Solution Architect III

Become part of an innovative, forward-thinking and strategic IT architecture team.

Our mature architecture team is based in Brackenfell (strategically placed close to the sea and the Cape Winelands) and includes experts in enterprise architecture, solution architecture and data architecture. We operate in an agile retail environment of Africa's largest retailer that utilizes industry-leading IT technologies which run on-premise and on multiple cloud platforms.

As a recognized authority in Customer Marketing, the Solution Architect strategically advises on and drives the Customer Marketing strategy that underpins all business solutions, creates the architecture for these platforms and leads the realization of the architecture roadmap into the target state. Deep subject matter knowledge relating to Customer Experience (CX) covering Digital Channels, Digital Marketing, Personalisation and analytical systems as applicable to the retail industry is essential.

Job objectives:

Produce viable and cost-effective data, application and technology architectures and designs for Customer Marketing functional and non-functional requirements in line with architecture standards within the agreed deliverable timelines.

• Develop and maintain an understanding of the business strategy and business priorities for Customer Marketing services.
• Develop Shoprite's Customer Marketing landscape roadmap and blueprints in line with the strategic business direction.
• Analyse and understand Customer Marketing business requirements and translate the requirements into the most effective solution architecture with minimal customization and/or advise on suitable solution alternatives.
• Engage all stakeholders to obtain agreement on proposed Customer Marketing solutions and work closely with business stakeholders, external service providers, Business Analysts, System Designers, Analyst Developers and Project Managers to architect and implement Customer Marketing solutions.
• Create business, data, application and technology architectures and designs using the appropriate modeling techniques and methodologies for the Customer Marketing business domain in the enterprise architecture repository in line with architecture principles.
• Keep abreast of the latest Customer Marketing trends and emerging technologies, identify and analyze architecture best practices, determine the potential impact on the enterprise, and drive adoption as deemed appropriate.
• Partner with the Domain Architect and other Solution Architects in support of the definition and development of the overall retail solution landscape.
• Ensure that applicable architecture and design reviews are conducted for all Customer Marketing solutions in line with the defined IT governance and processes.
• Provide architectural oversight and guidance to delivery teams during the detailed design, build, test and deploy phases that conform to architecture principles and standards.

Serve as the primary solution architecture and design authority for all project and operational stakeholders, and ensure architecture quality across all solutions that enable the Customer Marketing business domain

• Be clearly identified as the senior design authority as it relates to the Customer Marketing business domain and provides technical guidance and leadership in solution proposals, RFIs, RFPs, and project teams.
• Partner with the Enterprise Architect and other Solution Architects in support of the definition and development of the overall retail solution landscape.
• Detect critical deficiencies in the Customer Marketing architectures and recommend improvements.
• Review external and internal designs for Customer Marketing systems from a risk and technology perspective
• Mentor senior developers/designers/business analysts to become Solution Architects.

Contribute to solution architecture and design standards and SDLC governance requirements

• Maintain and manage Customer Marketing related architecture artifacts in the Enterprise Architecture repository and ensure that the content is effectively organized and controlled so as to maintain architectural consistency.
• Contribute to the definition of a framework for Solution Architecture and the policies, procedures and templates that guide and govern Solution Architecture processes.
• Contribute to the development of architecture principles and compliance criteria to guide technology decisions.
• Contribute to the development of solution modeling standards and guidelines.
• Define a set of metrics to measure and report on the performance of the various solution architecture processes.
  
  

Qualifications:

• Degree in Information Systems / B Sc Computer Science (or similar) – essential.
• TOGAF certification (or similar) – desirable

Experience

• years working experience within the IT industry.
• 5+ years experience with customer marketing, customer interactions, customer analytics and digital omnichannel solutions.
• 5 years retail industry experience with an understanding of retail business processes.
• 5+ years experience in architecting IT Technology programs with a detailed understanding of Customer Marketing Frameworks.
• 5+ years experience with Customer Experience (CX) relating to Digital Channels (web, mobile, WhatsApp, USSD), CRMs, Customer Identity, Customer analytics systems.
• 5+ years experience with all aspects of IT projects from business analysis, architectures, system analysis and design through development, testing, implementation, and production support (SDLC).
• 5+ years excellent design and architecture skills and a proven track record delivering well-designed complex enterprise-class systems.
• 3+ years excellent technical development and be able to mentor others to improve their design and development skills.
• 5+ years identification and formulation of solution architecture and solution alternatives and their assessment.
• 5+ years demonstrated expertise in a variety of application development methodologies and practices.
• 2 - 3 years lead a team through an architectural development process and collaborate with application development teams, architects and other members of the software development team.
• 2 - 3 years experience with current research and standards in Solution Architecture.
• 5+ years experience in high volume data and files processing, in a batch and real-time, integration environment. – desirable.
• 2+ years experience in agile practices. – desirable.
• 2 - 3 years project management experience of mid-sized projects – desirable.
• 3+ years working experience with Enterprise Marketing Automation platforms (e.g. Adobe, SAP, Salesforce etc.) and Customer Service solutions (e.g. SAP, Salesforce etc.) – desirable.
• 2 years' Experience with loyalty programmes. – desirable.

Knowledge and Skills

• 10 years architecture and design of Customer Marketing Solutions and integration to other solutions.
• 10 years strong analytical, problem-solving and logical skills.
• 5 years strong senior stakeholder management skills.
• 5 years excellent teamwork, interpersonal skills.
• \5 years out of the box thinker (lateral).
• 5 years develop of proposals and excellent written communication & presentation skills.
• 5 years excellent organisation and facilitation skills.
• 5 years strong conflict management skills.
• 3 - 5 years experience with cloud, including AWS and Azure.
• 3 - 5 years proven experience creating custom marketing solutions, building and maintaining reliable and scalable solutions as well as experience working with varied forms of data infrastructures.
• 3 - 5 years software development frameworks and methodologies. (Agile, Scrum, TOGAF, etc.)
• 3 years ability to innovate.