Who are we?

Western National Insurance Group is a private mutual insurance company with over 120 years of experience serving policyholders' property-and-casualty insurance needs in the Midwestern, Northwestern, and Southwestern United States. Known as “The Relationship Company®,” we have always defined success as a measure of the relationships we’ve built over time. In everything that we do, we know that delivering a friendly and helpful interaction makes for a better experience for everyone involved. That’s the power of “nice”. At Western National, nice is something we work to bring to every person and organization with whom we partner and serve.

Does this opportunity interest you?

Western National is seeking an Infrastructure Architect to join our team!

The individual in this role will join our team and provide technical leadership, standards, and blueprints for Infrastructure platforms and services. The individual in this role will help to design and build fit-for-purpose, cost-effective, and robust Infrastructure Technology Solutions. This role will support the delivery of business and IT programs and projects to meet business and non-functional requirements.

• Drives the definition of infrastructure architecture and roadmap including:
• Architecture vision, principles, standards (including standard products and platforms) and policies.
• Target state blueprints and roadmap for infrastructure architecture strategy.
• Maintain and facilitate the process for infrastructure lifecycle management.
• Defines and champions the use of the infrastructure standards, procedures, and best practice within the team.
• Works closely with Enterprise Architects to align the infrastructure strategy with the enterprise architecture (all technology domains), Information Security, and business strategies.
• Contributes to the advancement of holistic enterprise monitoring and ITSM capabilities.
• Socializes and secures support for infrastructure architecture strategy and roadmap from key stakeholders.
• Ensures the infrastructure team fully understands, follows, and champions the technology standards and patterns as defined within Enterprise Architecture.
• Leads analysis of the current IT environment to detect critical deficiencies and recommend solutions for improvement.
• Monitors and ensures compliance to corporate control standards for quality and security.
• Participates in relevant solution design review activities to ensure alignment to infrastructure architecture, infrastructure strategies and architecture principles.
• Supports Infrastructure and Solution Architects and technical teams in identifying and assessing options.
• Leads analysis of technology industry and market trends to determine their potential impact on the infrastructure architect.
• Provides technical leadership and escalation support for the resolution of defects, incidents and problems during the testing, implementation and transition phases of the programs and projects.
• Proactively draws out all types of requirements on the IT Infrastructure from stakeholders by using a variety of elicitation techniques such as interviewing, modelling, and surveying).
• Critically evaluates information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose high level information into details and distinguish user requests from the underlying business problems.
• Provides technical advice to colleagues on the use of the IT Infrastructure and integration of various business applications onto the Western National Infrastructure.

• Experience building and maintaining relationships at a senior level and having the ability to influence at all levels.
• Ability to listen and articulate ideas verbally, and in written form to a broad range of audiences.
• Ability to ask probing questions and deliver presentations.
• Ability to focus on the business/end user’s or customer’s needs and set expectations and understand end user behavior.
• Well-developed analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, and critical thinking skills, leveraging both logic and creativity.
• Strong troubleshooting and root cause analysis skills.
• Ability to identify patterns and generate informed ideas.
• Demonstrated ability to design solutions for enterprise scale and reusability.
• Minimum 10 years of IT experience.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in infrastructure strategy and architecture design.
• Professional competency in at least three technical specializations, with a broad understanding of other current and emerging technologies, such as Storage, Network, Telecom, Server, and Cloud.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related discipline preferred, or experience in lieu of degree.
• TOGAF certification is preferred.

Compensation overview

The targeted hiring range for this role is $119,610 - $146,190 annually. However, the base pay offered may vary depending on the job-related knowledge, skills, credentials, and experience of each candidate as well as other factors such as the scope and location of the role. Candidates looking for compensation outside of the posted range are encouraged to apply and will be considered based on their individual qualifications and/or may be considered for other positions.

Culture and Total Rewards

Western National has long been known as “The Relationship Company®”, and caring for our employees is part of that relationship commitment. We value connectiveness, empowerment, and accountability, and we believe that our employees are our biggest assets. Nearly half of our employees choose to stay at Western National for ten years or more!

Currently ranked as the 37th largest private company by revenue in Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal), Western National has earned accolades year-over-year as an employer of choice and garnered multiple awards for wellness in the workplace. Western National was also named a Star Tribune Top Workplace in 2021 and 2022. The Group is consistently recognized as a Ward’s 50 property-and-casualty insurance company for its outstanding financial results.

Western National offers full time employees a significant Total Rewards Package, including:

• Medical insurance Plan options and other standard employee benefits, including dental insurance, vision benefits, life insurance, disability insurance, and more!
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flex Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) Plan (plus company match)
• Wellbeing Program, including onsite fitness studio
• Time Off – including vacation, volunteer, and holiday pay
• 100% company-paid tuition reimbursement for approved job-relevant coursework and access to The Institutes (Risk & Insurance Education)
• Discounts on personal auto and homeowners insurance
• Paid parental leave
• Bonus opportunities

Western National believes in supporting balance between work and life by providing a flexible work environment, with includes a variety of hybrid and remote work arrangements designed to balance individual, job, department, and company needs.

Western National provides employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.