Solution Architect

Summary: The Solution Architect is responsible for designing and overseeing the implementation of technology solutions that address business requirements whilst aligning with the organisation’s enterprise architecture standards and strategic direction. This role bridges the gap between business stakeholders and technical delivery teams, ensuring solutions are fit for purpose, scalable, secure, and maintainable.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the design and documentation of solution architectures for projects and programmes, producing high-level designs (HLDs) and low-level designs (LLDs) as appropriate.
• Engage with business stakeholders to understand requirements, constraints, and drivers, translating these into robust technical solutions.
• Evaluate and recommend technology options, conducting feasibility assessments, proof of concepts, and vendor evaluations where necessary.
• Ensure solutions comply with enterprise architecture principles, security policies, data governance standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Collaborate with delivery teams throughout the project lifecycle, providing architectural guidance and resolving technical challenges.
• Participate in architecture review boards and governance forums, presenting designs for approval and contributing to architectural standards.
• Produce and maintain architecture artefacts including context diagrams, component diagrams, integration patterns, and decision logs.
• Identify and manage technical risks, dependencies, and assumptions, escalating issues as appropriate.
• Support estimation activities by providing architectural input into effort and cost assessments.
• Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends, advising on their potential application within the organisation.
• Mentor and support junior architects and technical staff, fostering knowledge sharing and capability development.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of architecture processes, frameworks, and tooling.
• Drive innovation by evaluating new technologies and recommending adoption where appropriate.
• Ensure solutions consider total cost of ownership including performance, logging, monitoring, and ongoing maintenance requirements.
• Ensure non-functional requirements are practical and achievable through engagement with Support and IT Operations teams.
• Identify and address weak points in governance, best practices, education, and skills development within the architecture function.
• Remain vigilant for security vulnerabilities and licensing issues, raising risks early and offering remediations.
• Foster a constructive culture of continuous improvement and innovation within the team.

REQUIREMENTS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Experience writing, reviewing, and maintaining solution architecture documentation using standard notations (e.g., UML, ArchiMate, C4 model).
• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF, Zachman) and their practical application.
• Experience designing solutions across multiple architectural domains including application, data, integration, infrastructure, and security.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Analytical mindset with strong problem-solving capabilities and attention to detail.
• Ability to influence and collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels.

• Background in software development with hands-on coding experience in relevant languages and frameworks.

• Proficiency in cloud platforms (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP) with experience in cloud-native and hybrid architecture patterns.
• Knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code.
• Experience with containerisation technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.

Experience:

• Demonstrable experience in a Solution Architect or Senior Technical Architect role, with a track record of delivering complex solutions.
• Experience with both waterfall and agile delivery methodologies, adapting architectural practices accordingly.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) in enterprise environments.
• Experience withKnowledge of modern integration approaches including APIs, event-driven architectures, and enterprise integration patterns.
• Experience with source control and version management systems.
• Experience in ALM activities and DevOps tooling including CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with domain-driven design and microservices architecture patterns.

Education:

• Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience). Professional certifications such as TOGAF, AWS/Azure/GCP Solution Architect are advantageous.