Tasks

• Investigates, analyses and documents all or part of a business' functions, processes or information in a methodical approach;

• defines architecture requirements, creating viable specifications for improvements in any aspect of the processes and systems;

• Manages architecture-related communication;

• Maintains the system architecture baseline;

• Creates and communicates designs and detailed system functional specifications that enable and guide the development of integrated solutions that meet current and future business needs;

• Delivers clear guidance on the development of, and modifications to, solution components to ensure that they take account of relevant architectures, strategies, policies, standards and practices ensuring compatibility with existing and planned solution components;

Autonomy

• For small & medium sized projects: works autonomously and exercises substantial personal responsibility.

• For large projects: works under general direction within a clear framework of accountability.

Accountability

Customer - Business Roles External

• Works on relationships with people responsible for architectural standards

• Communicates effectively important trends and news that should be made available to the architectural community;

Stakeholder - Business Roles External & Internal

• Seeks contributions from stakeholders and cascades these effectively to peers;

• Analyses public events regarding IT architecture and flags them with the respective team members;

Process

• Leads the definition of solution architecture deliverables in small to medium sized projects/programs;

• Coordinates collaboration with external service providers in terms of assembling own or third-party system components;

• Applies standard methodologies when creating new architecture, programs / applications or when maintaining existing ones;

• Documents work using the agreed standards, methods and tools;

People Management

• May supervise the completion of projects and may contribute to employees’ professional development;

• Coaches architecture peers and team members, contributes to reviews and knowledge sharing, manages progress on tasks, audit results and outcomes;

• Coaches development teams on issues related to design, performance, tools and standards;

Ideal Profile

• At least 8 years of IT experience, with at least 5 years specific to IT Architecture;

• At least 3 years of experience with formal software engineering methods (e.g. PRINCE2 / Agile);

• At least 3 years of experience with enterprise application integration and related patterns;

• Business systems functional and design analysis (incl. problem solving skills);

• Proficient knowledge of Business, Applications, Integration, Data, Security and Technology Architecture patterns;

• Experience of leveraging tools;

• Proven ability to manage non-direct reports to achieve results;

• Proven ability to work in a global multi-cultural multi-functional environment where consensus is critical for success;

• Excellent oral and written communications skills;

• Analytical skills: Recognizes cause and effect patterns within a defined area of activity, thinks about them in a systematic way and determines logical consequences;

• Conceptual thinking: Understands underlying issues and relates similarities between situations that are not obviously connected through the use of concepts, models or previous experiences;

• Customer Focus: Earns the respect of customers by clearly demonstrating that the needs of the customer have a high priority (e.g.: by reacting positively to their feedback);

• Seeking Information: Frequently identifies information gaps that are not immediately apparent and selects appropriate sources of information;

• Forming Relationships: Develops good working relationships  with internal contacts in immediate organization;

• Teamwork: Contributes actively, both in practical terms and by promoting shared values and mutual respect, to the achievement of goals by teams which sometimes include people with varying types & levels of skills;

• Planning & organization: Plans and organizes the tasks of a small group of others to meet agreed standards and work objectives – making use of simple tools where necessary;

• Supervisory or mentoring experience (global business/technology modelling complex business projects)

• Educated to Degree Level or equivalent in IT or Business Management

• Languages: English Fluent verbal and written;

Competencies

Database/repository design

• Maintains and applies up to date, specialist knowledge of database concepts, object and data modelling techniques and design principles, and a detailed knowledge of the full range of database architectures, software and facilities available;

• Analyses data requirements, to establish, modify or maintain domain models. Takes account of specialist requirements (e.g. geocoding, for geographic information systems);

Requirements

• Facilitates scoping and business priority-setting for change initiatives of medium size and complexity;

• Contributes to selection of the most appropriate means of representing business requirements in the context of a specific change initiative, ensuring traceability back to source;

• Discovers and analyses requirements for fitness for purpose as well as adherence to business objectives and consistency, challenging positively as appropriate;

• Obtains formal agreement by stakeholders and recipients to scope and requirements and establishes a base-line on which delivery of a solution can commence;

• Manages requests for and the application of changes to base-lined requirements;

• Identifies the impact on system solutions of interim (e.g.: migration) scenarios as well as the required end position;

Solution Architecture

• Uses appropriate tools, including logical models of components and interfaces, to contribute to the development of systems architectures in specific business or functional areas;

• Produces detailed system component specifications using selected products;

• Within a business change program, assists in the preparation of technical plans and cooperates with business assurance and project staff to ensure that appropriate technical resources are made available;

• Provides advice on technical aspects of system development and integration (including requests for changes, deviations from specifications, etc.) and ensures that relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices are applied correctly;

Systems Design

• Recommends/designs structures and tools for systems which meet business needs;

• Delivers technical visualization of proposed applications for approval by customer and execution by system developers;

• Translates conceptual designs into logical designs, and produces detailed design documentation;

• Maps work to user specification and removes errors and deviations from specification to achieve user-friendly processes;

Systems Integration

• Designs and develops detailed specifications for integration components and interfaces;

• Leads practical integration work under the technical direction of the DevOps integration team;

• May contribute to the overall design of the service. May define the technical criteria for product/component selection;

• Contributes to decisions about tools, methods and approaches;

Technical

• Maintains knowledge of specific technical specialisms, provides detailed advice regarding their application and executes specialized tasks;

• The specialism can be any area of information or communication technology, technique, method, product or application area;