ARCHITECT LEAD

Pro Talent; Umhlanga Rocks; On-site; ZAR 1,228,000 - 2,065,000; Full time

Job summary

Pro Talent in Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, seeks a seasoned Architect Lead to own end-to-end architectural design for complex systems. You will engage with senior stakeholders to ensure scalable, compliant and cost-effective solutions while mentoring engineers and guiding cross-team collaboration.

You will analyze requirements, document environments, review designs and prototypes, and drive architectural decision records.

Qualifications

• 8–10 years in software architecture or engineering.
• Experience with Kubernetes, CI/CD, and emerging technologies like machine learning and marketing automation.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architectural design and ensure alignment with standards.
• Analyze business requirements and document environments, gaps, dependencies and risks.
• Review designs, API specifications and code changes for architectural coherence.
• Lead initial solution planning and define integration points for teams.
• Prototype innovative design patterns and stay ahead of tech trends.
• Mentor engineers on architecture, patterns and best practices.
• Engage with senior leadership, product management, compliance and operations to translate business needs into robust solutions.
• Support troubleshooting of complex production incidents and contribute to post-mortems.

Skills

Troubleshooting

Strategic thinking

Communication

Mentoring

Stakeholder management

Tools

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Machine learning concepts

Marketing automation

Job description

Our client, an established organization known for its innovative approach to technology solutions, fosters a collaborative and dynamic environment where strategic thinking and technical excellence drive business success. As part of their team, you will engage with high-caliber professionals committed to shaping scalable, resilient, and future-ready systems. This is an opportunity for a seasoned architect to lead complex projects with significant stakeholder influence and commercial impact.

The Architect Lead role encompasses ownership of end-to-end architectural design, ensuring alignment with organisational standards while balancing operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. You will analyze business requirements and current system constraints through close engagement with subject matter experts, documenting existing environments, identifying gaps, dependencies, and risks. Your expertise will guide the design of comprehensive software architectures for multifaceted initiatives, producing key artefacts including decision records, design documentation, and integration diagrams.

In this capacity, you will evaluate architectural trade-offs across various parameters such as scalability, compliance, feasibility, and operational sustainability. You will author and govern architectural decision records to maintain traceability and consistency in technology choices, communicating these effectively to diverse stakeholders. Providing technical consultancy to product and engineering teams, you will review designs, API specifications, and code changes to ensure architectural congruence and mitigate cross-team impacts.

Your role will also involve spearheading initial solution planning during project inception, ensuring teams understand their responsibilities and integration points. Staying at the forefront of emerging technologies, you will research and prototype innovative design patterns to facilitate confident technology adoption. Additionally, your architectural expertise will support troubleshooting complex production incidents and contribute to post-mortem analyses to enhance system resilience.

Mentoring engineers on architectural principles, design patterns, and best practices will be a key focus, elevating the technical standards across the organization. You will engage with stakeholders across senior leadership, product management, compliance, and operations to translate business needs into robust, commercially viable architectural solutions.

This role commands a high level of expertise, requiring between 8 to 10 years in software architecture or engineering, with skills spanning troubleshooting, strategic thinking, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and knowledge of emerging technologies like machine learning and marketing automation. The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker, an analytical problem solver, and an effective communicator.

Salary: R110,000 - R185,000 per month + benefits.