Digital Enterprise Architecture Section Head

About the Role

Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS) is seeking a Digital Enterprise Architecture Section Head to join their team in Makkah, with work locations in Jeddah and Makkah. This full-time role involves leading the definition and oversight of SANS's enterprise architecture strategies, roadmaps, and standards. The objective is to align IT capabilities with business transformation priorities, ensuring that solution designs, technology adoption, and IT investments are integrated, scalable, and sustainable to support enterprise-wide digital objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the enterprise architecture vision, principles, and roadmaps to align IT capabilities with business strategy.
• Ensure the architecture function supports innovation, scalability, and long-term sustainability of digital transformation initiatives.
• Establish and promote architecture standards, patterns, and reference models across technology, applications, integration, infrastructure, and data domains.
• Provide guidance to project teams during solution design, ensuring coherence with enterprise-wide roadmaps and standards.
• Review and approve solution architectures to ensure integration, security, and operational resilience.
• Translate business strategies into IT capabilities and identify opportunities for digital enablement and innovation.
• Report regularly to the Digital Transformation Manager on architecture roadmap, alignment, and risks.
• Build and lead the enterprise architecture team, enhancing skills across various domains.
• Support in monitoring day-to-day activities to ensure compliance with stipulated policies and procedures.
• Actively participate in on-the-job training, mentoring, and coaching of subordinates.

Architecture Standards and Governance

The role involves establishing and promoting architecture standards, patterns, and reference models across technology, applications, integration, infrastructure, and data domains. This includes ensuring alignment of projects and solutions with enterprise architecture principles and providing oversight during design and delivery phases. Collaboration with governance teams is essential to support compliance with defined architecture guidelines.

Business and IT Alignment

A core aspect of this position is ensuring that technology roadmaps accurately reflect business priorities. The Section Head will translate business strategies into actionable IT capabilities and identify opportunities for digital enablement and innovation. Fostering collaboration is key to ensuring that architectural outcomes deliver measurable business value.

Team Leadership and Development

This position includes building and leading the enterprise architecture team, focusing on enhancing skills across domains such as applications, data, infrastructure, and integration. The Section Head will maintain knowledge repositories by embedding lessons learned, best practices, and emerging technologies into architecture processes, while also providing clear direction, prioritizing tasks, and monitoring workflow.

Qualifications and Experience

• 5-10 years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated ability to lead the definition and oversight of enterprise architecture strategies and roadmaps.
• Experience in establishing and promoting architecture standards and governance.
• Proven capability in providing solution and project architecture oversight.
• Strong understanding of business and IT architecture alignment.
• Experience in reporting and capability development within an enterprise architecture context.