Global Enterprise Architecture Manager
Forvia · Nanterre
Forvia, a sustainable mobility technology leader
We pioneer technology for mobility experience that matter to people.
Your mission, roles and responsibilities
Forvia Interiors is looking for his future Global Enterprise Architecture Manager to be based at its headquarters located in Nanterre (Paris area).
ROLE PURPOSE
The Global Enterprise Architecture Manager defines, maintains and governs the target IT architecture for the company at global level. The role ensures consistency between business strategy and the IT landscape across applications, data, integration and infrastructure, and establishes the architecture principles, standards and reference models required to guide technology decisions. The role also assures alignment with the reference architecture during major IT projects and supports regional and local teams in designing scalable, secure and cost-effective solutions.
KEY MISSIONS
- Define and maintain the global target enterprise architecture and its evolution roadmap, translating business strategy and transformation priorities into coherent architectural direction.
- Establish, document and govern enterprise architecture principles, standards, patterns and reference architectures across applications, data, integration, cloud and infrastructure.
- Maintain a transparent view of the current and target IT landscape, including major applications, technology components, interfaces, dependencies, lifecycle status and strategic fit.
- Chair or facilitate architecture governance and design reviews for major IT initiatives; assess solution options, document decisions and ensure deviations are visible, justified and governed.
- Guarantee alignment of major projects and technology investments with the approved target and reference architectures throughout design and delivery.
- Advise business and IT stakeholders on solution architecture, platform choices, integration approaches, data flows and infrastructure patterns, balancing business value, security, scalability, resilience and cost.
- Partner closely with Cybersecurity, Applications, Infrastructure, Data and Digital teams to ensure coherent end-to-end architectures and effective incorporation of technical and compliance requirements.
- Support regional and local IT teams in designing reusable, maintainable and cost-effective solutions, while promoting global standards and limiting unnecessary complexity or duplication.
- Own the architecture repository and related governance practices, ensuring architecture information, standards, decisions and roadmaps are accurate, accessible and consistently maintained.
- Drive application and technology portfolio rationalization by identifying redundancies, obsolescence, non-standard solutions, technical debt and opportunities for simplification or reuse.
- Define architecture requirements and contribute to the evaluation and selection of strategic platforms, technologies, publishers and service providers.
- Monitor technology and market developments; assess their relevance, risks and potential value, and recommend pragmatic evolution of the architecture roadmap.
- Provide architecture input to strategic planning, portfolio prioritization, M&A or carve-out activities and major transformation programs.
- Define and monitor architecture governance indicators, including standards adoption, exception management, technical-debt evolution and delivery of roadmap actions.
- Lead and develop the Enterprise Architecture team, clarifying accountabilities, coaching team members and building a strong global architecture community and stakeholder network.
Your profile and competencies to succeed
EXPERIENCE
10+ years of relevant experience in enterprise, solution, application, data, integration, cloud or infrastructure architecture within a complex international organization, including significant responsibility for cross-domain architecture governance. Demonstrated experience defining target and reference architectures, leading architecture reviews and advising major transformation programs is required. Proven ability to work across business and IT domains and to influence senior stakeholders and delivery teams is essential. Previous people-leadership or transversal team-leadership experience is strongly valued.
EDUCATION
Master’s degree or equivalent level in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Telecommunications or a related field. A recognized enterprise architecture, cloud, data, integration or security certification is an asset.
KEY COMPETENCIES
- Advanced enterprise and solution architecture capability across applications, data, integration and infrastructure domains.
- Strong ability to translate business strategy, capabilities and requirements into target architectures, transition roadmaps and pragmatic design decisions.
- Deep understanding of architecture principles, patterns, reference models, interoperability, APIs, middleware, data pipelines, cloud and hybrid environments.
- Sound knowledge of cybersecurity, privacy, resilience, business continuity and compliance requirements as they apply to architecture decisions.
- Architecture-governance discipline, including design authorities, review gates, decision records, standards management and exception handling.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to assess trade-offs among value, risk, scalability, performance, maintainability and total cost.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, including the ability to explain complex architecture topics clearly to executive, business and technical audiences.
- Leadership and people-development capability — able to set direction, delegate effectively, coach architects and animate a global community without relying solely on hierarchy.
- Experience with enterprise architecture repositories and modelling tools; knowledge of LeanIX or equivalent tooling is an asset.
- Fluency in English; additional languages are an asset.