Solution Architect

We currently have an excellent opportunity for a Solution Architect to join a well established team in our growing business.

The Solution Architect provides the leadership, analysis, and design activities required to develop technology solutions that meet business needs while aligning with architectural governance and enterprise standards. Operating under broad direction, the Solution Architect ensures delivery teams design, build and implement fit-for-purpose solutions that contribute to strategic business outcomes.

The role collaborates closely with platform owners, project managers, business analysts, and technical specialists throughout project life cycles. It focuses on ensuring and advising – guiding others on design, governance, and quality, and providing assurance that architectures are compliant with the enterprise direction.

Key Accountabilities:

Interpret Business Needs:

• Work with platform and technology owners to ensure a robust architectural runway that supports future business growth.
• Understand business drivers, capabilities (current and future), and change requirements to produce effective and sustainable designs.
• Evaluate and document trade-offs between different solution options to guide stakeholders.

Assess Technology:

• Monitor current-state solutions to identify deficiencies from aging technology, misalignment, or technical debt.
• Analyse market and technology trends and advise how they may impact business and IT Delivery.
• Facilitate the evaluation and selection of software and infrastructure products, including cost, licensing, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Support platform and technology owners in lifecycle management and end of life decisions.
• Conduct feasibility studies, proofs of concept, and vendor assessments.

Apply Technology:

• Lead the evaluation, design and analysis of solution architectures across multiple projects or platforms.
• Ensure solutions align with architectural principles, standards and patterns.
• Provide design assurance and technical leadership to delivery teams throughout build and deployment.
• Collaborate with project managers and business analysts to ensure planned outcomes align with solution intent.
• Support platform technology teams by advising on integration, scalability and non-functional requirements.

Provide Enterprise Guidance:

• Contribute to enterprise reference architectures, standards and definitions.
• Support Architecture Review Boards by producing artefacts that enable design assurance.
• Participate in and contribute to a Community of Practice (CoP) for architects.
• Document reusable patterns and lessons learned.

Performance Measures:

• Time to value – idea to discovery, discovery to business case, business case to delivery.
• Stakeholder feedback.
• Contribution to realisation of target enterprise architecture.
• Project cost recoverable utilisation >70%.

Internal:

• Reports to Lead Solution Architect.
• Architecture team members.
• Business Stakeholders/SMEs, Platform and Technology Owners.
• Delivery Organisation (Project Managers, Platform Teams).

External:

• Technology vendors.

Desired Capabilities and Behaviours:

• A driver of change and improved ways of working.
• A Pragmatist that can balance tactical and strategic needs of the business.
• Ability to engage with stakeholders at all levels of the organisation, adjusting language and tone to the audience.
• A believer in quality, open documentation to aid team collaboration and knowledge sharing.
• Can effectively lead and influence teams and team members.
• Skilled at influencing, guiding and facilitating stakeholders and peers with decision making.
• Ability to articulate new ideas and concepts to technical and nontechnical audiences
• Ability to understand the long-term ("big picture") and short-term perspectives of situations
• Ability to translate future-state business capabilities and requirements into solution architecture requirements
• Ability to propose and estimate the financial impact of solution architecture alternatives
• Ability to work creatively and analytically to solve business problems and propose solutions
• Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of new technologies
• Trusted and respected as a thought leader who…