Senior Principal: Solutions Architect at Salt South Africa

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

• Responsible for establishing value-stream and product aligned solution architecture including business process management to support the rapid design, delivery, and improvement of digital products
• Embed a capability where products are designed and architected with the user experience at its heart – driven from a customer journey and service perspective
• Ensure solutions are designed in line with Enterprise Architecture roadmaps, aligned to appropriate best practices, standards and methodologies including building appropriate vendor alliances
• Drive opportunities for reuse and extensibility balanced against complexity, cost and timelines
• Support Product Management teams to identify the value of products being delivered in the context of the product roadmaps
• Act as the escalation route for technical delivery issues, and support technical conversations with senior business stakeholders
• Implement, maintain & monitor standards, controls, processes and solutions to minimise business and IT risk, ensuring compliance with all Legal and Regulatory requirements and standards
• Attract, nurture and retain digital talent for solution architecture and business process management
• Define & developed performance analysis across value steams
• Define and develop the end-user training and development requirements of new products and services being delivered
• Accountable for driving continuous improvement within Solution Architecture function
• Participate in planning, definition, and high-level design of the solution and exploration of solution alternatives
• Work with business owners and product managers to develop capabilities / features participate in Program Increment (PI) Planning and Pre- and Post-PI Planning, System and Solution Demos, and Inspect and Adapt(I&A) events Define, explore, and support the implementation of enablers to evolve solution intent, working directly with Agile teams to implement them Plan and develop the Architectural Runway in support of new business Features and Capabilities

Knowledge, Skills and Attributes:

• Proven leadership capability
• Strong understanding of the value-streams and digital products
• Thorough working knowledge of solution design, architecture industry standards, and business analysis
• Strong familiarity with quality management concepts and their application
• Customer-centricity
• Ability to influence stakeholders on the choices around process, product and solution design
• Excellent communication and relationship management
• Knowledge of systems and design thinking
• Ability to listen and support teams in problem identification and decision-making
• Capable of creating an environment of mutual influence
• Understands and empathises with others
• Coaching people with powerful questions rather than uses authority
• Ability to think beyond day-to-day activities; apply systems thinking
• Support the teams’ commitments
• Demonstrates openness and appreciates openness in others
• Excellent leadership and strategic thinking

Academic Qualifications and Certifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree level
• Industry recognised Solution Architecture certifications
• TOGAF / COBIT or related certification
• SAFe Solution Train Engineer (STE)

Required Experience:

• Greater than 7 years’ experience in solution architecture
• Knowledge of SAP suite and Fit to Standard methodology, preferably part of SAP applications deployments, in the Finance Functional Area (Record to Report)
• Knowledge and understanding of IT industry environment and business needs