Digital Workplace, Principal Architect

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Job Description

As a valued contributor to our team, you will consult with management on the development of processes and procedures for designing and implementing components of technological structures. In this role, you will create solutions with a process-driven view, as well as maintain and/or update existing structures.

THE IMPACT YOU WILL MAKE

Fannie Mae is seeking a highly seasoned Principal Architect to provide enterprise technical leadership and architectural authority for Digital Workplace platforms. This leader will own architecture standards and modernization strategy for endpoints, Microsoft 365 collaboration services, virtual desktop and DaaS environments, telephony, and AI-enabled workplace capabilities to ensuring secure, compliant, and operationally resilient delivery in highly regulated financial and government contexts.

As the Digital Workplace Principal Architect, you will:

• Own and publish enterprise architecture standards and long-term technology direction across endpoint engineering, collaboration, mobility, telephony, virtual desktop (VDI/DaaS) and related workplace platforms.
• Lead large-scale platform transformation initiatives, including rationalization of legacy tooling and migration to modern native management solutions (e.g., Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager).
• Establish and enforce architecture patterns and guardrails for desktop baselines, image lifecycle governance, software packaging frameworks, patch orchestration strategies, and endpoint compliance/reporting.
• Provide architectural authority and solution review for Microsoft 365 services (Teams, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online), identity integration, and unified collaboration experience design.
• Define secure configuration and performance architectures for virtual desktop and desktop-as-a-service deployments to meet user-experience and operational objectives.
• Operationalize Digital Employee Experience (DEX) capabilities to enable proactive service management, observability, and workplace analytics.
• Serve as a primary technical representative during regulatory reviews, internal control assessments, and architecture governance forums.
• Partner closely with Cybersecurity, Risk, Compliance, and Enterprise Architecture to ensure workplace technologies meet auditability, data protection, change governance, and operational resilience requirements.
• Mentor engineering teams, review detailed solution designs, and ensure alignment with enterprise standards and long-term architecture strategy.
• Translate emerging workplace innovations (including AI-enabled productivity such as Microsoft Copilot) into practical, defensible enterprise architectures.

• Define and govern enterprise architecture standards for endpoints, collaboration, telephony and VDI/DaaS.
• Drive modernization and migration programs (legacy rationalization → Intune/Configuration Manager).
• Author architecture patterns for baselines, imaging, packaging, patching, and compliance telemetry.
• Lead M365 architecture and integration decisions for secure collaboration.
• Design resilient, secure virtual desktop architectures and DEX telemetry.
• Lead regulator-facing technical preparation and defend architecture/risk posture.
• Collaborate with Cybersecurity and Risk to assure Zero Trust, data protection and operational resilience.
• Advise senior leadership and mentor engineering teams.

• 8 years' experience in digital workplace architecture, endpoint engineering leadership, enterprise collaboration platforms, or related infrastructure domains.
• Demonstrated ownership of enterprise architecture standards or platform direction in large, complex organizations.
• Deep technical expertise in Microsoft 365 architecture, Teams/Exchange/SharePoint and identity integration.
• Hands-on experience with desktop baseline engineering, image lifecycle management, software packaging, patch governance, and endpoint compliance reporting.
• Proven leadership and delivery experience migrating legacy endpoint management platforms to modern solutions such as Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager.
• Experience designing or governing enterprise-scale virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or DaaS environments.
• Experience deploying or scaling Digital Employee Experience (DEX) platforms (e.g., Nexthink, Aternity, or similar).
• Extensive experience operating within highly regulated government, defense, or financial services environments.
• Demonstrated experience engaging auditors, regulators, or internal governance bodies to defend architecture decisions.
• Strong executive communication skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders.

• 15+ years of experience.
• Bachelor degree or equivalent.