Assistant Director, Business Architecture

Job Description

What You'll Do

• As an Assistant Director of Enterprise Architecture focused on Business Architecture, you’ll help us simplify complex business challenges, translate strategy into action, and create a shared understanding of how the business delivers value and must evolve. This position is in our Benefits & Protection (B&P) business unit, which provides small to midsize business owners and their employees with solutions that help them build and protect their business and financial security.

• Serving as the B&P Business Architecture Lead, you’ll provide expert leadership for Business Architecture across B&P as part of the B&P Enterprise Architecture Team. You’ll partner with senior business and technology leaders, strategists, portfolio and product leaders, other Enterprise Architects, and delivery teams to connect strategy, investment, operating models, technology, and execution. You’ll also represent B&P within Principal’s broader Business Architecture community – helping connect B&P-specific perspectives with enterprise models and practices, and contributing to Principal’s overall Business Architecture maturity.

You’ll have the opportunity to:

• Translate B&P strategy into business outcomes, capability priorities, value stream implications, information needs, target-state perspectives, and execution roadmaps.

• Lead Business Architecture methods, facilitation, quality, and practice development across B&P.

• Connect strategic objectives with portfolios, products, initiatives, investments, and technology roadmaps.

• Identify cross-functional dependencies, sequencing considerations, business impacts, and opportunities for modernization.

• Develop and steward reusable business perspectives, including capability maps, value streams, information concept models, organization views, gap assessments, and target-state architectures.

• Support product discovery, future-state design, operating model analysis, vendor evaluation, solution design, and major transformation initiatives.

• Bring business context and structured analysis into architecture reviews, governance forums, and strategic decisions.

• Coach and mentor B&P Enterprise Architects and other partners in the practical application of Business Architecture.

• Represent B&P in Principal’s Business Architecture community and contribute to enterprise reference models, standards, and practices.

• Build trusted relationships across Business, Product, Portfolio, Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, and IT leadership.

• Who You Are

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.

• 10+ years of related experience in a complex, multi-business-unit organization.

• Demonstrated Business Architecture expertise, including practical application of business capabilities, value streams, information concepts, organization perspectives, strategy maps, and target-state views.

• Experience translating business strategy into architecture implications, priorities, roadmaps, and actions.

• Demonstrated experience working with and presenting to executive management and senior business and technology leaders.

• Experience leading cross-functional efforts involving business and technical disciplines.

• Strong critical thinking, analytical, conceptual, facilitation, and problem-solving skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to adapt architecture concepts for different audiences.

• Ability to navigate ambiguity, facilitate consensus, influence without direct authority, and independently deliver high-quality results.

• Experience coaching, mentoring, or developing Business Architecture proficiency in others.

• Understanding the relationships between Business, Information and Data, Application, Technology, and Security Architecture, with deep expertise in Business Architecture.

• Experience working within Agile, product-oriented, or similar planning and delivery environments.

• Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree.

• Business Architecture Guild Certified Business Architect (CBA) certification.

• Experience establishing or governing business-unit or enterprise reference models.

• Experience supporting portfolio planning, product discovery, operating model design, major transformation, or architecture governance.

• Knowledge of financial services, employee benefits, and/or insurance industries.

• Experience contributing to or leading an architecture community of practice.

• Salary Range Information

• Salary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.

• Salary Range (Non-Exempt expressed as hourly; Exempt expressed as yearly)

• $141000 - $170000 / year

• Time Off Program

• Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don’t accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

• Pension Eligible

• Yes

• Work Environment

• This role offers in-office, hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek), and remote work arrangements (only if residing more than 30 miles from Des Moines, IA, Raleigh, NC, or Charlotte, NC). You’ll work with your leader to figure out which option may align best based on several factors.

• Work Authorization/Sponsorship

• At this time, we're not considering candidates that need any type of immigration sponsorship now or in the future or those needing work authorization for this role. (This includes, but is not limited to students on F1-OPT, F1-CPT, J-1, etc.)

• Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants

• Investment Code of Ethics

• For Principal Global Investors positions, you’ll need to follow an Investment Code of Ethics related to personal and business conduct as well as personal trading activities for you and members of our household. These same requirements may also apply to other positions across the organization.

• Experience Principal

• At Principal, we value connecting on both a personal and professional level. Together, we’re imagining a more purpose-led future for financial services – and that starts with you. Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees. And we support our employees the same way we support our customers: with comprehensive, competitive benefit offerings crafted to protect their physical, financial, and social well-being. Check out our careers site to learn more about our purpose, values and benefits.

• Principal is an Equal Opportunity Employer

• All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

• Posting Window

• We will accept applications for 3 full days following the Original Posting Date, after which the posting may remain open or be removed based upon applications received. If we choose to post the job again, we will accept additional applications for at least 1 full day following the Most Recently Posted Date. Please submit applications in a timely manner as there is no guarantee the posting will be available beyond the applicable deadline.

• Original Posting Date

• 9/30/2026

• Most Recently Posted Date

• 9/30/2026

• Principal uses artificial intelligence tools to assist in reviewing and evaluating job applications, fraud prevention, and candidate matching and comparisons. These AI tools support our human recruiters in the initial review process but do not make final hiring decisions without human involvement. By