Software Architect M-Pesa CORE at Vodafone Global Enterprise

Job Description

Business Unit:

• M-Pesa is a pioneering fintech business and global market leader in mobile money. Starting from 2007 as a convenient means by which the unbanked and underbanked could make digital payments, M-Pesa has now grown to offer over 60 million active customers Financial Services, Enterprise, Merchant and Retail solutions. We are proud of our work in enabling the digital economy in our markets, and in driving financial inclusion.
• M-Pesa Africa is the largest FinTech providing services to more than 60 million customers and 5 million businesses solutions across Financial Services, Enterprise, Merchant and Retail. We are now well on our way to becoming the preferred digital payment method across the markets that we serve, for both in-store, remote and online payments. With headquarters in both Nairobi and Johannesburg, we serve markets that include Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.
• We are a united, energetic and passionate team. A place where leaders coach, teams connect, and everyone is empowered to go further, faster. A place where heroes become superheroes; through growth, opportunity, and the chance to work with the best minds in FinTech.

Role purpose:

• To support M-Pesa in achieving its goal of becoming the #1 FinTech company in Africa, and as part of the M-PESA Africa Architecture Team you will be responsible for establishing and maintaining software architecture and designs for deployment of mobile money solutions. You will also work with the Software Engineering Team, Cyber Team, as well as other Technology and Operations teams to ensure alignment with company and industry standards and policies. You will propose new software architecture options using approved design patterns or working to agree on architectural approaches with multiple parties for new business propositions.
• The agile SAFe Framework has been adopted across M-PESA and in line with the framework you will acquire a systems-thinking mindset that supports the continuous flow of value through the Continuous Delivery Pipeline enabling and fostering a DevOps culture. Working closely with Agile Teams, you will help them implement enablers that define, explore and evolve our solutions. You will help plan and develop the Architectural Runway in support of new business Features and Capabilities by actively participating in Program Increment (PI) planning, System Demos and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events. You will have an overarching appreciation for Agile Architecture in SAFe promoting a set of values, practices and collaborations that support the active, evolutionary design and architecture of our systems.

Your responsibilities will include:

Intentional Architecture design

• Provide software architecture and designs using industry standard notations, such as UML and Data Flow Sequences
• Ability to read code and map code to Software Designs
• Define a set of purposeful architectural strategies and initiatives which enhance solution design, performance, and usability
• Provide guidance for inter-team design and synchronise architectural implementation activities of systems
• Designing software architecture that enables testability, deploy-ability and releasability
• System Design:
• Create high-level software architecture blueprints and design specifications for applications.
• Define the overall structure of the application, including the choice of frameworks, platforms, and tools.

Emergent design

• Provide the technical basis for a fully evolutionary and incremental implementation approach helping developers and designers respond to immediate
• user needs allowing the architectural design to evolve.

Architecting for DevOps and Release on Demand

• Ensuring solutions are architected for continuous deployment and delivery by decoupling deployments from releases
• Defining a Minimum Viable (“just enough”) Architecture supporting the creation and evolution of systems and systems interfaces
• Fostering architecture as code through common naming conventions, attributes and annotations
• Build quality in by automating architectural compliance checks
• Promoting and building trust in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline for Agile Release Trains to independently explore and test ideas in a true production environment
• Develop prototypes to validate architectural decisions and demonstrate concepts.
• Experiment with new technologies and methodologies to assess their viability.

Support Alignment

• Collaborating with Systems, Security, and Data Architects to ensure discrete solutions created by ARTs and Suppliers fit into and support the larger capabilities of the overall solution
• Participate in backlog refinement and prioritisation sessions
• Define enabler capabilities and NFRs
• Participate in regular Architect Sync sessions to ensure consistency in emerging designs and managing trade-offs across all ARTs and Shared Service teams
• Participate in regular Solution Demo sessions to demonstrate new implemented approaches and assessing fitness for purpose
• Collaborate with Release Management to assess releasability of elements of the solution in line with the Release Strategy
• Actively working with Agile Teams to ensure that emergent design choices minimise technology complexity and avoid

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

Qualifications and Experience

• Science/Computer Science/Engineering related degree or equivalent work experience
• 5+ years technical background inclusive of software architecture, software design, software development lifecycle
• Certification in Solution Architecture, TOGAF, Cloud expertise is desired
• Domain experience in Financial Services and Financial technologies will be an added advantage
• A “hands-on software architect” capable of sharing best principles and practices with the Architecture Team
• Ability to mentor/coach developers and other architects in architecture principles
• Strong business acumen and leadership mindset with the ability to communicate and influence others
• Has demonstrable knowledge and experience in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies
• Fast learner on both the technical and business side
• Strong customer-centric mindset.
• Ability to stay organized while managing competing priorities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills to interface well with clients and partners at all levels.
• Outstanding communications ability to a diverse customer audience, executives, product, and technology stakeholders
• Strong relationship management skills
• Experience demonstrating strong leadership, self-motivation, and accountability.

Essential:

• Producing High- and Low-Level designs (using industry standard notations such as UML) for Software Solutions required to run Tier 1 Business Critical Applications.
• Expertise in deploying, configuring, and supporting Software into Dev, Test, and Operations environments
• API and middleware design and build experience
• Experience of implementation projects
• Strong understanding of security principles, standards, and frameworks such as ISO 27001, NIST, and CIS Controls.
• Proficiency in multiple programming languages (e.g., Java, C#, Python, Rust).
• Experience of various software engineering playbooks (Agile development, Automated testing, Code reviews, Continuous delivery, Continuous integration, Machine learning. Observability, Privacy, Reliability, Security)
• Strong experience in designing scalable, reliable, and secure software systems.
• Knowledge of architectural styles and patterns (e.g., Microservices, SOA, MVC, Event-driven architecture).
• Expertise in cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• Understanding of cloud architecture and services (e.g., serverless computing, containerization, orchestration).
• Proficiency in SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Experience with data modeling, data warehousing, and data integration.
• Knowledge of software security principles and best practices.
• Experience with identity management, authentication, and authorization.
• Skills in performance tuning, load balancing, and monitoring.
• Ability to diagnose and resolve performance issues.

Desirable

• Experience of continuous delivery and release automation processes.
• Experience in analysing application demands to ensure the correct sizing of infrastructure
• Experience working in or with countries other than origin
• Experience running and maintaining software repositories
• Experience with implementing design governance processes and methods
• Knowledge and interest in market-leading Mobile Money technologies, suppliers and innovations
• Knowledge of Mobile Network Operators
• Understanding of Programme-level technical and architectural policies and ability to transform that policy into detailed technical design.
• Ability to convey technical details at technical review forums (e.g. technical change advisor boards)
• Experience in Service Management and knowledge of ITIL