Head of Architecture Community & Governance

  • S&P Global, Inc.
  • Hackney, London
  • Jan 26, 2026
Full time Construction

Job Description

About the Role: Grade Level (for internal use): 15

The S&P Enterprise Architecture office is a newly established capability that provides technology, system and data alignment, control, and insight across all divisions and corporate functions of S&P Global.

The office is orientated around five strategic principles:
  • A Single View of Enterprise Architecture - Develop and maintain a consolidated view of systems, data, and technology (current and future state) assets to support investment and integration decisions.
  • Evolve Common Governance & Standards - Evolve and embed enterprise-level governance and standards building on existing TDOC and ARB processes.
  • Enable Enterprise-Scale Data, AI, & Agentic Capabilities - Coordinate architecture for AI and agentic solutions to ensure responsible adoption and shared value across business units.
  • Develop Architecture Capability and Community - Build an empowered network of architects across divisions and functions with shared ways of working, tools, architecture principles and frameworks.
  • Deliver Measurable Business Alignment & Value - Enable Technology Value realization and demonstrate clear outcomes such as cost savings through reduced duplication, enhanced Productivity through improved time-to-market, and Efficiency through optimized investment.
The office is newly formed as part of the company's strategy to more tightly align technology, business functions and data assets to accelerate AI readiness of the entire technology estate. The office has oversight of all aspects of technology: from IT and business systems through to product platforms.

As part of this new office initiative, multiple roles are being recruited across levels. Each role will be assigned to any of the 3 priority capabilities, with a possibility of role rotation enabling a well-rounded team: Strategy and Program: To set overall direction and interact with key initiatives across S&P, driving synergy and efficiency optimization, including strategy and transformation roadmap for future state EA artifacts Bgov ernance and Community: To run and embed governance and activate the architecture community through ARBs, TDAs, and other related processes. Establishing cohesive definitions and effective ways of working, including aligning the Divisions towards the standards of the future state EA artifacts. Assets and Tooling: To own architecture tool(s) and drive transparent documentation of multiple architectural assets and best practices, including the implementation and ownership of future state EA artifacts.

The Impact:

As an Enterprise Architect, you will report to the S&P Global Head of Enterprise Architecture and will be part of the newly formed S&P EA office. You will support 150 architects across the Divisions, driving alignment between technical solutions and business needs, fostering a culture of innovation, and overseeing the seamless integration of governance processes to support scalable and unified technology, data and product outcomes throughout S&P Global.

Responsibilities and Impact:
  • Establish and run formal governance mechanisms, including an Enterprise-wide Architecture Review Board (EARB), Divisional Architecture Boards (DABs), Software Governance Board (SGB) and other critical processes to embed standardized architectural governance across the Divisions.
  • Drive operational execution of these bodies, ensuring compliance with architecture standards, and documentation of critical technical decisions.
  • Activate and grow the architecture community of practice to promote shared standards and practices as well as build a network of architects with shared ways of working, tools, and frameworks.
  • Own communication strategy to build the architecture community and foster an Innovation culture.
  • Provide strategic guidance and ensure consistency of all architecture artifacts, adhering to future state standards for EA artifacts and ensure alignment across Divisions and architecture domains.
  • Form important partnerships across the enterprise, both internal and external, to facilitate collaboration and stay informed of new capabilities and emerging technology trends.
  • Support the development, maintenance, and governance of the newly established enterprise architecture function.
  • Lead stakeholder engagement across business and technology leadership.
  • Support the architecture across major domains: business, application, data, and infrastructure/technology (cloud, edge, streaming, SaaS/PaaS).
  • Drive alignment with new acquisition/integration (M&A) initiatives to ensure smooth architectural integration of new businesses, participating in due diligence as necessary.
  • Establish and run Centers of Excellence as the Enterprise Architecture function maturity evolves.
  • Contribute to architectural effectiveness reporting to track key metrics such adherence to approved standards, measuring the reduction of technical debt logged via the ARB process, and evaluating the level of engagement and adoption of shared knowledge and training within the community.
  • Champion FinOps practices, ensuring financial accountability and optimization of cloud and technology spend across architecture initiatives, and collaborate with finance and technology teams to establish cost transparency, forecasting, and reporting mechanisms.
  • Serve as a hands on architect, bringing expertise in Markdown for documentation, Spec Driven Development for robust design processes, GitHub for code management and collaboration, Mermaid for architecture diagramming, Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) for cloud security governance, Backstage for developer portal management, and policy as code for automated compliance and governance.
Required Skills, Experience, and Knowledge As an Enterprise Architect:
  • Expert knowledge of established architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF, Gartner or Zachman) and their application in driving enterprise-level standards and compliance.
  • Demonstrated ability to influence and partner with senior Product, Technology, and Business leaders to align technology & architectural decisions with investment prioritization.
  • Critically a focus on servant leadership, ensuring that EA is not perceived as an ivory tower practice.
  • Deep expertise in one or more core architectural domains: Data Architecture, Cloud Platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), Microservices, or API led architecture.
  • Strategic partnership lens, with understanding of entire data & software lifecycle to enable comprehensive support of Divisional needs.
  • Significant, hands on experience with major Enterprise Architecture management tools (e.g., LeanIX, Ardoq, Alfabet, or equivalent).
  • Experience in media/information services or related domain highly desirable (e.g., content delivery, subscription models, rights/licensing systems, realtime analytics, digital platforms).
  • Proven, hands on experience architecting solutions using Markdown for technical documentation, Spec Driven Development methodologies, GitHub for source control and collaboration, Mermaid for visualizing system architectures, CSPM for cloud security, Backstage for developer experience, and policy as code for automated governance and compliance. Demonstrated experience implementing FinOps practices, including cost optimization strategies, cloud spend analysis, and financial governance in technology environment
  • 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture or related fields, with a proven ability to establish governance frameworks and lead architectural initiatives that drive business value and compliance.
  • Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or related discipline; Master's or MBA is a plus. Relevant architecture certifications desirable.
As the Governance and Community team:
  • Significant experience operating or chairing a formal Architecture Review Board (ARB), compliance activities (including exception and exemption handling) or equivalent technical governance body in a large, global organization.
  • Extensive experience in setting up best practices for architecture & Design principles, Solution guidelines and business case formats, etc., to align diverse teams to a unified & common platform.
  • Advanced analytical skills to analyze the current IT environment to detect critical deficiencies and recommend practical solutions for improvement.
  • Identify organizational requirements for resources (financial, skill, and process resources), as well as structures & cultural change necessary to support the Enterprise Architecture function.
  • Advanced analytical and reasoning skills to analyse functional requirements and provide data backed decisions on Buy Vs Build Vs Host.
  • Experience in managing large scale projects and organizational change initiatives to navigate implementation challenges and ensure effective governance processes.
  • Demonstrated ability to identify and quantify organizational requirements for resources (financial, skill, and process resources), structures, and cultural change necessary to effectively support the Enterprise Architecture function.
  • Effective communication and networking skills, capable of fostering an innovative culture, engage architecture community of practice and drive adoption of new processes.
  • Strong people leadership skills with ability to mentor, and work the Divisional technical teams on architectural artefacts, a focus on continual learning. . click apply for full job details