Lead Architect - Enterprise & AI Enablement - Cary, United States

When you join MetLife’s Global Technology team, you’ll be part of a forward-thinking group dedicated to shaping the future of digital solutions for customers worldwide. You’ll develop, maintain and support technology applications and delivery, leveraging AI, automation, and contemporary ways of working to enhance experiences and drive business outcomes. Your work will simplify complex processes, improve tech resiliency, and ensure high-performing, seamless solutions that power life’s most important moments. In this dynamic environment, you’ll collaborate with talented peers across teams and functions, expanding your skills in impactful ways. Ready to push boundaries and set new industry standards? Join us and help drive the future of technology forward.

Enterprise Architecture ensures a holistic strategy and approach to technology solutions by working broadly and globally across the company. We drive MetLife toward a simplified and consistent architecture, enabling quality, agility, and cost-effectiveness. We support all areas of MetLife in developing and implementing enterprise strategies across Business Units, Global Operations, Application Development, Information Security, Data & Analytics, and Infrastructure. MetLife is seeking a Lead Architect to enable AI-powered development platforms for Citizen Developers across the enterprise. This role focuses on making AI tools and platforms easy to use, while ensuring they meet enterprise standards for security, transparency, and responsible use. The architect will design platforms, guardrails, and reusable patterns that allow Associates and Citizen Developers to quickly build solutions without creating hidden risk, technical debt, or compliance issues. The role balances ease of use with strong governance, ensuring AI capabilities can scale safely across the organization. You will work closely with architecture, security, privacy, and platform teams to define how AI and agent-based capabilities are delivered consistently and responsibly.

• Domain expertise in AI platforms, agent frameworks, low-code/no-code ecosystems, and enterprise integration patterns.
• Design and define reference architectures, reusable patterns, and guardrails for AI-enabled associate and citizen development.
• Establish governance-by-design capabilities, including embedded controls for security, compliance, explainability, and transparency.
• Research and hands-on testing of new technologies and techniques for use with agent platforms.
• Participant and core contributor to the Center of Excellent for citizen agent development.
• Partner with engineering, security, and architecture teams to validate solutions and drive adoption.
• Enable reuse through templates, components, and accelerators that reduce complexity and technical debt.
• Promote adoption through training, guidance, and mentoring across both technical and business teams.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering discipline or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering or architecture in enterprise environments.
• Experience with modern AI concepts, including agentic AI, MCP servers, and/or the creation of AI plugins and skills.

• Knowledge of cloud-native architectures, APIs, and secure integration patterns.
• Demonstrated expertise in security, operational, and resiliency architecture principles.
• Experience with platforms like Claude AI, Copilot Studio, or similar ecosystems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives requiring engagement and support from partner organizations.

• Experience with citizen developer platform enablement at scale.
• Familiarity with responsible AI concepts such as explainability and auditability.
• Cloud PaaS technologies, Power BI, Kubernetes, web APIs, API security protocols, etc., with preferred experience in Azure.
• Experience working in large enterprise environments, preferably in financial services.
• Demonstrated influencing and negotiation skills.
• Demonstrated experience with enabling technology adoption in an Enterprise environment.

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The expected salary range for this position is$105,000 - $161,600. This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms. 

Benefits We Offer About MetLife MetLife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment decisions are made without regards to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status (although applicants and employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States), uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law (“protected characteristics”).