Exempt. The computer employee exemption covers the systems analysis and design
work at a pay test of at least $684 per week on salary or $27.63 per hour, and
the administrative exemption covers the business advisory portion at the same
salary level. If the role later takes on direct reports and management becomes
the primary duty, look at the executive exemption as well. This is general
information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus or equity], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a paragraph on the
first thing you would want to see in our system inventory.
Template 5: Head of Enterprise Architecture
For the practice lead who manages architects, chairs the review board, and represents the portfolio at the executive table, with the executive exemption noted alongside the others.
Head of Enterprise Architecture Job Description (Leads the Practice)
HEAD OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [CIO / CTO]
Direct reports: [number] architects across [domains]
Employment type: Full-time
FLSA status: Exempt (executive exemption likely applies alongside the computer
employee exemption; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year [plus bonus]
ABOUT THIS ROLE
[Company Name] has [number] architects working across [application, data,
infrastructure, security] with no shared standard and no single point of
accountability. We are hiring a Head of Enterprise Architecture to lead the
practice, set the governance, and represent architecture at the executive table.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Head of Enterprise Architecture leads the architecture function: the people,
the standards, the review process, and the portfolio view the executive team
plans from.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Lead and develop a team of [number] architects, including hiring, performance,
and career paths for a discipline that has few obvious ladders
•Own the architecture governance process end to end: what gets reviewed, by
whom, against which standards, and how exceptions are granted and expire
•Chair the architecture review board and keep its decisions documented,
searchable, and fast enough that teams do not route around it
•Own the portfolio view: capability map, application inventory, technology risk
register, and the multi-year roadmap
•Set the standards library and retire the standards that no longer earn their
place
•Represent architecture in executive planning, budget cycles, audits, and due
diligence
•Arbitrate cross-domain disputes when the data, application, and infrastructure
positions conflict
•Report on portfolio health with measures leadership agreed to in advance
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number]+ years in architecture with [number] years leading architects
•Has run a governance process that engineering teams respected rather than
avoided
•Executive presence: can defend a portfolio position to a CFO and change it when
the argument is better
•Depth in at least one domain and literacy in the rest
•Track record of retiring systems, not only adding them
NICE TO HAVE
•Experience standing up an architecture practice from a small starting point
•[Industry] regulatory experience
•Framework certification at the practitioner or trainer level
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
Exempt, with two routes available. The executive exemption applies where
management is the primary duty, the role directs at least two full-time
employees or the equivalent, and the person’s recommendations on hiring, firing,
and advancement carry particular weight, at a salary of at least $684 per week.
The computer employee and administrative exemptions cover the architecture and
advisory work at the same salary level. Overlap is useful: if the mix of duties
shifts, a second qualifying route keeps the classification stable. This is
general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this role.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ to $_ per year, [bonus], [benefits]
To apply, email __ with your resume and a two-paragraph
note on a governance process you built and how teams responded to it.
•Target-state architecture and a sequenced roadmap with effort and cost bands
•Standards starter set: [integration patterns, intake questions for new
software, data ownership rules]
•Handover session and written notes for [named internal owner]
WHAT IS NOT IN SCOPE
•Implementation, configuration, or hands-on migration work
•Vendor negotiation and contract signature
•People management, hiring, or performance conversations
•Anything not listed above without a written change to this scope
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number]+ years in enterprise or solution architecture
•Prior fractional or advisory engagements with references
•Experience with companies of our size, where the answer has to be proportionate
•Ability to produce documents an internal team can act on without you present
CLASSIFICATION NOTE (read before you write the contract)
Do not assume a fractional architect is automatically an independent contractor.
The question under the Fair Labor Standards Act is economic reality: is the
worker in business for themselves, or economically dependent on you. Someone who
serves several clients, supplies their own tools, sets their own hours, and works
to a defined deliverable looks like a contractor. Someone who works your
schedule, attends your internal meetings, uses your equipment, takes direction on
method, and has no other clients looks like a part-time employee whatever the
agreement says. Put the intellectual property assignment, confidentiality terms,
and acceptance criteria in writing either way, and ask counsel where the answer
is close. This is general information, not legal advice.
EEO STATEMENT
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer and provides reasonable
accommodations for the essential functions of this engagement.
COMPENSATION AND HOW TO APPLY
Compensation: $_ per [day / hour], [expenses policy], [term and notice]
To apply, email __ with your rate, availability, and two
references from engagements of comparable size.
Writing the Mandate and Decision Rights
The mandate section decides whether the hire can do the job, and it is the part most enterprise architect postings skip entirely. State what the architect approves alone, what needs sign-off and from whom, what they only advise on, and what happens when a team ships outside the standard.
Experienced architects read this section first because most of them have held the title somewhere without the authority. A posting that answers these questions concretely stands out immediately, and a posting that cannot answer them is telling you the executive team has not decided yet.
Mandate question
How to answer it in the posting
Standards authority
Name what the architect sets alone: integration patterns, reference models, the intake standard for new software
Purchase review
State the spend threshold above which architecture review is required, and whether it is advisory or blocking
Exception process
Say whether the architect can grant a time-boxed waiver, who else must agree, and where exceptions are recorded
Retirement authority
Say who can decide a system is retired: the architect, the system owner, or a forum, and who funds the migration
Review forum
Name it, say who attends, and commit to a turnaround so teams do not route around the process
Escalation path
State who overrules the architect and how quickly, because unresolved disputes are what stall a portfolio plan
Reporting line
Reporting to a CIO and reporting three levels below one are different jobs; candidates price them differently
Inventory ownership
Say explicitly that the architect owns the application inventory, not that they contribute to somebody else’s
One practical addition: put the exception register in the posting. A standard with no legitimate escape route gets ignored, and a waiver with no expiry date becomes a permanent second standard. Saying that exceptions are granted, recorded, and dated tells a strong candidate that whoever wrote the posting has run this before.
Overtime Classification: Two Exemption Routes
An enterprise architect is exempt from overtime in nearly every case, but unlike a hands-on architect the role can qualify under either of two exemptions, and it is worth knowing which one your duties support.
The computer employee exemption at 29 CFR 541.400 covers workers whose primary duty is systems analysis or the design, development, documentation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, at a guaranteed salary or fee of at least $684 per week or an hourly rate of at least $27.63 per hour. The administrative exemption at 29 CFR 541.200 requires the same $684 per week plus a primary duty of office work directly related to management or general business operations, with the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance. A governance-weighted enterprise architect often fits the second description more honestly than the first.
The computer employee route
The computer employee exemption covers systems analysts, programmers, software engineers, and similarly skilled workers whose primary duty is systems analysis or the design, development, documentation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs. It offers two pay routes: a guaranteed salary or fee of at least $684 per week, or an hourly rate of at least $27.63 per hour, which almost no other exemption allows. It fits an enterprise architect whose week is spent on integration design, data models, and technical target states. It fits less comfortably where the same title spends its week in capability workshops and investment committees. This is general information, not legal advice.
The administrative route
The administrative exemption requires a salary or fee of at least $684 per week, a primary duty of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or its customers, and the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. For a governance-weighted enterprise architect, that description often fits better than the computer route: the work is advising the business on which systems it should run, which is management and general business operations by any reading. Pick the route that matches the duties you actually wrote into the posting.
Job titles are not determinative
The regulation states that a job title alone is insufficient to establish exempt status, and that principle decides most classification arguments. Calling a role enterprise architect does not create an exemption, and neither does the salary on its own: the duties test has to be met on its own terms. The practical risk with this title is drift in the other direction. A role posted as portfolio governance that ends up running vendor renewals and administering a system full time is a different job from the one you classified, and the job description is the document a regulator or a court will read first. Re-read it once a year against what the person is actually doing.
Fractional does not mean contractor
Part-time architecture help is the most common way a smaller company buys this skill, and it is where classification goes wrong most often. Economic reality decides it, not the label on the agreement. A worker with several clients, their own equipment, their own hours, and a defined deliverable sits on the contractor side. A worker who follows your schedule, joins your internal meetings, uses your laptop, takes direction on method, and has no other clients is functionally a part-time employee. The cost of getting it wrong is back overtime, unpaid employment taxes, and penalties, so ask counsel before the engagement starts rather than after it ends.
Anyone outside an exemption needs hours tracked and overtime paid past forty in a week. Some states apply higher salary thresholds than the federal one, so confirm against your state before you classify. This is general information, not legal advice.
What to Pay an Enterprise Architect
There is no federal occupation titled enterprise architect, so the honest approach is to benchmark against the nearest classifications and adjust for scope, industry, and location. Federal data codes most architecture work into a handful of computer occupations, none of which carries this title.
Nearest Federal Classifications, National Medians
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), median annual wages were $134,050 for computer network architects, $139,500 for database architects, $135,980 for software developers, and $116,580 for computer occupations, all other, the residual category where many architect titles are coded. Computer and information systems managers had a median of $175,140 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates).
Nearest classification
National median (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
When it is the right benchmark
Computer network architects
$134,050 per year
The closest titled architect occupation; a reasonable anchor for a general enterprise architect seat
Database architects
$139,500 per year
Use it when the role centers on data domains, systems of record, and integration contracts
Software developers
$135,980 per year
A cross-check for estates that are mostly in-house software rather than purchased applications
Computer occupations, all other
$116,580 per year
The residual category many architect titles land in; treat it as a floor, not a target
Computer systems analysts
$105,850 per year
A floor for analysis-weighted roles with no real decision authority
Computer and information systems managers
$175,140 per year
The ceiling reference for a head of enterprise architecture with reports and budget
Spread matters more than the median at this level. Within computer network architects, annual wages ran from $79,900 at the tenth percentile to $104,620 at the twenty-fifth, $168,200 at the seventy-fifth, and $202,680 at the ninetieth, and employment in the occupation is projected to grow 8 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 9,600 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook). Pick your band by the mandate you are granting, publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, and account for the rest of the package in your total compensation figure.
Companies Using FirstHR Onboard 3x Faster
Join hundreds of small businesses who transformed their new hire experience.
Screening for Portfolio Judgment, Not Framework Recall
Screen enterprise architects on judgment about real estates, because framework vocabulary is easy to acquire and portfolio judgment is not. The most useful exercise takes twenty minutes to prepare: hand the candidate a redacted list of your systems with their costs and owners, and ask which one they would retire first and what would have to be true to do it.
Strong answers start by asking what the systems are used for and who would object. Weak answers start by naming a method. The gap between the two shows up in the first five minutes and no certification predicts it.
Then run a second conversation where a function leader pushes back on the recommendation. Holding a position under commercial pressure, and changing it when the argument is genuinely better, is the daily work of the role, and it is the part a technical interview never reaches.
The Two Failure Modes to Screen Out
The first is the framework tourist: fluent in method, unable to describe an outcome any business felt. Ask what changed as a result of their last capability map, and listen for a decision rather than a deliverable. The second is the architect who cannot be overruled. Governance without flexibility gets routed around within two quarters, and at a smaller company where every standard has a cost attached, an architect who treats every exception as a defeat will spend their mandate in the first six months. Both interview well. Both surface in an hour of real disagreement.
Hiring an Enterprise Architect Without an HR Department
Enterprise architecture hiring at a smaller company fails in three predictable places: the posting was copied from a much larger organization, the first year turned out to be inventory work nobody described, and a senior hire arrived to onboarding assembled out of email threads. Each has a fix.
The posting was copied from a company ten times your size
Enterprise architecture job descriptions travel badly downmarket because the large-company version assumes a governance office, a portfolio management tool, a review board, and several domain architects to coordinate. Pasted into a company with one IT manager and fourteen systems, it reads as fantasy to exactly the candidates you want, because they can tell the mandate does not exist. Rewrite it around your real estate: the number of systems, the specific overlap that is costing you, the decisions waiting for an owner. A posting that names eleven applications and one duplicated customer record will interest a strong architect more than a posting that promises enterprise-wide transformation.
You hire a strategist when the first year is inventory work
The first year of a first enterprise architect hire is unglamorous: finding every system, finding who owns it, finding the renewal date, drawing the integration map, and writing down what the standards are going to be. Candidates who have only worked inside a mature practice often expect the inventory to exist already and lose interest when it does not. Screen for that directly by describing the starting point in the posting and asking what the candidate would do in the first ninety days. The strong answer starts with counting things. The weak answer starts with a framework.
A senior hire arrives and the paperwork is a pile of email threads
An architect at this level needs access to every system in the estate on day one, which means access requests to a dozen owners, plus the offer, the confidentiality agreement, the intellectual property assignment, and any certifications on file with their renewal dates. At a company without an HR department that arrives as a pile of email threads in week one, and the impression it leaves on a senior hire is hard to undo. This is exactly what I built FirstHR for. The onboarding wizard runs the same sequence for every senior hire, e-signature handles the agreements, document management keeps the certificates and renewal dates on the employee profile, and task workflows route each access request to the person who owns that system. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Once the offer is signed, most of this becomes a repeatable onboarding checklist: the agreements, the access requests, the system context, and the introductions. The same checklist works for the next senior technology hire, which is the point of writing it down once.
Key Takeaways
An enterprise architect governs the technology portfolio: capability map, application inventory, standards, and roadmap. The output is decisions and documents, not code.
Scope separates the titles: a solution architect finishes when a solution ships, a technical architect owns one system, an enterprise architect owns the collection.
Run three tests before posting: do you have a portfolio, who currently arbitrates between functions, and would a standard actually stop a purchase.
The mandate section is the one senior candidates read first: approval rights, sign-off, exception authority with expiry dates, and the escalation path.
Two exemption routes apply, both at $684 per week: computer employee where the duties are systems analysis and design, administrative where they are business advisory.
No federal occupation carries the title, so benchmark against the nearest: $134,050 for computer network architects and $139,500 for database architects (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
An architect at this level needs access to every system in the estate, which is a dozen requests to a dozen owners before they can start, on top of the offer, the confidentiality agreement, and the intellectual property assignment. FirstHR runs that sequence the same way every time, with e-signature for the agreements, document storage for certifications and their renewal dates, and task workflows that route each access request to the person who owns that system. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an enterprise architect do?
An enterprise architect governs a company’s technology portfolio rather than building any single system. The work has four parts: the business capability map that describes what the company does independently of its software, the application inventory that records every system with its owner, cost, renewal date, and the capability it serves, the standards and review process that new systems are held to, and the target-state roadmap that sequences change across the estate. Day to day that means running architecture reviews, leading build-versus-buy analysis, identifying duplicate systems and proposing retirements, tracking end-of-life platforms and integration debt, and presenting a portfolio view the executive team can fund. It is a governance and planning role, usually reporting to a CIO or CTO, and the output is decisions and documents rather than code.
What is the difference between an enterprise architect and a solution architect?
Scope and time horizon. A solution architect is scoped to one solution, one project, or one customer engagement, and finishes when that solution ships. An enterprise architect is scoped to the whole portfolio and never finishes, because the estate keeps changing. The solution architect answers how this system should be built; the enterprise architect answers whether this system should exist, which capability it serves, what it is allowed to talk to, and what it replaces. They also sit differently in the organization: solution architects work alongside delivery teams and often report into engineering, while enterprise architects report to a CIO or CTO and spend a large share of their time with function leaders and finance. At a smaller company one person frequently does both, and the title should follow whichever job dominates.
How much does an enterprise architect make?
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation titled enterprise architect, so benchmark against the nearest classifications instead of a single number. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), national median annual wages were $134,050 for computer network architects, $139,500 for database architects, $135,980 for software developers, and $116,580 for the computer occupations, all other residual category where many architect titles are coded. Computer and information systems managers, a reasonable ceiling once the role leads a team, had a median of $175,140. Spread matters more than the median at this level: within computer network architects, wages ran from $79,900 at the tenth percentile to $202,680 at the ninetieth. Governance-weighted enterprise architect roles at larger employers generally sit in the upper half of that range.
Are enterprise architects exempt from overtime?
Yes in nearly every case, but two different exemptions can apply and it is worth knowing which one you are relying on. Where the primary duty is systems analysis and the design or modification of computer systems, the computer employee exemption applies, with a pay test of a guaranteed salary or fee of at least $684 per week or an hourly rate of at least $27.63 per hour. Where the primary duty is advising the business on general operations with the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance, the administrative exemption is the cleaner fit at a salary of at least $684 per week. A practice lead with direct reports may also qualify under the executive exemption. Job titles are not determinative under the regulation, so classify on the duties actually performed and revisit the analysis when the role changes.
Does a small business need an enterprise architect?
Usually not as a full-time role, because enterprise architecture governs a portfolio and a small estate does not have one yet. Three tests help. First, count the systems that hold a version of the same fact about a customer, an order, or an employee: two or three is an integration problem a senior engineer can own. Second, ask who currently settles disputes between functions that want incompatible things from the same system, because if a founder or technology leader already settles them in a week, an architect hired underneath them gets advice without authority. Third, ask whether a standard would actually stop a purchase, since a governance role without executive backing becomes a documentation function. Where the answers point away from a full-time hire, a fractional engagement that delivers an inventory, an assessment, and a roadmap is usually the better first step.
Do enterprise architects need TOGAF certification?
No, unless a client contract or a specific employer policy requires it. Framework certification demonstrates shared vocabulary and a structured method, which is genuinely useful when several architects have to work from the same playbook, but it does not demonstrate the judgment the role is actually hired for. The more revealing signal is applied evidence: a capability map that changed an investment decision, a rationalization plan that retired real systems, a standard that held when a delivery team pushed back on a deadline. List framework certification as preferred rather than required in most postings, and if you do require it, say which framework and at which level so candidates can act on it. A candidate who can only describe a method and cannot describe an outcome is the classic failure mode this screen is meant to catch.
What should an enterprise architect job description include?
Six things beyond the standard sections. The real estate: how many systems, how much overlap, what specifically is broken. The scope: portfolio governance, business capability work, application rationalization, or leading a practice, since those are different jobs under one title. The mandate: what the architect approves alone, what needs sign-off and from whom, and whether they can grant time-boxed exceptions to a standard. The reporting line, because reporting to a CIO and reporting three levels down are different roles. The classification, naming which exemption route the duties support. And the salary range, published where pay transparency rules require it. Add the essential functions, the intellectual property and confidentiality expectations, and an equal opportunity statement. The mandate section is the one senior candidates read first and the one most postings leave out.
How do I hire an enterprise architect without an HR department?
Run a short process built around evidence and get the mandate agreed before you post. Write the posting from your actual estate rather than a large-company template, describe the starting point honestly including the inventory work, and state the decision rights the executive team is willing to back. Screen with a written exercise: hand over a redacted list of your systems and ask which one the candidate would retire first and what would have to be true to do it. Follow with a conversation where a function leader pushes back, because holding a position under commercial pressure is the daily work. Take references from someone who lost an argument with the candidate. Then onboard for context and access: the offer, the confidentiality and intellectual property agreements, access to every system, and introductions to the people whose agreement they will need. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
