Systems Architect

**Business Unit**:Discovery Insure

**Function**:Information Technology

**Date**:23 May 2025

**Discovery Insure**

**Systems Architect (Vitality Drive International)**

**About Discovery**

Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. We seek out and invest in exceptional individuals who understand and support our core purpose, and whose own values align with those of Discovery. Our fast-paced and dynamic environment enables smart, self-driven people to be their best. As global thought leaders, Discovery is passionate about innovating in order to not only achieve financial success, but to ignite positive and meaningful change within our society.

**About Discovery Insure**

Discovery Insure is committed to creating a nation of great drivers through our innovative Shared-value Insurance model. Discovery Insure is South Africa’s fastest growing short-term insurance company with comprehensive products that provide protection against current and emerging risks facing clients in the motor and home insurance sectors. Vitality Drive, an internationally-recognised and award-winning programme, is a key differentiator in the market that incentivises and rewards clients for driving well. The Vitality Drive programme has been scaled to local and international markets which now include Europe and the Middle East. The company employs over 1 000 people who are committed to putting our customers and financial advisers first by providing unique and innovative solutions and cover.

**Key Purpose**
- Define the systems architecture, standards, and methodologies in accordance with industry best practices. Ensure the good functioning of the System Architecting Process. Serve as the high-level designer of the systems to be implemented. Establish the basic structure of the system, defining the essential core design features and elements that provide the framework for all that follows. Provide the architects view of the users' vision for what the system needs to be and do, and the paths along which it must be able to evolve, and strive to maintain the integrity of that vision as it evolves during detailed design and implementation.

**Areas of responsibility may include but are not limited to**

**To provide support to the business unit by:

- Adhere to enterprise architecture standards, procedures, policies.
- Match system requirements with IT strategy and objectives.
- Balance system properties with internal design properties.
- Balance stakeholder needs with system context, during the entire system life cycle.
- Manage consistency across the various organizational and design boundaries.
- Maintain repository of systems architecture artefacts
- Monitor high-level system performance
- Data Security Management
- Develop systems architectures containing logical models of the components and interfaces involved.
- Produce detailed component specifications from systems architectures, taking into consideration the intended uses of the architectures as a whole.
- Translate component specifications into detailed designs for implementation using selected products.
- Produce documentation for systems architectures, making sensible use of both text and graphics (UML).
- Maintain a good knowledge of current practice and awareness of current developments within own area(s) of expertise.
- Demonstrates awareness of areas outside own specialism, as appropriate. Lead architecture developments for small systems.
- Contribute to the organization’s enterprise architecture technology and vision, and ensure alignment with the group strategic architecture direction
- Document and communicate information about emerging technologies to relevant functional management.
- Establish policy for the selection of systems architecture components.
- Help to develop systems architecture strategy in an organization.
- Help to improve systems architecture design techniques and to promote the discipline.
- Provide architecture guidance to assigned projects.
- Provide the architectural view of the users' vision for the system.
- Take full responsibility for ensuring that systems architectures balance functional, service quality and systems management requirements as indicated by the business requirement.

**Skills and Knowledge**:

- Excellent understanding of Object Orientated principals and Java language fundamentals
- Knowledge of commonly used design patterns
- EJB
- HTML
- JSF
- JAXB
- UML
- XML/XSD
- SQL
- Cloud native experience
- Action orientated go-getter, hungry to learn and add real value
- Structured and analytical problem solver: Obsessive about finding solutions to problems: action oriented problem solver.
- Able to plan, organise and prioritize own work
- Able to multitask
- Able to work independently
- Team player: reliable, works actively with others towards common goal, communicates constructively, shares information, knowledge and experience, treats others in a respectful and supportive manner

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