Solution Architect / Digital Transformation

Job Description:

 Our Client requires an experienced generalist (all-rounder) Solution Architect, with Technical delivery and pre-sales skills in the area of Digital Transformation applied to Financial Services situations.

 The person will apply his/her Banking, Insurance, industry expertise (other relevant Industry experience also counted), to help our clients deliver solutions for their customers, leading to superior sales and service experience across all channels of interactions, and help their staff collaborate efficiently from the front to the back office. This candidate will be able to engage with senior business and IT stakeholders and articulate designs, frameworks, and reference models to feed into strategic business and technology change solutions, will be part of agile delivery teams and will drive proof of concepts, project streams or large business process transformation programmes.

The SA will primarily get involved in Business and Technology transformation programmes where work is involved in leading one or several of our technology partners (Pega, Salesforce.com, Backbase, Adobe, etc.), and technology areas (Javascript frameworks, Java frameworks, integration patterns, API, DevOps, etc.). He/She will join the Global Digital Practice which focuses on customer centric transformations in the Financial Services Sector.

The range of activities that the Solution Architect will get involved, which includes:

• Definition of Business and Technology Transformation Solution Designs, and end-to-end solution feasibility studies.
• Understanding of Conceptual, Logical, and Physical segregation of Artefacts, and software lifecycle methodologies.
• Definition of programme roadmaps based on business and technology prioritisation, whilst understanding 360 customer view
• Selection of technical solution capabilities and frameworks to meet business needs.
• Business Case and Cost Justification of the development of Informational Systems.
• Presales – Providing technical input and meeting with clients to secure new business.
• Responding to client RFI, RFP and ITT documents including cost estimates and follow activities to secure new business.
• Building demonstrations and proof of concepts, capturing best practices from engagements, building reusable assets.
• Examines existing software and determines solution design for new systems in the light of business and technology needs.
• Support of wider Solution Architecture methodologies and template design for documents and solutions.

Person Profile:

• Comprehensive experience in the Information Technology industry with recent experience of client facing Solution Architecture development of varied digital projects (e.g. Integration, Bespoke, COTS, Cloud, etc.)
• Expertise in Back-base solution architecture is highly desirable.
• A strong academic track record including the achievement of a good honours degree or equivalent
• Experience of working within the consulting industry
• A track record of delivering Solution Architecture designs and end user implementations
• Comfortable liaising with senior client personnel to establish designs and discuss potential development strategies
• Able to interpret business requirements in terms of solution architecture, solution technology and design
• Excellent communication skills – interviewing, preparation and delivery of presentations and reports
• Interested in and capable of expanding capabilities into varied areas of Architecture
• Eager to learn and maintain his professional set of certifications.

Technical and Consulting Skills (not limited to):

• Hands on experience in OOAD, technical architecture definition, and working knowledge of varied frontend, middleware, and backend technologies and frameworks.
• Experience of enterprise scale solution architecture delivery.
• Experience in varied Applications, Data/Information, System Integration projects, and Infrastructure projects.
• Experience with Agile methodology like Scrum and onshore-offshore delivery model.
• Experience with client facing management role at onsite/offshore.
• Experience with project estimation, planning, scheduling, risks/issues identification.
• Experience in business development activities like proposal response, solution building, client presentation.
• Experience of consulting led and relationship led selling a must; business winners required.
• Experience in projects with offshore resources.

Preferred to Have

• TOGAF, IAF or other recognised industry leading solution architecture certification, with 10+ years of credible Architecture & Solution Design experience