Solutions Architect at BankservAfrica

WHAT YOU WILL DO
The solution architect role is one of ensuring technical strategic enablement though effective solution design and planning. The architect is responsible for collating design considerations, crafting the required technical vision and solution for identified business strategic initiative or problem. The architect will be required to describe, design, and manage the required solution outcome building a bridge between the identified business need and the recommended technology solution. The architect is responsible for communicating and sharing the architectural solution vision ensuring delivered solution is fit for its intended purpose. 

The solution architect should be a good visualizer being able to see the “big picture” yet able to abstract and model technical solutions as a set of interacting components and services within this enterprise context. 
The architect needs to establish and understanding of the relevant business capabilities and though their technical experience and insight, establish the technology solution to support required business functional and non-functional requirements and business value. 
The solution architect typically has a wide range of both technical domain knowledge complemented by business and implementation experience. The solution architect will be required leverage this experience to work and influence product and technical owners, peer architects, cloud and technical engineers and SME’s whilst evolving the solution architecture to meet the desired business outcome. The solution architect can fulfil numerous roles from legacy application or technical architects though to agile release train technical stream leads. The solution architect may also be required to manage and direct small technical teams to deliver on set technical outcomes or organisational KPI’s.
The architect must be insightful, pragmatic, and can negotiate between various conflicting forces. The architect must be able to identify the wide range of solution stakeholders and have the ability to bridge the gap between the technical SME’s, business stakeholders and other communities.

The architect must also adhere to good practices ensuring outcomes are well documented and have followed the correct governance processes and controls identified to safeguard the organisation.

You will engage with the following stakeholders:
Internal and External

• Technical and business product owners and SME’s
• ICT heads and architecture peers 
• Business architecture, analysts, and stakeholders
• System and technical SME’s across the organisation
• Technical vendors and service providers
• Research institutes and industry bodies
• Technical forums and collaborative platforms
• Regulatory and industry governing bodies
• EPMO, including both project and agile delivery management  
• Operational support and process owners
• Security and security governance
• Data and data governance
• Internal IT governance bodies

Your key responsibilities include:
Architecture and technology requirements

• Provide and maintain solution recommendations, designs, and roadmaps to support the BankservAfrica’s current and future business and technical strategies.
• Documenting and sharing best practice knowledge for new solutions.
• Advocating for process improvements and helping develop solutions.
• Design, specify and select application/information system solutions, considering functionality, data, security, integration, infrastructure and performance.
• In collaboration with the Product Owners and peer architects, to develop and maintain current and future state architecture outcomes across all technical domains including application, security, data and infrastructure.
• Conduct reviews and validate solutions designs from other team members.
• Participate in business case delivery for recommended technology solutions and ensure adherence to architecture and other governance and approval processes. 
• Work with the project, technical and business peers to craft out appropriate project or release train schedules and technical runways for resourcing and delivery planning.

Business Support and Development

• Partner with the organisation to understand the business and technology strategies and through effective collaboration determine the appropriate technology solutions/outcomes to meet these requirements.
• In collaboration with business product owners establish awareness and an understanding of the business solutions designed and provided to our clients
• In collaboration with technical and business peers research and stay abreast with technology and solution options that may benefit the client, business, and product owner’s needs.

QUALIFICATIONS / KNOWLEDGE

• Minimum Matric
• Related Degree or Diploma 
• Related IT qualifications and or experience (supported by portfolio of evidence)
• Relevant IT and architecture certifications (TOGAF, Cloud, Agile, Zachman etc.) 
• Strategy translation techniques and roadmap development
• Solution Architecture modelling methods and techniques
• Exposure to application development and coding best practices
• Modern platform development practices (e.g. API’s, micro-services and containerization)
• Cloud infrastructure services, preferably cloud certified.
• Information and data resource management constructs and practices
• Full stack engineering practices and related technologies.
• Agile and DevOps methods, tools, and practices
• Non-functional assessment and testing practices
• Security architecture practices and measures
• Business analysis experience

EXPERIENCE

• More than 7 years’ IT Sector experience  
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in an IT Solution Architecture role
• Strong collaboration and presentation skills across all technical and business levels 
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in various of business/capability solutioning areas