Head of IT Architecture at BankservAfrica

PURPOSE

The Head of IT Architecture will play a dual role, primarily accountable for crafting and driving the adoption of a technology strategy and roadmap to support business priorities and strategic outcomes.  The role will serve as a primary liaison between the business strategy and IT strategy.  In addition, the Head of IT Architecture will be accountable for spearheading the establishment of an effective architectural practice to meet the organisations needs and strategic demands.

The role typically demands a blend of cross domain experience, technical leadership, and experience in architectural best practice thinking and design. The role would also require experience in navigating large complex projects, driving the value of architectural principles and guardrails, and applying innovative solution options to meet the organisations needs. Operating in a hands-on capacity, this individual will be required to facilitate and orchestrate well-considered technology solutions and decisions to support the desired business strategic outcomes. 

The Head of Architecture must have experience in dealing with a wide range of stakeholders and bridging the gap between technology SME’s and business stakeholders. Experience in negotiating across conflicting forces using pragmatic insights and collaborative innovative thinking.  

Internal and External stakeholders:

• Technical and business product owners and SME’s
• ICT heads and architecture peers 
• Business architecture, analysts, and stakeholders
• System and technical SME’s across the organisation
• Technical vendors and service providers
• Research institutes and industry bodies
• Technical forums and collaborative platforms
• Regulatory and industry governing bodies
• EPMO, including both project and agile delivery management  
• Operational support and process owners
• Security and security governance
• Data and data governance
• Internal IT governance bodies

KEY RESPONSIBILITES INCLUDE:

• Define the overall IT architecture strategy and vision for the organisation, ensuring alignment with business goals and IT objectives.
• Facilitate collaboration between IT and business stakeholders to ensure IT architectural solutions meet both technical and business needs. 
• Research and identify current and future technology services, industry standards and technology architecture viewpoints to address stakeholders needs and concerns.
• Oversee the review and approval of major IT architectural designs to ensure compliance with internal standards and the strategic direction of the organisation.
• Establish an effective IT architecture practice ensuring the adoption of appropriate enterprise-wide architecture frameworks, principles, standards, and policies to support scalable and sustainable technology solutions. 
• Oversee the evaluation and selection of hardware and software technology standards including the adoption of standard configurations.
• Design and implement an organization IT architecture governance framework to meet both business and IT needs.
• Mentor and guide architects and senior developers within the organisation, promoting best architecture practices in design and implementation.
• Define relevant architecture principles to provide guidance to the technology solutions.
• Investigate new technologies and architectural approaches for potential adoption, conducting proof-of-concept projects to assess their viability and impact. 
• Ensure the adoption of suitable tools and repositories to collect and manage architecture information and artefacts.
• Participate in RFQ and business case realisation for recommended technology solutions ensuring adherence to the architecture and other governance and approval processes. 
• Work with project, technical and business peers to craft out appropriate project or release train schedules including technical runways for resourcing and delivery planning.
• In collaboration with business product owners, establish awareness and an understanding of the business solutions designed and provided to our clients.
• Contributes to budget setting for strategic priorities.
• Stakeholder collaboration:
• Stakeholder collaboration and communication is a critical aspect of this role. The ideal candidate will have experience serving as a subject matter on highly complex solutions communicating and influencing across multiple levels to drive alignment and adoption of the architectural intent. 
• Key skills would include
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
  • Proven ability to negotiate and influence complex solution outcomes with business and IT.
  • Ability to collaborate effectively across multiple levels whilst also working independently.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Degree or Diploma 
• Familiar with Architecture best practices, including any certifications (TOGAF, Cloud, Agile, Zachman etc.) 
• Relevant architecture tools 

EXPERIENCE:

• 12 years or more IT sector experience, 7 years cross domain architecture experience 
• 5+ years of experience in an IT leadership or a senior architecture role
• Relevant IT experience, including experience in a production and development environments (supported by portfolio of evidence)
• Proven complex project experience, developing strategic architectures and roadmaps
• Experience in establishing architecture practice and capabilities
• Understanding of modern technology technologies and practices (e.g. cloud, API’s, micro-services, and containerization)
• Understanding of information and data resource management constructs and practices
• Understanding of full stack engineering practices and related technologies
• Exposure to Agile, DevOps and automated testing methods, practices and tools
• Security architecture practices and measures
• Desirable, knowledge of Payment Systems and Banking Systems