Expert Solution Architecture

At CN, we work together to move our company-and North America-forward. Be part of our Information & Technology (I&T) team, a critical piece of the engine that keeps us in motion. From enterprise architecture to operational technology, our teams use the agile methodology to automate and digitize our railroad ensuring our operations run optimally and safely and our employees can focus on value-added tasks. You will be able to develop your skills and career in our close-knit, safety-focused culture working together as ONE TEAM. The careers we offer are meaningful because the work we do matters. Join us! Job Summary

The role of Expert Solution Architect is to define a sound architecture that will meet the Business and IT needs and that will align with the CN directions and standards. The main area of focus will be to assess Cloud (SaaS) solutions and define their integration into the CN application landscape. This includes the definition of solution architecture at High and detailed level, collaborate with Enterprise Architecture and other solution architects, provide governance in the delivery of the solution to designers & integrators. More precisely, the Expert defines the solution and validates with other stakeholders (e.g. security, RAM, Safety, etc.), drives alignment of the proposed solution with the Enterprise & Domain strategies, roadmaps and manages risk mitigation and as required drives issue escalation & resolution related to the solution architecture. 

Main Responsibilities

Decision Making & Impacts

For project or program: accountability is to define a solution that balances risk, impacts, and benefits and ensures all the facts, decisions and options are well documented. Accountable to drive decisions making collaborating with different I&T stakeholders by exposing the problem, the options and decision rational i.e. Risk, impacts and benefits. Type of decisions includes:

·       How business needs to be supported: people, process or technology

·       How to technically support business capabilities: application, information, technology

·       Should we re-use existing technology, buy new or build it.

·       Source of the information and level of management required.

·       Minimized impact to IT organization and TCO.

·       Impacts CN’s overall Solution architecture ability to deliver solution for project or program.

·       Expert decisions enable CN in making the right investments choice in IT enablement of Business capabilities. Outcome of mislead decision may lead in wrong investment, unnecessary expenses or technical debts.

Level of Interaction/Influence

External

·       Interact with Vendors in evaluating & selecting product: RFI, RFP, RFQ.

Internal

·       Interact with Senior Managers to present project’s architecture.

·       Work with other solution architects, experts, vendors, business, analysts, designers, and integrators to deliver Solution architecture for project or program.

·       Interact with Project manager to resolve issue and manage risks.

·       Interact with Enterprise Architecture and other I&T teams to get the decisions accepted.

Employees Supervised/Org. Structure

·       Individual Contributor

Requirements

Education/Certification/Designation

·       Bachelor degree in computer sciences, engineering or equivalent degree and experience

Skills/Knowledge

·       Strong architecture knowledge within numerous fields: business, security, application, information, and technology architecture facets

·       Strong ability to bring complex concept to actionable architecture deliverable.

·       Strong capacity to learn new concepts and technology quickly with the capacity to coach, mentor and develop others in learning them.

·       Strong ability at making hard decisions by understanding and explaining trade -offs between business enablement and technology economics impacts.

·       Ability to influence business and technology stakeholders to define a solution that meets stakeholder’s requirements.

·       Very good ability to build collaborative cross functional relationships, pulling together and maintaining a cohesive and high functioning team.

·       Strong ability to lead team on a mandate and to lead decisions.

·       Capable of building and safekeeping integrity and credibility among all solution’s stakeholders (Business & IT).

·       Ability to deliver mandate with great autonomy - self-driven.

·       Excellent written and oral communications skills.

Experience

·       Minimum 10-15 years overall IT work experience

·       Minimum 10 years integrating SaaS solutions into an existing ecosystem

·       Minimum 10 years working directly with business partners understanding their requirements, and assisting/driving RFI, RFP, RFQ

This position is posted as a grade 7. For internal candidates, note that the grade level of the position may adjust based on the employee's experience

About CN

 

CN is a world-class transportation leader and trade-enabler. Essential to the economy, to the customers, and to the communities it serves, CN safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year. As the only railroad connecting Canada’s Eastern and Western coasts with the Southern tip of the U.S. through a 19,500 mile rail network, CN and its affiliates have been contributing to community prosperity and sustainable trade since 1919. CN is committed to programs supporting social responsibility and environmental stewardship. At CN, we work as ONE TEAM, focused on safety, sustainability and our customers, providing operational and supply chain excellence to deliver results.