Telcommunications Architect at IBM

Job description

Over the past 100 years, IBMers all over the globe have helped make the world work better and smarter. In this new era of Cognitive Business, IBM is helping to reshape industries by bringing together our expertise in Cloud, Analytics, Security, Mobile, and the Internet of Things: Changing how we create, collaborate, analyze and engage. From transforming healthcare to improving the retail shopping experience – it’s what IBMers do. In Africa, we’ve been changing the way the continent does business for more than 50 years, and as our company continues to grow, we’re looking for talented professionals to join us in this new era.

Join us and be part of a diverse and global team of thinkers and doers, and make an impact.

Job Requirements:

• Provide leadership to projects and create technical solution architecture and align to IT and telecommunications best practices and frameworks. The technical solution architecture is multi-disciplinary, covering application, data, infrastructure, operating system, database, middleware integration, network, security and business architecture aspects. To ensure deployment of IT systems that are fit for purpose; support business needs; are future proof; are cost efficient; flexible and sustainable.
• Strategic Input
• Provide feedback and input to Architecture teams on strategies, frameworks, principles, standards and policies across all Enterprise Architecture domains (business, application, data, integration, security, infrastructure, etc), in order to improve the quality and completeness of the Enterprise Architecture practice.
• Understand how business and IT requirements can be met using the correct blend of existing and new IT technologies, as well as the correct blend of out-of-the-box commercially available software and bespoke systems development per project.
• Provide input to infrastructure and application development areas on application roadmaps to fit in with business and IS strategies, Enterprise Architecture and industry trends.
• Provide input to technological roadmaps from an architectural perspective
• Solution Design
• Perform all the analysis, design, modelling and documentation tasks necessary to create solution architectures for complex (multi-application) business and technical projects. Lead projects (from a design perspective) through the systems development life cycle, including the successful adherence to all relevant IS governance.
• Ensure alignment of solution architectures to Enterprise Architecture strategies, frameworks, principles, standards and policies across all Enterprise Architecture domains (business, application, data, integration, security, infrastructure, etc).
• Focus solution designs on simplifying the IT architecture, reducing costs, improving effectiveness and efficiencies of the IT environment.
• Ensure that technical designs for systems & applications are integrated end-to-end; are consistently applying Enterprise Architecture standards; are technically sound and sustainable; are aligned to IT best practises; are suitable within the businesses context.
• Design IT solutions that meets business and IT requirements, and includes functionality, processes, data, products to be used, application interfaces internal and external to the company
• Efficiency and Documentation
• Update the Enterprise Repository and other architecture artefacts.
• Assist with administrative requirements and compliance to policies, guidelines, processes and other governance.
• Liaise with other departments to ensure efficient processes, quality and integrity of information and the flow thereof.
• Ensure reasonable and practical adherence to all industry standards and best practices IS subscribes to (like TM Forum Frameworx, TOGAF, etc).
• Maintain appropriate end-to-end enterprise solution architecture models by appropriately aggregating project and initiative solution architectures into an enterprise architecture repository.
• Ensures the strategic alignment of IT architecture with agreed business outcomes within the portfolio, relevant IT Architecture Enterprise principles, key approved decisions and enterprise wide programmes.
• Relationship Management
• Maintain close contact with business operations, strategies, information requirements, and priorities in order to align with IS architecture.
• Build and group relationships with architecture, applications and operations teams to keep up with strategic direction, future direction and technology plans.
• Consult with IS advisory bodies (Gartner, Tele Management Forum, etc) and vendors, as well as media scanning.
• Ensure that project architectural risks are properly identified, assessed and handled/mitigated, and highlight/resolve inter-project technical dependencies.
• Continuously review, improve and integrate processes and systems, in order to overcome fragmentation.
• Mentoring and Coaching
• Provide consultancy to process analysts, business analysts and other business stakeholders at a project level on application, data, security, infrastructure, testing and operational designs through interactions with other architects, applications and operations subject matter experts.
• Mentor and coach juniors and graduates

Desired Skills and Experience

• 10 years experience in Architecture
• Telecommunications industry experience
• BSS experience

Additional Information

Global Services