Principal Enterprise Architect, Emerging Technology

Category/Area of Expertise: IT & Technology
Job Requisition: 535999
Address: USA-IL-Chicago-300 South Riverside Plaza
Store Code: IT Executive & Administration (5167642)
Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of global food retailer Ahold Delhaize, is part of the U.S. family of brands, which includes five leading omnichannel grocery brands - Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop. Our associates support the brands with a wide range of services, including Finance, Legal, Sustainability, Commercial, Digital and E-commerce, Technology and more.
Primary Purpose
The Principal Enterprise Architect, Emerging Technology is a forward-looking senior architect who identifies, evaluates, and interprets emerging technology trends and disruptors to provide strategic insight into how they can be applied and integrated into key areas of the business. This role defines reference architectures, standards, and adoption frameworks for emerging technologies-like Agentic and Generative AI-and maintains an Emerging Tech Adoption Radar to highlight developments most relevant to retail grocery and the enterprise technology landscape.
Working closely with peer architects, architecture leaders, product, IT, and external partners, the Principal EA guides the responsible exploration and adoption of new technologies through structured assessment, risk and benefit analysis, and architecture alignment. With a strong engineering and architecture mindset, this role shapes informed adoption decisions, publishes thought leadership and education (e.g., briefs, white papers) for IT and business leadership, and helps ensure emerging technologies are introduced in a secure, scalable, and enterprise-aligned manner. Reports to the VP, Enterprise Architecture.
Our flexible/hybrid work schedule includes 3 in-person days at one of our core locations and 2 remote days. Our core office locations are Salisbury, NC; Chicago, IL; Quincy, MA.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.
Duties and Responsibilities

• Develops enterprise reference architectures and technology standards; drives rationalization opportunities.
• Guides target state definition and roadmap sequencing across domains and platforms.
• Runs design authority processes; resolves cross program architecture issues and risks.
• Evaluates market and technology trends; recommends adoption/expansion/retirement paths.
• Partners with Finance to align architecture choices with TCO and value realization.
• Coaches architects and engineering leaders on modern design and integration practices.
• Ensures alignment between business strategy and technology architecture, translating strategic objectives into actionable architecture principles, standards, and implementation guidance.
• Leads enterprise-wide architecture governance and decision frameworks, ensuring consistency, compliance, and traceability across major initiatives, platforms, and solution designs.

• May be called upon to support critical escalations and must be available during urgent IT incidents as needed.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent years of work experience.
• 10+ years in solution/enterprise architecture, including governance and standards leadership.
• Strong business acumen, analytical judgment, and ability to simplify complex decisions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience implementing reference architectures in cloud enabled environments and product operating models.

Salary Range: $163,280.00 - $244,920.00
All ADUSA job offers take multiple factors into consideration including, but not limited to salary range, internal equity, a candidate's qualifications, geographic region, job-related knowledge and skills.
This position is eligible for an incentive bonus based on company performance as provided by the plan terms and governing documents.
#LI-Hybrid #LI-CW1
At Ahold Delhaize USA, we provide services to one of the largest portfolios of grocery companies in the nation, and we're actively seeking top talent.
Our team shares a common motivation to drive change, take ownership and enable our brands to better care for their customers. We thrive on supporting great local grocery brands and their strategies.
Our associates are the heartbeat of our organization. We are committed to offering a welcoming work environment where all associates can succeed and thrive. Guided by our values of courage, care, teamwork, integrity (and even a little humor), we are dedicated to being a great place to work.
We believe in collaboration, curiosity, and continuous learning in all that we think, create and do. While building a culture where personal and professional growth are just as important as business growth, we invest in our people, empowering them to learn, grow and deliver at all levels of the business.
#BI-Hybrid