Vice President, Chief Architect

Position Overview

• Location Type: Remote
• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Salary: Not specified
• Description: The Chief Architect role provides the overall technology architecture strategy to support 2U's business vision and growth objectives. Reporting directly to the CTO, this VP-level position is responsible for defining the enterprise-wide architectural framework, standards, and roadmap that will drive technological innovation across the organization. The Chief Architect works closely with a team of domain architects and collaborates cross-functionally with product, engineering, and business leaders to ensure our technology stack remains scalable, secure, and aligned with business goals. This role serves as the principal technical authority, balancing cutting-edge solutions with pragmatic implementation approaches to support 2U's evolving business needs in the education technology space. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience with learning management systems, marketing technology, modern data platforms, the latest development frameworks, and emerging AI capabilities to help drive our market growth, platform consolidation, and global technology workforce transformation initiatives.

Requirements

• Extensive experience with learning management systems.
• Experience with marketing technology.
• Experience with modern data platforms.
• Knowledge of the latest development frameworks.
• Familiarity with emerging AI capabilities (including LLMs, RAG architectures, and machine learning).
• Strong understanding of enterprise-wide architectural frameworks and standards.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement the enterprise-wide architectural vision, strategy, and roadmap that aligns with and enables 2U's business objectives and digital transformation initiatives.
• Work closely with domain architects across various technology disciplines (application, data, infrastructure, security, integration) to execute on the strategy.
• Lead architectural oversight for major initiatives, including platform consolidation across lines of business and technology solutions to grow market share.
• Partner with senior leadership to translate business strategy into architectural decisions that drive competitive advantage and operational excellence.
• Establish architecture governance processes, review boards, and standards to ensure consistency and quality across all technology initiatives.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends to identify opportunities for innovation and improved efficiency, with particular focus on AI capabilities.
• Provide technical leadership in evaluating strategic vendor solutions, partnerships, integration opportunities & buy vs. build decisions.

Company Information

• Company: 2U
• Mission: To eliminate the back row in education.
• Description: 2U powers more than 4,000 online higher education offerings – from free courses to full degrees. Together with more than 230 colleges, universities, and corporate partners, we are helping to unlock human potential.