What is an Enterprise Architect?

Enterprise architects are different from traditional architects because they work in IT. Their job is to ensure that an organization uses the best technology solutions to achieve its goals. This may include creating systems for managing and storing data or leveraging existing systems for a bigger impact.

Enterprise architects may also optimize a business' current IT resources to reduce cost and optimize efficiency. These professionals can work in a wide range of industries, including telecommunication, management, insurance, and education.

A day in the life of an enterprise architect includes communicating with staff members to understand their needs and creating systems to integrate and meet them. An enterprise architect may also manage IT assets like computers, servers, and data storage units.

To become an enterprise architect, you need a bachelor's degree in information technology. You'll also need technical, communication, and project management skills. Enterprise architects also have to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in technology.

What Does an Enterprise Architect Do

When it comes to the most important skills required to be an enterprise architect, we found that a lot of resumes listed 6.8% of enterprise architects included cloud, while 6.1% of resumes included infrastructure, and 4.8% of resumes included roadmap. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

Learn more about what an Enterprise Architect does

How To Become an Enterprise Architect

If you're interested in becoming an enterprise architect, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 67.2% of enterprise architects have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 23.3% of enterprise architects have master's degrees. Even though most enterprise architects have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become an Enterprise Architect
Top Enterprise Architect Jobs Near You

Enterprise Architect Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, an enterprise architect can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as project manager, progress to a title such as senior project manager and then eventually end up with the title senior infrastructure project manager.

Enterprise Architect

Average Salary for an Enterprise Architect

Enterprise Architects in America make an average salary of $118,506 per year or $57 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $162,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $86,000 per year.
Average Enterprise Architect Salary
$118,506 Yearly
$56.97 hourly
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Roles and Types of Enterprise Architect

The role of an enterprise architect includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general enterprise architect responsibilities:

  • Experience in a manufacturing environment with erp strategic leadership. Develop
  • The qualified applicant will support development needs of disease surveillance systems. This project is global in scope,
  • Create the future state and technical roadmap for key software delivery platforms starting with sysco’s api platform. Analyze existing software issues

There are several types of enterprise architect, including:

Architect

Role:

From designing to planning, architects have a hand in houses, factories, office buildings and other structures. Working from an office, architects spend their days developing plans for such structures and meet with clients to ensure their dream is being carried out.

While it all sounds like fun and games, you do need a good amount of education and experience to be able to become an architect. A bachelor's degree is step one. Then you need experience through a paid internship. Before accepting a job offer, you even need to pass the Architect Registration Examination.

  • Average Salary: $86,635
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Solutions Architect

Role:

A solutions architect develops and oversees the processes involved in integrating IT systems to meet an organization's needs. He/She reviews project challenges to identify alternatives and minimize risks, evaluates the existing system infrastructure, and works with project management and IT development teams to improve the infrastructure. Additionally, he/she informs stakeholders on the progress of product development processes and budgets. Asides from that, he/she develops and implements a framework for necessary contributions from different departments.

Most solutions architects have at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field. Employers will require at least six years of relevant work experience. However, you must possess technical, analytical, communication, project management, and leadership skills. You must also have experience developing IT and cloud infrastructure. Plus, you must be familiar with operating systems. Solutions architects are paid about $127,285 a year. Their salary is between $90,000 and $180,000.

  • Average Salary: $116,327
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Technology Architect

Role:

A technology architect is a professional who designs and plans the carrying out of new technology and systems. They are usually interested in emerging technologies and can plan for the nearest future by just using logical thinking. As a technology architect, you will report directly to a technology director or an executive team member. Being a technology architect demands that you use the company's IT business process when a new project is started. It is also a part of your responsibilities to design the structure of new technology solutions.

Once implementation begins, you have to oversee the project to make sure that the various groups are working towards accomplishing set objectives. You are also expected to communicate the new technology needs you've identified with development teams so they could make their suggestions as well. As a technology architect, you need at least a bachelor's degree in computer science or other related fields. Employers prefer to hire candidates with experience and some certification. You will earn $97,775 on average per year on the job.

  • Average Salary: $108,837
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Enterprise Architect Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active enterprise architect jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where enterprise architects earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Enterprise Architect Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California4,580$127,897
2Texas3,136$106,721
3Illinois1,839$108,995
4Virginia1,824$108,627
5New York1,819$118,022
6Florida1,556$101,796
7Pennsylvania1,427$111,558
8Georgia1,390$109,146
9Massachusetts1,361$112,153
10North Carolina1,260$113,782
11New Jersey1,163$118,008
12Ohio1,018$104,245
13Washington1,017$105,930
14Maryland977$108,031
15Oregon856$101,279
16Colorado756$104,004
17Minnesota746$100,090
18Michigan733$107,548
19Arizona699$108,855
20Missouri590$104,929
21Utah501$106,391
22Connecticut487$112,491
23Indiana480$98,239
24Wisconsin470$100,544
25Tennessee423$106,569
26South Carolina300$118,665
27Alabama285$94,968
28Kentucky277$97,189
29Nevada242$107,748
30Rhode Island242$96,545
31Kansas227$92,472
32Arkansas220$98,520
33Iowa213$95,755
34New Hampshire192$93,713
35Nebraska191$91,868
36Idaho190$88,588
37Louisiana181$97,977
38Oklahoma170$91,431
39New Mexico159$94,537
40North Dakota156$86,920
41Delaware131$107,930
42Montana124$86,732
43Vermont116$96,903
44Maine102$90,410
45Mississippi95$94,172
46West Virginia94$97,322
47Hawaii92$100,224
48South Dakota74$87,717
49Alaska68$85,699
50Wyoming62$96,652

Enterprise Architect Education

Enterprise Architect Majors

Computer Science
26.0 %
Business
13.9 %
Electrical Engineering
10.0 %

Enterprise Architect Degrees

Bachelors

67.2 %

Masters

23.3 %

Associate

5.0 %

Top Colleges for Enterprise Architects

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,832

Enrollment

4,550

2. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

3. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

4. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

5. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

6. Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA • Private

In-State Tuition

$12,424

Enrollment

15,201

7. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

8. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

9. Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,453

Enrollment

4,312

10. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Top Skills For an Enterprise Architect

Choose From 10+ Customizable Enterprise Architect Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Enterprise Architect templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Enterprise Architect resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Enterprise Architect Resume
Enterprise Architect Resume
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Enterprise Architect Resume

Enterprise Architect diversity

Enterprise Architect Gender Distribution

Male
Male
88%
Female
Female
12%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among enterprise architects, 12.3% of them are women, while 87.7% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among enterprise architects is White, which makes up 67.7% of all enterprise architects.

  • The most common foreign language among enterprise architects is Spanish at 23.1%.

Online Courses For Enterprise Architect That You May Like

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Welcome to the course Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Professional. This course prepares you for the highest level of OCI certification, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Professional. Take a deep dive into designing and deploying Oracle Cloud Infrastructure solutions and learn Cloud-Native, microservices and serverless architectures...

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Learn Blockchain Architecture skills and design patterns to build Enterprise Blockchain Solutions...

3. Standard 9.1- Part 1 Foundation Enterprise Architect Course

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Learn about the TOGAF 9.1 Standard and prepare for the certification Level 1 Foundation...

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Best States For an Enterprise Architect

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as an enterprise architect. The best states for people in this position are California, South Carolina, New York, and New Jersey. Enterprise architects make the most in California with an average salary of $127,897. Whereas in South Carolina and New York, they would average $118,665 and $118,022, respectively. While enterprise architects would only make an average of $118,008 in New Jersey, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. California

Total Enterprise Architect Jobs: 4,580
Highest 10% Earn:
$184,000
Location Quotient:
1.24

$127,897

Avg. Salary

View 4,580 Enterprise Architect Jobs In CA

2. North Carolina

Total Enterprise Architect Jobs: 1,260
Highest 10% Earn:
$160,000
Location Quotient:
1.04

$113,782

Avg. Salary

View 1,260 Enterprise Architect Jobs In NC

3. Pennsylvania

Total Enterprise Architect Jobs: 1,427
Highest 10% Earn:
$158,000
Location Quotient:
0.97

$111,558

Avg. Salary

View 1,427 Enterprise Architect Jobs In PA
Full List Of Best States For Enterprise Architects

How Do Enterprise Architects Rate Their Jobs?

Working as an Enterprise Architect? Share your experience anonymously.
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Top Enterprise Architect Employers

We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ enterprise architects and discovered their number of enterprise architect opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Capgemini was the best, especially with an average salary of $96,425. Arrow Electronics follows up with an average salary of $124,595, and then comes Salesforce with an average of $124,164. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as an enterprise architect. The employers include Workday, KBR, and Umpqua Bank

Most Common Employers For Enterprise Architect

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Microsoft$146,721$70.5419
2American Red Cross$145,695$70.0563
3Adobe$144,054$69.2621
4Hewlett Packard Enterprise$131,636$63.2939
5Zions Ban$131,179$63.0721
6Dell$125,015$60.1019
7Arrow Electronics$124,595$59.90221
8Salesforce$124,164$59.69182
9Edward Jones$123,474$59.3617
10T-Mobile$121,761$58.5426
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Enterprise Architect Videos

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Updated April 6, 2023