Head of Architecture (m/f/d)

Contract type: full-time/part-time, unlimited/limited
Entry: At the earliest possible date

Top Skills: Architecture Frameworks, Technology Strategies, Telecommunication

Flex and Connect - work where it's most productive.

Our flexible working model gives you the freedom to organize your work location and working hours flexibly. Attendance at our o2 Telefónica locations throughout Germany plays an important role: it promotes direct dialogue, strengthens our corporate culture, and contributes to building strong networks. In this way, team spirit remains a decisive success factor even in a flexible working environment. We will discuss further details about our hybrid working model during the application process.

As Head of Architecture (m/f/d), you will take on a leadership role with a strong focus on people management and strategic direction. Your primary responsibility is to guide and empower a team of specialists and executives across multiple levels, ensuring that the unit delivers outstanding results through expert leadership rather than individual technical contributions.

Your mission is to define, develop, and drive the company-wide technology target architecture (e.g., IT, network, digital) ensuring its seamless implementation in alignment with business and technology goals. You will lead the transformation of the department, making it a core pillar of the company’s future way of working.

This role demands exceptional professionalism, strategic foresight, and deep technical expertise. If you are a visionary leader with experience in managing complex technology landscapes at the highest level, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact on the future of Telefónica’s technology architecture.

What we offer:

• Technology Strategies: Define the company target technology architecture in alignment with business and technology goals, shaping the company’s technology landscape for the future.
• Business Transformation: Design and lead the architectural transformation of technology domains to enable and support key business objectives.
• Innovation: Evaluate and integrate new technologies, platforms, and frameworks in close collaboration with delivery teams to ensure scalability and future readiness.
• Technology Architecture: Plan, initiate, and oversee the necessary initiatives for implementing the target architecture, ensuring smooth adoption across the organization.
• Governance: Establish and enforce integration architecture principles, end-to-end solutions, and domain-specific technology solutions while applying industry standards and best practices.
• Thought Leadership: Develop and execute departmental strategies and transformation plans, making architecture a key pillar of the company’s future way of working.
• Project Collaboration: Ensure seamless operationalization of the technology architecture by working closely with delivery teams and business units.
• Financial Accountability: Take full ownership of budget, performance, and resource planning, ensuring efficiency and excellence in execution.

What you bring:

• You hold a university degree in computer science, business informatics, industrial engineering, telecommunication, or a comparable field.
• With at least 15 years of professional experience in Technology/IT functions within the telecommunications industry, you have built a strong foundation in leading complex technology environments at scale.
• Extensive experience in leadership and people management allows you to develop and inspire high-performing teams.
• Mastering enterprise and solution architecture, you understand how to align technology with business strategy to drive innovation and enable business growth.
• Over the past five years, you have gained a deep understanding of products, business processes, customer needs, digital and AI, and IT, network, service structures in the telecommunications, media, or similar industries.
• Your expertise spans current and emerging technologies, including microservices, event-based messaging, API, hyperscaling, graph and NoSQL databases, AI, digital, (C)VNF, ORAN, and more.
• Successfully leading large-scale digital, IT, and NT transformation projects from an architecture perspective, you have driven initiatives such as open-source adoption, cloud migration, and IT landscape digitization, cloudification of network functions, data-driven organization, and adoption of cutting-edge technologies to enable business outcomes (e.g., AI).
• Proven experience in understanding standardization approaches in industry and beyond (e.g., CAMARA, TMForum, GSMA/3Gpp, ETSI).
• You master communication in English; German and/or Spanish are a huge plus.

What we offer:

Modern, flexible working environment: We offer you the perfect balance between inspiring dialogue in our modern offices in Germany and the flexibility of working from home. This allows you to work productively and network with colleagues on site.

Training & Development: Everything you need for your individual growth. With a personal development plan, learning journeys, and the possibility of job rotations, you will reach your goals with us – according to our guiding principle „connect, learn and move2grow".

Financial benefits: A smartphone for business and private use, as well as the possibility to provide for partners, friends, and family via a credit balance, is a given. In addition, you benefit from our kindergarten allowance and a variety of corporate benefits.

Health: Our "Feel Good" program keeps your body and mind in balance. Among other things, we offer fitness classes, nutritional counseling, and programs to improve workplace ergonomics and work-life balance.

Social engagement: We are also involved in social projects outside of our day-to-day work. You can support social projects through volunteering days/holidays or charity runs.