Job Title: Enterprise Architect, IT
Reports To: Senior Director – Information Technology
Business Unit: ACCBC
Function: Information Technology
Location: Dubai, UAE
Purpose of the Job
The Enterprise Architect defines and governs the target-state architecture for ACCBC across applications, data, integration, cloud, security, and AI. The role translates business strategy into a secure, scalable, cost-effective technology landscape and establishes the standards, principles, patterns, and governance required to ensure technology investments deliver measurable business value across ACCBC’s multi-country operations.
The role has particular focus on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) programme, enterprise integration, Microsoft Fabric, AI enablement, architecture governance, and solution assurance.
Key Responsibilities
Enterprise Architecture Strategy & Governance
- Define and continuously evolve the enterprise target-state architecture and multi-year technology roadmap.
- Translate business priorities into architecture roadmaps, transition states, and technology investment recommendations.
- Establish and chair the Architecture Review Board / Design Authority, including architecture decision records and clear decision rights.
- Define architecture principles, standards, reference architectures, and reusable design patterns.
- Maintain the application portfolio and technology catalogue, driving legacy rationalization and reduction of technical debt.
- Advise on build-vs-buy decisions, platform selection, and total cost of ownership.
Application & ERP Architecture – Microsoft Dynamics 365
- Own end-to-end solution architecture for the D365 programme across Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Sales.
- Govern D365 extension strategy, promoting fit-to-standard and minimizing unnecessary customization.
- Define environment strategy, ALM, release management, and deployment approaches for D365 and connected applications.
- Architect the transition and coexistence between legacy ERP platforms and D365 throughout the rollout.
- Define localization, statutory, tax, and multi-currency architecture patterns across countries.
- Ensure D365 architecture supports performance, scalability, security, supportability, and licensing efficiency.
- Provide architectural oversight for CRM, HR, Procurement, Tax, Audit, and commercial applications.
Enterprise Integration Architecture
- Define the enterprise integration strategy covering APIs, event-driven architecture, messaging, ETL/ELT, and B2B/EDI.
- Govern integration platforms including Azure Integration Services, API Management, Logic Apps, Service Bus, Event Grid, Power Platform, or equivalent iPaaS technologies.
- Establish standards for data models, interfaces, error handling, monitoring, reconciliation, security, and observability.
- Maintain the enterprise interface catalogue and promote reusable integration patterns over point-to-point solutions.
- Govern integration performance, resilience, scalability, and operating cost.
Data & Analytics Architecture – Microsoft Fabric
- Define the enterprise data architecture and analytics roadmap using Microsoft Fabric, covering OneLake, lakehouse, warehouse, data pipelines, real-time intelligence, and Power BI.
- Establish data layering, ownership, certified datasets, and master data governance to support a single source of truth.
- Define data governance, lineage, cataloguing, classification, retention, and quality frameworks.
- Ensure the data platform supports IBP, forecasting, scenario modelling, predictive analytics, and AI use cases.
AI Architecture & Innovation
- Evaluate GenAI, Copilot, agentic AI, and machine-learning capabilities for enterprise adoption.
- Define AI reference architecture covering model selection, retrieval and grounding, agent orchestration, prompt/context management, evaluation, and observability.
- Identify and architect high-value AI use cases across Finance, Supply Chain, Procurement, and Commercial functions.
- Establish responsible-AI governance covering privacy, access control, human oversight, auditability, bias, hallucination controls, and cost management.
- Support AI adoption through reference implementations, architecture guidance, training, and change management.
- Measure business impact and re-architect or retire use cases that do not deliver value.
Cloud, Infrastructure & Security
- Define primarily Azure-based cloud architecture, including landing zones, networking, identity, resilience, and cost management.
- Set standards for availability, scalability, performance, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
- Govern hybrid and edge requirements across manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution environments.
- Embed security-by-design and privacy-by-design across solutions, integrations, and data.
- Define identity and access architecture, including role design, segregation of duties, privileged access, and conditional access.
- Partner with Cybersecurity, Internal Audit, Risk, and Legal to ensure regulatory, privacy, and audit requirements are met.
Delivery Assurance & Vendor Governance
- Provide architectural assurance across the project portfolio and approve solution designs before build.
- Support business cases with architecture options, effort estimates, and TCO analysis.
- Define technical evaluation criteria for RFPs and assess vendor and system-integrator proposals.
- Ensure technology partners comply with ACCBC architecture standards and quality expectations.
- Ensure supportability and operational requirements are incorporated from the outset.
Stakeholder Engagement & Capability Building
- Act as a trusted technology advisor to business and functional leaders, translating business needs into practical technology solutions.
- Mentor architects, developers, and functional consultants and raise architectural and AI capability across IT.
- Maintain clear, current, and usable architecture documentation.
- Collaborate across IT and business functions to drive effective implementation.
Key Performance Indicators
- Coverage and currency of enterprise architecture and roadmap.
- Architectural conformance and solution quality.
- D365 fit-to-standard and level of customization.
- Reuse of integrations, APIs, and reference patterns.
- Data quality, lineage, and reporting reliability.
- AI use cases deployed and measurable business impact.
- Reduction in technical debt and legacy application footprint.
- Technology cost and licence optimization.
- Stakeholder satisfaction with architecture support.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
- Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
- Certifications such as TOGAF, D365 Solution Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, Microsoft Fabric, Azure AI, CISSP/CISM/ISO 27001, PMP, PRINCE2, or SAFe are highly desirable.
Experience
- Minimum 12 years of progressive IT experience, including at least 5 years in enterprise or solution architecture within large, complex organizations.
- Proven ownership of at least one major ERP implementation (D365, SAP, Oracle), with strong D365 experience preferred.
- Strong experience in enterprise integration, API-led and/or event-driven architecture.
- Experience with modern data platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Synapse, Databricks, or equivalent, including lakehouse and Power BI architecture.
- Proven experience architecting AI/GenAI solutions that reached production and delivered measurable business value.
- Strong Azure cloud architecture experience covering landing zones, identity, security, resilience, and cost management.
- Experience working across multi-country, multi-currency environments, preferably in manufacturing, FMCG, or distribution.
- Experience establishing architecture governance, standards, design authorities, and architecture decision records.
- Strong vendor and system-integrator governance experience.
- Experience working with senior executives, Finance, Supply Chain, Commercial, HR, Audit, and Risk stakeholders.
Key Skills & Attributes
- Strong balance of strategic thinking and execution.
- Business and finance-oriented technology mindset.
- Ability to influence without direct authority.
- Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Strong documentation, modelling, and design discipline.
- High ownership, resilience, and pragmatism.
Reporting / Leadership
- Typically an individual contributor role with no direct line reports.
- Provides dotted-line technical leadership to Solution, Integration, and Data Architects.
- Provides architectural guidance to D365 consultants, integration and data engineering teams, and system integrators.