Director Principal Architect in Reading

WELCOME TO SITA We’re the team that keeps airports moving, airlines flying smoothly, and borders open. Our tech and communication innovations are the secret behind the success of the world's air travel industry. You'll find us at 95% of international hubs. We partner closely with over 2,500 transportation and government clients, each with their own unique needs and challenges. Our goal is to find fresh solutions and cutting‑edge tech to make their operations run like clockwork. Want to be a part of something big? Are you ready to love your job? The adventure begins right here, with you, at SITA.

As Principal Architect, AI, Products and Enterprise Solutions, you will be accountable for defining and leading SITA’s enterprise architecture direction across AI, data, product, solution, and customer architecture, including leadership of the solution and customer architect teams across the organisation. The role provides enterprise‑wide technical and people leadership, ensuring that AI, data, product, solution, and customer architectures are applied in a consistent and effective manner to support business value, innovation, and competitive advantage, while coaching, mentoring, and developing senior architects across SITA.

In addition to architecture leadership, the role is responsible for ensuring that AI and product solution architectures are embedded within core products, platforms, and decision‑making processes, and for building a high‑performing architecture function through effective people leadership, talent development, succession planning, and a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement. This role operates at enterprise scope, with responsibility for cross‑portfolio AI and product architecture direction, the establishment of enterprise standards, and the development of architecture capability and leadership at scale.

What You Will Do

• Enterprise AI & Architecture Strategy Ownership: Define and maintain enterprise architecture strategy, with a strong emphasis on AI, data platforms, and intelligent systems. Establish an AI‑enabled and product‑aware architecture vision and multi‑year roadmap aligned to business and digital strategy. Drive adoption of machine learning, advanced analytics, automation, and AI‑enabled product architectures across products and internal platforms. Translate emerging AI trends into scalable and productised enterprise capabilities.
• Product Solution Architecture Leadership: Lead the definition of end‑to‑end product solution architecture across key enterprise products and platforms. Own the architectural integrity of product solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, AI strategy, and business outcomes. Define architecture patterns and reference models for AI‑enabled products, ensuring consistency, scalability, and reuse. Partner with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to shape solution design from concept through delivery. Ensure product architectures are resilient, secure, and designed for global scale and operational excellence. Set direction for product solution architecture across portfolios, rather than contributing to individual solution designs.
• AI Governance, Standards & Responsible AI: Define and enforce architecture and AI governance frameworks, including standards, guardrails, and design principles. Contribute to the development and implementation of responsible AI practices, including ethics, explainability, bias mitigation, and compliance, in line with regulatory expectations. Ensure AI solutions are secure, compliant, and aligned with enterprise risk frameworks. Provide oversight on critical AI and data architecture decisions across portfolios.
• Data, AI Platforms & Technical Leadership: Define and evolve enterprise data architecture and AI platform strategy (data pipelines, MLOps, model lifecycle management). Drive adoption of cloud‑native, scalable AI architectures and modern data ecosystems. Lead the integration and architectural design of AI capabilities within core products, digital platforms, and customer journeys. Champion technical excellence, reusability, and platform thinking across the organisation.
• Executive Influence & Business Integration: Act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on AI strategy, risks, and opportunities. Influence corporate strategy through AI‑driven insights and product innovation opportunities. Translate business problems into AI‑enabled and product‑oriented architecture solutions. Provide architectural leadership on product strategy, ensuring solution design decisions align with enterprise architecture and AI‑driven innovation. Represent architecture and AI in executive and governance forums.
• Leadership, People Management and Capability Building: Lead and develop SITA’s architecture community, including architects, data and AI specialists, and the broader architecture capability. Provide leadership to the solution and customer architect teams across SITA, ensuring consistent standards, clear accountability, and strong alignment to enterprise, product, and customer outcomes. Provide effective people management for senior architects and architecture leaders, including objective setting, performance management, regular feedback, coaching, and mentoring. Lead workforce and talent planning for the architecture function, including recruitment, onboarding, succession planning, retention, and the development of future architecture leaders. Foster a high‑performing and inclusive team environment that encourages collaboration, continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and clear career development pathways for architects across SITA. Delegate appropriately, empower senior architects to lead within their areas of responsibility, and ensure clear governance, decision rights, and accountability across the architecture community. Build and scale AI, data, product, solution, and customer architecture capabilities across the organisation. Define architecture operating model, frameworks, and best practices in line with enterprise needs. Drive talent development, upskilling, and adoption of AI and product architecture practices across teams.

Qualifications

• Experience in enterprise architecture and governance.
• AI / ML architectures and data ecosystems.
• Data architecture, data management, and analytics.
• Cloud platforms and distributed systems.
• Solution, product, and customer architecture leadership at enterprise scale.

What We Offer

We’re all about diversity. We operate in 200 countries and speak 60 different languages and cultures. We’re really proud of our inclusive environment. Our offices are comfortable and fun places to work, and we make sure you get to work from home too. Find out what it's like to join our team and take a step closer to your best life ever.

• Flex Week: Work from home up to 2 days/week (depending on your team’s needs).
• Flex Day: Make your workday suit your life and plans.
• Flex Location: Take up to 30 days a year to work from any location in the world.
• Employee Wellbeing: We’ve got you covered with our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), for you and your dependents 24/7, 365 days/year. We also offer Champion Health – a personalised platform that supports a range of wellbeing needs.
• Professional Development: Level up your skills with our training platforms, including LinkedIn Learning.
• Competitive Benefits: Competitive benefits that make sense with both your local market and employment status.

SITA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value a diverse workforce. In support of our Employment Equity Program, we encourage women, aboriginal people, members of visible minorities, and/or persons with disabilities to apply and self‑identify in the application process.