Solution Architect

Role Overview

• Lead architecture activities to develop and manage technology solutions, including projects, products, systems, and shared services.
• Provide technical leadership and oversee analysis and design to ensure solutions meet business needs and comply with governance and standards.
• Design Solution: Business Context, Component Model, Deployment Model, Security Model, Service Model, Transition & Migration Planning
• Architecture Blueprints & Standards: Apply enterprise blueprints and standards to guide the design of new applications and govern compliance within the current application landscape. Identify and highlight architectural risks, constraints, assumptions and decisions.
• Integration and Data Architecture: Define and enforce enterprise integration patterns (APIs, Event-Driven, Microservices, SOA) to ensure scalable and secure interoperability between cloud PaaS, SaaS and third-party APIs.
• Drive the definition and enforcement of Non-Functional Requirements by designing resilient, high-availability architectures that guarantee business continuity, elastic scalability, and optimal performance.
• Conduct capability analysis to develop business and technology capability models.
• Facilitate ideation and shape the solution vision by demonstrating the "art of the possible" across a broad technology landscape to refine the business brief.
• Assess technical feasibility and architectural risks early in the lifecycle to inform the roadmap and delivery strategy.
• Design robust IAM frameworks that strictly adhere to Zero Trust principles, utilizing RBAC, ACLs, and modern authentication protocols to govern internal and external identity lifecycles.
• Embed end-to-end data security into solution designs, mandating encryption for Data at Rest and In Transit, while enforcing strict data segregation, anonymization, and residency controls to meet regulatory standards.
• Research and analyse emerging digital technology trends to drive innovation and identify opportunities for business value.
• Provide technical leadership for PoC and prototype initiatives, validating hypotheses before full-scale implementation.
• Create and maintain up-to-date architecture documentation in the central repository for both new designs and existing solution assets.
• Actively participate in Design Authority meetings and technical workshops to ensure solution compliance and architectural consistency.

Requirements

• A minimum of 5 years’ experience as a technically focused Solution Architect
• Knowledge of formal architecture frameworks and processes (e.g. TOGAF, Agile EA)
• Experience in architecting & integrating cloud-orientated and cloud-native solution architectures, preferably using Microsoft technologies (including Azure Cloud, D365, M365 & Power Platform)
• Experience in designing complex integrations using APIs, pub/sub model, event driven processes, batch, and data streaming (preferably across Azure Cloud and to other SaaS platforms and services)
• Experience in product selection and RFP processes
• Exposure to multiple, diverse technologies, platforms, and processing environments
• Good understanding of strategic and new and emerging technology trends, and the practical application of existing, new, and emerging technologies to new and evolving business needs
• Good understanding of product management, agile principles and development methodologies and capability of supporting agile teams by providing advice and guidance on opportunities, impact, and risks, taking account of technical and architectural debt
• Knowledge of compliance and regulatory standards
• Familiarity with information management practices, system development life cycle management, IT services management, ISO27001, agile and lean methodologies, infrastructure and operations, and EA and ITIL frameworks
• Hands-on experience with basic graphical modelling approaches, tools, and EA model repositories
• Experience of packaged/SaaS/Cloud deployments and integration with other SaaS/Cloud solutions and serverless Azure PaaS
• Familiarity with designing AI and Machine Learning solutions using structured and unstructured data pipelines and agents
• Experience working in a relevant industry (insurance, security, defence, consulting)
• Experience developing architecture blueprints, strategies, and roadmaps (preferably Azure Cloud)
• Experience delivering presentations to senior-level executives and technical audiences
• Experience as a senior software engineer / developer

Tech Stack

• Azure
• Cloud
• Microservices

Benefits

Control Risks SA is committed to employment equity. Preference may be given to appointable applicants from the underrepresented designated groups in terms of the relevant employment equity plans and policies of the company. Control Risks SA retains the right not to make an appointment and to verify all information provided by candidates.