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This position has closed. Northwestern Mutual first posted this listing on Aug 28, 2017. It is still on their careers page, but a job that old is almost certainly not being filled, so we took it down on Oct 4, 2026. The interview prep below is still useful, and there are similar open roles at the bottom of this page.

Sr. Enterprise Architect

Northwestern Mutual · Milwaukee, WI · Full time · Enterprise Architecture1

Posted Aug 28, 2017 · We last checked this listing on Oct 4, 2026

Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about an architecture decision you got wrong.

What they are checking: Whether they can name one, since architects who cannot are expensive.

How do you bring engineering teams with you on a standard they did not choose?

What they are checking: Influence without authority, which is the whole job of an architect.

What would you do

The posting offers a high degree of freedom over the roadmap. What would you do with it?

What they are checking: Whether they arrive with a point of view, which is what that sentence is asking for.

This is a company nearly 160 years old. How does that change how you would approach change?

What they are checking: Whether they respect what exists or intend to replace it.

About the work

Tell me about a migration from on premise into a public cloud that you architected.

What they are checking: The posting names this directly, and it is very different from building cloud-native from scratch.

Which cloud platforms do you know deeply, and where are you shallower?

What they are checking: The posting asks for more than one, and honesty about the second one is the useful answer.

Walk me through how you would run a strategy that keeps both data centers and cloud.

What they are checking: The hybrid estate the posting describes, which is harder than either alone.

Which of Terraform, Packer, Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Kubernetes and OpenShift have you used in anger?

What they are checking: The posting calls hands-on experience a must, so this separates used from read about.

How do you build automation that is triggered by events without opening a security hole?

What they are checking: The posting pairs automation with secure practice, which most teams treat separately.

Talk me through key management and transport security in a multi-cloud estate.

What they are checking: Cloud connectivity security, which the posting is specific about.

Practice this interview out loud.

Offer builds a real interview for this exact role at Northwestern Mutual from your resume and this job description, asks the questions one at a time, and tells you what landed. The first one is free.

Practice this out loud

The full job description

As published by Northwestern Mutual.

At Northwestern Mutual, we believe relationships are built on trust. That our lives and our work matter. These beliefs launched our company nearly 160 years ago. Today, they're just a few of the reasons why people choose to build careers at Northwestern Mutual. We're strong and growing. In a company with such a long and storied history, this may be the most exciting and important time to be a part of Northwestern Mutual. We're strong, innovative and growing. We invest in our people. We provide opportunities for employees to grow themselves, their career and in turn, our business. We care. We make a positive difference in our communities. Nationally, thousands have benefitted from our support of research and programs to fight childhood cancer. Each year, our Foundation, employees and financial representatives donate time, talent and financial support to causes they're passionate about. We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are transforming our technology offering and seeking an Enterprise Architect to help guide teams throughout the organization as they build secure, scalable, and innovative technology solutions. Do you have experience tying business objectives to tech strategies? We want to connect with you. Do you crave an opportunity to build across platforms using emerging tech? You found it. Are you ready to join a thriving team that embraces change and encourages new ideas? Then please read on… What you’ll do: • Strategic planning including balancing short and long-term objectives/priorities with organizational goals and constraints • Lead development of designs & patterns • Provide architectural alignment on crucial efforts (design, code, test, deploy) • Identify technology/opportunities that advance our Digital Organization • Direct alignment of tech decisions across the Enterprise with roadmaps and architectural development models • Leads technical initiatives and organizational change across the enterprise • Provides day-today mentoring and coaching to less experienced professionals Who you are: • Broad and deep technical experience, and the ability to understand enterprise-wide implications of day to day decisions • Continually learning & applying new technologies • Can solve and negotiate technical, as well as people/process, challenges with facts and supporting evidence • Communicate with senior business as well as senior technical leaders • Deals with ambiguity and change and can still drive to needed outcomes and objectives • Ability to synthesize disconnected information and ideas into articulate, relevant and precise points of view • Can tie IT capabilities with business needs and goal What you’ll need: • Change Leader – influences above their level • Moves easily between technical and business audiences • Strong technical and business problem solving skills • Strong sense of ownership and dedication to results Requirements • Must be passionate about creating solutions, and solving complex problems – in the right way, at the right time, and for the right reasons • Experienced with and embraces Lean-Agile principles/DevOps environment • Must be teachable, give and receive feedback, and demonstrate success in their discipline on a consistent and transparent basis • Must be technology-agnostic; should not have a personal agenda or bias around technical decisions. • Experience with Enterprise Architecture best practices and frameworks to include analyzing, designing, developing, deploying and supporting software solutions, and/or infrastructure implementations/upgrades. • Specific technical requirements / platforms will vary • Experience in working with diverse teams and bringing people together to deliver on outcomes despite challenges, ambiguity and adversity • 6-8 years of Enterprise Architecture experience Req ID: 16021 Position Type: Regular Full Time Education Experience: Bachelor's Desired Employment Experience: 6-8 years Licenses/Certifications: FLSA Status: Exempt Posting Date: 08/04/2017