STEM OPT Architect Jobs
Architecture roles qualify for STEM OPT when your degree falls under an eligible CIP code in architecture or a related STEM field. Your employer must be enrolled in E-Verify to hire you, and the 24-month STEM OPT extension gives you up to 36 months total to build licensure experience, complete IDP hours, and pursue long-term sponsorship.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
CLA is a top 10 national professional services firm whose purpose is to create opportunities every day, for our clients, our people, and our communities through industry-focused wealth advisory, digital, audit, tax, consulting, and outsourcing services. Even with more than 8,500 people, 130 U.S. locations, and a global reach, we promise to know you and help you.
CLA is dedicated to building a culture that invites different beliefs and perspectives to the table, so we can truly know and help our clients, communities, and each other.
CLA is growing and seeking to hire an experienced Business Technology Architect to join our talented Information Technology team. The position offers growth, flexibility, and a collaborative work environment.
In this position you should have the following; excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate at all levels. Strong problem-solving and creative skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment. Most important, demonstrate a high level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation.
This role connects business strategy with technology capabilities, architecture, and investment priorities to support the organization's strategic objectives. They develop and maintain enterprise capability models, architecture frameworks, and strategic roadmaps that provide an integrated view of business processes, products, applications, data, platforms, and enabling technologies.
This role partners with business and technology leaders to identify capability gaps, dependencies, redundancies, and opportunities for modernization, consolidation, reuse, and innovation. They provide strategic guidance for portfolio and technology investments, evaluate emerging technologies, and translate complex business and technology considerations into clear recommendations that enable informed decision-making.
How you’ll create opportunities in this Business Technology Architect role:
- Develop and maintain business and technology capability models, heat maps, dependency views, and other architecture artifacts that define capabilities, ownership, maturity, dependencies, and strategic importance to support decision-making.
- Map relationships among business capabilities, processes, products, applications, data, platforms, services, APIs, and enabling technologies.
- Develop current-state and target-state architecture views that connect business objectives with technology strategy and future-state capabilities.
- Identify capability gaps, dependencies, redundancies, and opportunities for modernization, consolidation, integration, reuse, or retirement.
- Partner with Enterprise, Application, Data, and Solution Architecture teams to promote alignment with enterprise architecture principles and standards.
Strategy & Roadmap Development
- Translate business strategy and objectives into architecture priorities and actionable roadmaps that align business, product, application, data, platform, and technology initiatives.
- Analyze existing technology environments and recommend opportunities to improve scalability, efficiency, integration, security, and business value.
- Assess the business and technology implications of proposed changes and provide recommendations regarding sequencing, dependencies, and strategic trade-offs.
Portfolio & Investment Optimization
- Support product, application, and technology portfolio planning and rationalization using strategic value, adoption, technology health, cost, risk, security, and capability alignment.
- Evaluate alternatives and provide recommendations to invest, modernize, consolidate, replace, sustain, or retire technology capabilities and solutions.
- Partner with business, Product, and Finance stakeholders to assess total cost of ownership, return on investment, expected benefits, cost avoidance, risk reduction, and other measures of value.
- Identify duplication across applications, products, platforms, and capabilities and recommend opportunities for enterprise reuse and standardization.
- Establish traceability between strategic objectives, business capabilities, technology investments, and expected business outcomes.
Data, AI & Emerging Technology Alignment
- Identify opportunities to improve business capabilities through data, AI, automation, reusable services, APIs, and digital platforms.
- Partner with Data and AI leaders to align technology capabilities with data ownership, governance, quality, security, and AI readiness.
- Evaluate new technologies and architectural approaches and recommend adoption when they support business strategy and enterprise standards.
- Advise shared enterprise capabilities versus differentiated solutions best support business needs.
- Incorporate emerging technology considerations into strategic roadmaps and architecture recommendations.
Architecture Governance & Decision Support
- Support architecture governance by establishing clear principles, standards, decision criteria, ownership, and accountability.
- Conduct architecture reviews and assessments to evaluate alignment with business objectives, technology strategy, architectural principles, and enterprise standards.
- Identify architectural risks, dependencies, exceptions, and trade-offs and communicate recommendations to appropriate stakeholders.
- Develop concise, decision-ready recommendations and visualizations that enable leaders to understand complex business and technology considerations.
- Promote consistent architecture terminology, models, and practices across business and technology teams.
Leadership & Collaboration
- Lead architecture, capability planning, roadmap, and portfolio discussions and facilitate cross-functional workshops to establish priorities, evaluate alternatives, resolve dependencies, and build stakeholder alignment.
- Influence decisions across organizational boundaries through expertise, analysis, facilitation, and trusted partnerships.
- Translate complex technical and architectural concepts into clear business language for technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to business and technology stakeholders regarding enterprise capabilities, technology direction, architecture, and investment priorities.
- Stay current with business architecture, enterprise architecture, technology strategy, AI, data, product operating models, and emerging technology practices.
What you will need:
- 6 years of relevant experience required
- Experience in the following areas preferred:
- Business architecture, enterprise architecture, technology strategy, solution/application architecture, product strategy, portfolio management, digital transformation, or a related discipline.
- Developing enterprise capability models, architecture frameworks, strategic roadmaps, or target-state architectures.
- Aligning business objectives and processes with applications, data, platforms, products, and technology capabilities.
- Evaluating technology portfolios and developing recommendations for investment, modernization, consolidation, optimization, or retirement.
- Influencing cross-functional stakeholders and facilitating strategic discussions with business and technology leaders.
- Collaborating across technology disciplines, including Enterprise Architecture, Application Architecture, Product, Data and AI, Security, Platform Engineering, and Technology Operations. Bachelor's degree or a combination of relevant experience and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Technical Competencies:
- Proficiency in business and enterprise architecture principles and practices.
- Experience with capability modeling, heat maps, and strategic technology roadmaps.
- Understanding of value-stream and operating-model analysis.
- Knowledge of portfolio rationalization and technology investment decision support.
- Experience with business-to-technology traceability and dependency analysis.
- Understanding of data, AI, automation, and technology readiness assessments.
- Knowledge of architecture governance, decision rights, and accountability frameworks.
- Experience with architecture modeling and visualization.
- Strong executive storytelling, presentation, workshop design, and facilitation skills.
- Knowledge of outcome measurement and continuous improvement methodologies, including Six Sigma.
WELLNESS AT CLA
To support our CLA family members, we focus on their physical, financial, social, and emotional well-being and offer comprehensive benefit options that include health, dental, vision, 401k and much more.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
INTRODUCTION
CLA is a top 10 national professional services firm whose purpose is to create opportunities every day, for our clients, our people, and our communities through industry-focused wealth advisory, digital, audit, tax, consulting, and outsourcing services. Even with more than 8,500 people, 130 U.S. locations, and a global reach, we promise to know you and help you.
CLA is dedicated to building a culture that invites different beliefs and perspectives to the table, so we can truly know and help our clients, communities, and each other.
CLA is growing and seeking to hire an experienced Business Technology Architect to join our talented Information Technology team. The position offers growth, flexibility, and a collaborative work environment.
In this position you should have the following; excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate at all levels. Strong problem-solving and creative skills and the ability to exercise sound judgment. Most important, demonstrate a high level of integrity and dependability with a strong sense of urgency and results-orientation.
This role connects business strategy with technology capabilities, architecture, and investment priorities to support the organization's strategic objectives. They develop and maintain enterprise capability models, architecture frameworks, and strategic roadmaps that provide an integrated view of business processes, products, applications, data, platforms, and enabling technologies.
This role partners with business and technology leaders to identify capability gaps, dependencies, redundancies, and opportunities for modernization, consolidation, reuse, and innovation. They provide strategic guidance for portfolio and technology investments, evaluate emerging technologies, and translate complex business and technology considerations into clear recommendations that enable informed decision-making.
How you’ll create opportunities in this Business Technology Architect role:
- Develop and maintain business and technology capability models, heat maps, dependency views, and other architecture artifacts that define capabilities, ownership, maturity, dependencies, and strategic importance to support decision-making.
- Map relationships among business capabilities, processes, products, applications, data, platforms, services, APIs, and enabling technologies.
- Develop current-state and target-state architecture views that connect business objectives with technology strategy and future-state capabilities.
- Identify capability gaps, dependencies, redundancies, and opportunities for modernization, consolidation, integration, reuse, or retirement.
- Partner with Enterprise, Application, Data, and Solution Architecture teams to promote alignment with enterprise architecture principles and standards.
Strategy & Roadmap Development
- Translate business strategy and objectives into architecture priorities and actionable roadmaps that align business, product, application, data, platform, and technology initiatives.
- Analyze existing technology environments and recommend opportunities to improve scalability, efficiency, integration, security, and business value.
- Assess the business and technology implications of proposed changes and provide recommendations regarding sequencing, dependencies, and strategic trade-offs.
Portfolio & Investment Optimization
- Support product, application, and technology portfolio planning and rationalization using strategic value, adoption, technology health, cost, risk, security, and capability alignment.
- Evaluate alternatives and provide recommendations to invest, modernize, consolidate, replace, sustain, or retire technology capabilities and solutions.
- Partner with business, Product, and Finance stakeholders to assess total cost of ownership, return on investment, expected benefits, cost avoidance, risk reduction, and other measures of value.
- Identify duplication across applications, products, platforms, and capabilities and recommend opportunities for enterprise reuse and standardization.
- Establish traceability between strategic objectives, business capabilities, technology investments, and expected business outcomes.
Data, AI & Emerging Technology Alignment
- Identify opportunities to improve business capabilities through data, AI, automation, reusable services, APIs, and digital platforms.
- Partner with Data and AI leaders to align technology capabilities with data ownership, governance, quality, security, and AI readiness.
- Evaluate new technologies and architectural approaches and recommend adoption when they support business strategy and enterprise standards.
- Advise shared enterprise capabilities versus differentiated solutions best support business needs.
- Incorporate emerging technology considerations into strategic roadmaps and architecture recommendations.
Architecture Governance & Decision Support
- Support architecture governance by establishing clear principles, standards, decision criteria, ownership, and accountability.
- Conduct architecture reviews and assessments to evaluate alignment with business objectives, technology strategy, architectural principles, and enterprise standards.
- Identify architectural risks, dependencies, exceptions, and trade-offs and communicate recommendations to appropriate stakeholders.
- Develop concise, decision-ready recommendations and visualizations that enable leaders to understand complex business and technology considerations.
- Promote consistent architecture terminology, models, and practices across business and technology teams.
Leadership & Collaboration
- Lead architecture, capability planning, roadmap, and portfolio discussions and facilitate cross-functional workshops to establish priorities, evaluate alternatives, resolve dependencies, and build stakeholder alignment.
- Influence decisions across organizational boundaries through expertise, analysis, facilitation, and trusted partnerships.
- Translate complex technical and architectural concepts into clear business language for technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to business and technology stakeholders regarding enterprise capabilities, technology direction, architecture, and investment priorities.
- Stay current with business architecture, enterprise architecture, technology strategy, AI, data, product operating models, and emerging technology practices.
What you will need:
- 6 years of relevant experience required
- Experience in the following areas preferred:
- Business architecture, enterprise architecture, technology strategy, solution/application architecture, product strategy, portfolio management, digital transformation, or a related discipline.
- Developing enterprise capability models, architecture frameworks, strategic roadmaps, or target-state architectures.
- Aligning business objectives and processes with applications, data, platforms, products, and technology capabilities.
- Evaluating technology portfolios and developing recommendations for investment, modernization, consolidation, optimization, or retirement.
- Influencing cross-functional stakeholders and facilitating strategic discussions with business and technology leaders.
- Collaborating across technology disciplines, including Enterprise Architecture, Application Architecture, Product, Data and AI, Security, Platform Engineering, and Technology Operations. Bachelor's degree or a combination of relevant experience and training may be considered in lieu of a degree.
Technical Competencies:
- Proficiency in business and enterprise architecture principles and practices.
- Experience with capability modeling, heat maps, and strategic technology roadmaps.
- Understanding of value-stream and operating-model analysis.
- Knowledge of portfolio rationalization and technology investment decision support.
- Experience with business-to-technology traceability and dependency analysis.
- Understanding of data, AI, automation, and technology readiness assessments.
- Knowledge of architecture governance, decision rights, and accountability frameworks.
- Experience with architecture modeling and visualization.
- Strong executive storytelling, presentation, workshop design, and facilitation skills.
- Knowledge of outcome measurement and continuous improvement methodologies, including Six Sigma.
WELLNESS AT CLA
To support our CLA family members, we focus on their physical, financial, social, and emotional well-being and offer comprehensive benefit options that include health, dental, vision, 401k and much more.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
See all 623+ STEM OPT Architect Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new STEM OPT Architect Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding STEM OPT Authorization in Architect
Verify your CIP code matches architecture
Not every architecture-adjacent degree qualifies for STEM OPT. Cross-reference your degree's CIP code against the official STEM Designated Degree Program List through USCIS to confirm eligibility before targeting employers or filing your extension.
Confirm E-Verify enrollment before accepting offers
Architecture firms, especially smaller studios, often aren't enrolled in E-Verify. Ask the hiring manager or HR directly before your offer stage. Firms not enrolled cannot legally employ STEM OPT students, and retroactive enrollment takes time that your OPT timeline may not absorb.
Target firms with active federal or public contracts
Federal contractors are required to use E-Verify, so architecture practices with government project portfolios are more likely to already be enrolled. Prioritize firms working on public infrastructure, federal buildings, or GSA-funded projects when building your application list.
Use Migrate Mate to filter for verified sponsoring employers
Search Migrate Mate for architect roles at employers with confirmed E-Verify enrollment and H-1B visa filing history. This cuts the research time of vetting individual firms and surfaces practices already experienced in hiring international design professionals.
Structure your I-983 training plan around licensure milestones
Your I-983 must show a direct connection between your work and your STEM degree. Map your training objectives to AXP experience areas like Project Management and Construction Evaluation so your plan reflects the professional development architects are formally required to document.
Align your OPT timeline with H-1B cap-gap protection
If your employer files an H-1B petition before April 1, cap-gap rules automatically extend your STEM OPT work authorization through September 30. Coordinate with your employer's HR or immigration counsel to make sure the petition is submitted within the registration window.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my architecture degree qualify me for the STEM OPT extension?
It depends on your specific degree's CIP code. Architecture degrees under CIP 04.02 (Architecture) are included on the STEM Designated Degree Program List maintained by USCIS. Degrees in architectural engineering, construction science, or urban planning may also qualify under separate CIP codes. Check your degree audit or transcript for the exact code and cross-reference it against the official USCIS list before filing your extension.
Can I work for a small architecture firm on STEM OPT?
Yes, but only if the firm is enrolled in E-Verify. Firm size doesn't determine eligibility. Many boutique and mid-size studios aren't enrolled because they've never hired international students before. Ask during the interview process, not after an offer. If a firm wants to hire you, they can enroll in E-Verify, but the process takes time and you can't start until enrollment is complete.
What goes into the I-983 training plan for an architect role?
Your I-983 training plan must detail how your day-to-day architectural work connects to your STEM degree. For architects, that means documenting objectives tied to design development, technical documentation, project coordination, and site observation. Reference AXP experience areas where possible. Your DSO and employer must both sign the plan, and it should be updated if your responsibilities change significantly during the extension period.
How does cap-gap work if my employer files for H-1B while I'm on STEM OPT?
If your STEM OPT expires between April 1 and September 30 and your employer files a timely H-1B petition before that expiration, cap-gap automatically extends your work authorization through September 30 of that year. You can continue working for the same employer during this period. USCIS issues no separate document for cap-gap; your continued authorization is based on the filed petition and your existing status.
Where can I find architect jobs at employers who already hire STEM OPT students?
Migrate Mate filters architecture roles by employers with verified E-Verify enrollment and a history of sponsoring international candidates. This is faster than vetting individual firms through E-Verify's public search tool. You can browse by role type and location to find practices already set up to onboard STEM OPT students without internal delays on the compliance side.