Systems Architect M-pesa Compliance

**Role purpose**:
We are looking for a highly motivated, experienced, and enthusiastic individual for a System Architect role. In this senior role, you will play a crucial part in the design of:

- Business Applications and APIs
- IT infrastructure.
- Networks and Integration into local market, cloud hosted and on-prem infrastructure

You will have the opportunity to learn and grow within a dynamic IT and Fintech environment while contributing to the efficiency and reliability of our systems.

**Your responsibilities will include**:
**Intentional Architecture design**
- Ensure that M-Pesa has a fit for purpose and future proof, highly resilient and performant infrastructure in place to deliver services across existing and future markets in Africa
- Define a set of purposeful system strategies, blueprints and roadmaps and initiatives which enhance solution design, performance, and usability
- Provide guidance for inter-team design and synchronise architectural implementation activities of systems
- Designing architecture that enables testability, deploy ability and releasability.
- Ensure Security by Design to ensure compliance with all Security Controls.

**Emergent design**
- Security: Security should a top priority. Infra Architect to design security measures to protect data, systems, and networks, including firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection systems, and access controls.
- 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.
- Performance Optimization: Continuously monitor and optimize the infrastructure for performance, resource utilization, and cost efficiency.
- Virtualization: Implement virtualization technologies to optimize resource utilization, improve scalability, and simplify IT management.
- Cloud Integration: Evaluate and integrate cloud computing solutions when appropriate, including public, private, or hybrid cloud deployments.
- Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Develop disaster recovery and business continuity plans, including backup and recovery strategies, to ensure data and system availability in case of disruptions.

**.**:
**Architecting for DevOps and Release on Demand**
- Ensuring systems and infrastructure is in place to allow solutions to be continuously developed and deployed.
- Define Systems that comply with local regulatory requirements around data sovereignty by implementing Cloud, Hybrid or On-prem solutions as required.
- Deliver Infrastructure as code through usage of tools and common repositories with appropriate 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.
- Audit solution implementations to ensure alignment with Infrastructure Operations Design and M-Pesa architecture standards.

**Support Alignment**
- Collaborating with Solution Architects to ensure discrete solutions created by ARTs (Agile Release Trains) and Suppliers fit into and support the larger capabilities of the overall solution
- Collaborate with Operations to ensure systems adhere to availability SLAs (Service Level Agreements).
- 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 Pre
- and Post-PI Planning to work with relevant stakeholders and define the architectural approach and high-level objectives for the upcoming PI planning
- 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 unnecessary duplication of capabilities
- Science/Computer Science/Engineering related degree or equivalent work experience
- 5+ years technical background inclusive of systems architecture, systems design, with a strong background on infrastructure design
- 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 system architect” capable of sharing best principles and practices with the broader 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