Lead Solutions Architect

Job Title : Lead Solution Architect Job Ref # : 453

Industry : Telecommunications

Job Type : Permanent

Location : Gauteng, Northern Suburbs

Salary : Market Related

POSITION INFO : JOB PURPOSE

Responsible for the development of Technology solutions and mapping the business requirements to systems / technical requirements to ensure they are in line with the enterprise architectural plans.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Team Management

• Engage with various leaders and Senior Manager Architect, to design solutions and create better enterprise frameworks
• Mentor and coach the solution architects, promoting professional growth and skill enhancement
• Efficiently allocate team resources to optimize workflow and meet project deadlines
• Conduct regular performance assessments, offering constructive feedback and implementing improvement plans as needed
• Collaborate to identify and attract top talent for the Solution architecture team
• Proactively address conflicts within the team, promoting a positive and collaborative work environment
• Implement effective conflict resolution strategies to maintain a cohesive and motivated team
• Facilitate regular knowledge-sharing sessions to ensure best practices are disseminated and adopted
• Encourage a culture of continuous learning and improvement
• Collaborate with Senior manager enterprise to develop and define solution architect strategy aligned with overall business objectives
• Stay abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies to inform the evolution of solution architecture
• Lead the solution architects to develop detailed implementation plans for solution architecture initiatives, considering timelines, resource requirements, and potential challenges
• Ensure alignment of solution architecture initiatives with the organization's strategic goals
• Establish metrics and KPIs and department objectives to measure the effectiveness of solution architecture processes

Solution Architect support

• Limit choices available during development by choosing a standard way of pursuing application development, creating, defining, or choosing an application framework for the application
• Recognize potential reuse in the organization or in the application by observing and understanding the broader system environment
• Subdivide a complex application during the design phase into smaller, more manageable pieces
• Grasp the functions of each component within the application
• Understand the interactions and dependencies among components
• Communicate these concepts to developers
• Assist Senior manager in the review, development, and maintenance of the organization’s IT architecture
• Review and evaluate the current state of the organization’s architecture (‘as-is) to identify duplications, what is working, what is not working and measure the health of key business processes that are supported by the current architecture
• Build the transition architecture to connect the current to the future state by creating an iterative roadmap to get to the desired state
• Recommend and provide changes to the business in easily digestible iterative changes
• Work in liaison with business stakeholders to develop Business Architecture Roadmaps containing tactical and strategic initiatives to reach target business capabilities
• Identify and resolve dependencies and impacts across the architecture landscape
• Design solutions based on business requirements that align with Reference Architecture policies and standards
• Provide expertise in designing solutions for custom requirements
• Collaborate with internal/external stakeholders and conduct stakeholder reviews of architecture roadmaps and designs
• Assist Senior manager in determining Solution Architecture policy and standards definition and evolution and work with PMO to coordinate project pipeline management
• Engage relevant peers from other disciplines or domains during implementation of Solution Architecture/Design
• Accountable to build a defined life cycle around reviewing the future state enterprise architecture

Customer Centricity

• Coordinate contact with Business Partners as needed to assist with support activities
• Establish and maintain a positive professional relationship with Business Partners and customers
• Maintain regular and timely communications with Business Partners and customers
• Maintain strong working relationship with customers and Business Partners
• Work with customers and Business Partners to execute consistent service processes throughout the organization
• Establish a single point of contact for issue resolution and change management
• Drive customer centricity at all levels of the organization
• Build a culture of integrity, respect, and understanding across the organization
• Recognize outcomes which resulted from effective collaboration between teams
• Build cooperation and overcome barriers to information sharing, communication, and collaboration across the organization
• Facilitate opportunities to engage and collaborate with external stakeholders (Retailers and POS Companies) to develop joint solutions
• Demonstrate ability to work and engage with various teams
• Demonstrate ability to communicate at all levels

Requirements :

BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES

• Analytical
• Flexible
• Tech Savvy
• Evaluating problems
• Processing details and information
• Building relationships & Trust
• Communicating information
• Providing leadership

EDUCATION

• Matric
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems
• Equivalent experience required TOGAF certification

EXPERIENCE

• 8+ years’ experience in a Solution Architect role
• 3-5 years of leading the solution architect teams
• Knowledge of the relevant Information Technology governance and legislative framework (such as COBIT, ITIL, TOGAF, SDLC, ASAP, SOA)
• Strong Microsoft Office productivity tools knowledge (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Atlassian and Jira knowledge (advantageous)