Azure AI Solution Architect

Accion Labs; Mississauga; On-site; CAD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Accion Labs in Mississauga is seeking a Solution Architect to design and govern our cloud-native platform, focusing on Azure, microservices, and secure integrations. You will translate business needs into scalable, observable architectures aligned with enterprise standards.

You will partner with engineering, DevOps and security teams to ensure production-ready solutions, lead architecture reviews, and drive architectural governance across the platform.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in solution architecture with cloud-native experience.
• 5+ years designing solutions on Microsoft Azure.
• Proven experience with microservices and REST APIs.
• Security and identity: Entra ID, OAuth2/OIDC/SAML, and hybrid connectivity.
• Strong communication and executive-level influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Define end-to-end solution architectures for AKS-based microservices and API gateway layers.
• Produce architecture artifacts: diagrams, standards, and blueprints.
• Ensure alignment with security, governance, and enterprise standards.
• Lead architecture reviews and governance checkpoints; oversee CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaborate with DevOps, security, product, and infrastructure teams.
• Design secure access patterns and data tenancy models for scale.
• Establish API governance, rate limiting, and caching strategies.
• Ensure high availability, disaster recovery, and observability.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Azure

Microservices

API design

Security governance

Leadership & mentoring

Tools

AKS

Azure DevOps

BOOMI

Job description

The Solution Architect is responsible for designing, governing, and evolving our cloud-native digital platform architecture, with a strong focus on Azure, microservices, secure integrations, and scalable customer-facing solutions.

This role translates business and product requirements into secure, resilient, and scalable

architecture patterns, aligned with our Azure landing zone, AKS platform, and API-driven

ecosystem. The architect partners closely with engineering, DevOps, security, and business teams to ensure solutions are production-ready, observable, and aligned to enterprise standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain end-to-end solution architectures across:
  • AKS-based microservices platform
  • API Gateway and integration layer
• Produce architecture artifacts: logical/physical diagrams, standards, and design blueprints
• Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security, and cloud governance frameworks
• Lead architecture reviews and design authority checkpoints
  • Azure DevOps pipelines (CI/CD, release automation)
• Partner with DevOps teams on:
• Ensure solutions are designed for scalability, resiliency, and fault tolerance

3. Security & Identity Integration

• Design secure access patterns using:
  • Azure Entra ID (internal and external tenants)
  • OAuth2, OIDC, SAML-based integrations
• Ensure compliance with:
  • Zero Trust principles
  • Network isolation (Private Endpoints, NSGs)
• Incorporate DDoS protection, WAF policies, and network segmentation
• Define and govern API-first design patterns:
  • Internal services (AKS microservices)
  • External partners (Propel, payment gateways, SaaS vendors)
  • On-prem systems via VPN / hybrid connectivity
  • REST APIs
  • Event-driven patterns (where applicable)
• Establish API governance (versioning, security, throttling)
  • Redis caching strategies
  • Azure Cognitive Search (where applicable)
• Define data access, tenancy models, and performance optimization strategies
  • High availability (multi-zone / regional)
  • Disaster recovery (Canada East DR replication strategy)
  • Monitoring & logging (platform observability patterns)
  • Backup and recovery strategies
• Ensure alignment with RPO/RTO requirements
• Evaluate and integrate third-party platforms (Boomi, SaaS, CMS, payment providers)
• Provide architecture oversight for vendor-delivered components

8. Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership

• Collaborate with:
  • Product, engineering, security, and infrastructure teams
• Present architectural designs and trade-offs to senior leadership
• Mentor developers and engineers on architecture best practices
• Contribute to architecture standards, reference patterns, and reusable frameworks

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• 10+ years in solution architecture, with strong cloud-native experience
• 5+ years designing solutions on Microsoft Azure
• Proven experience with:
  • Microservices, REST APIs
  • Event-driven architecture (preferred)
• Security & Identity:
  • Entra ID (AAD), External ID (B2B/B2C patterns)
  • OAuth2, OIDC, SAML
  • VNET design, NSGs, hybrid connectivity (VPN)
  • Infrastructure as Code (nice‑to‑have)
• Nice-to-Have
  • Experience with:
    • Headless CMS and digital experience platforms
    • Integration platforms (e.g., Boomi)
  • Familiarity with:
    • Blue/green deployments and progressive delivery
    • Observability tooling (APM, centralized logging)
  • Strong architectural thinking and system design skills
  • Ability to balance business outcomes with technical constraints
  • Clear and executive-level communication capability
  • Strong collaboration across cross-functional teams
  • Proactive ownership and continuous improvement mindset
  • High emphasis on security, scalability, and customer-facing reliability.