Job Summary

To develop technical solution and architectures to problems and opportunities presented by Business, considering functional and non-functional aspects of such solutions and utilizing available technology assets.
The role will act as the Solutions architect for major system projects and will provide technical direction and proposals to meet business requirements or cover existing functionality and designs gap.
Additionally, the role is responsible for maintaining the availability and reliability of IT infrastructure to ensure that IT can effectively meet service targets in accordance with planned business operational objectives; to ensure that proper end to end solution design and functionality is achieved and released into the production environments.

Job Description
Key Accountabilities
Architecture design - 65%

Apply relevant research methodologies, tools, and techniques to gather information effectively and purposefully
Provide specialist advice and support in area of accountability to ensure that identified solutions and recommendations are appropriate and effective.
Deliver IT architecture and Solution analysis services as per agreed performance contract
Understand and apply existing best practice frameworks to assist in the implementation of identified subject matter processes and standards.
Identify and recommend new innovative ways of achieving quality results
Optimize the availability of the IT infrastructure to deliver cost effective improvements that deliver tangible benefits to business units and customers
Provide a range of IT availability reporting to ensure that agreed levels of availability, reliability and maintainability are measured and monitored on an ongoing basis
Take actions to achieve reductions in frequency and duration of incidents that impact Infrastructure Services availability
Ensure shortfalls in Infrastructure Services availability are recognized and appropriate corrective actions are identified and progressed
Create and maintain a forward-looking availability plan aimed at improving the overall availability of IT services and infrastructure components to ensure that existing and future availability requirements can be met
Organize and maintain a regular availability review process with both key business and IT representatives
Initiate and coordinate actions required to maintain or improve availability of IT infrastructure.
Act as a coordination point for changes to availability levels of IT infrastructure when needed.
Establish measures and reporting that reflect business, user and IT support requirements with regards to IT Infrastructure availability
Participate in Change Control meetings to assess and authorize changes from an availability perspective
Assist in SLA negotiation efforts from an availability capability standpoint
Define the key targets of availability required for the applications and their components that underpin a new or enhanced IT application as the basis for an SLA agreement
Analyse and review actual availability levels achieved against SLAs and OLAs
Maintain an awareness of technology advancements and best practices that support application availability

Solution Analysis - 20%

Translate documented business requirements into functional and non-functional technical requirements for development/implementation.
Support project management and provide technical oversight on projects to ensure that requirements are in alignment with business strategies and business architecture roadmap/framework
Translate strategic initiatives into delivery-focused change initiatives, while translating business processes and issues into effective conceptual and logical models.
Reviewing development to ensure what is delivered is in line with technical requirements and business intent
Set baseline through introduction of standards and working practices such as coding standards, design principles and tools.
Experimenting by building prototypes, frameworks and foundations to be consumed by the technical team.
Propose and keep a repository of solutions and architectural improvements.
Participating in technology selection and identifying fit for purpose technology solutions.

Business Liaison - 10%

Identify service needs for the Business Units represented to IT
Escalate Business unit service issues to the Service Manager
Communicate service status on service issues to the Business Unit
Assist in SLA negotiation efforts with Business Unit(s)
Report on quality of services rendered to Business Unit(s)

Risk Management - 5%

Build relationship with country Technology Risk and Compliance team and provide support wherever required.
Contribute and deliver to the improvement of the risk profile by delivering improved governance, risk management, controls and compliance requirements.
Devise and implement an effective plan to deliver a satisfactory risk and audit profile for Operations & IT and achieve audit and assurance targets.
Proactively identify solution design & delivery risk & associated mitigating strategies throughout the development / initiative lifecycle
Apply the organization risk & governance frameworks
Ensure solution designs align to the organizations regulatory, compliance & governance frameworks
Proactively involve / engage chapter & guild leads in solution decision making, applying an enterprise-wide lens to product & service development
Deliver on time & on budget (always).

People 10%

Participate in peer & dev team reviews (code, solution, testing etc.) and transfer knowledge and capability across delivery teams for improved solutioning & evolving architectural practices
Work as a high-performance contributor as part of agile delivery teams across the organization & continuously improve skills & knowledge in agile / other practices for successful delivery.
Build & evolve the architectural capability of Delivery teams across the business through active coaching & information / knowledge sharing

Education and experience required

Undergraduate or higher in Computer Science or any other Technology related field.
IT infrastructure planning and operations experience
7 years minimum IT experience
Experience in digital financial services from either Telco or Financial Institution companies.
Experience in solutions development lifecycle management using waterfall, agile & hybrid methodologies.

Subject Matter Expert Qualifications

ITIL Certification.
Any cloud certification.
Network certification – Specialist in Enterprise Design and implementations.
Firewalls, switching and routing certifications
Excellent understanding of Infrastructure.
Minimum of 4 years’ service management experience

Knowledge and skills

Translate Bus Requirements to Tech Solutions
Cloud expertise
ITIL - Governance Framework