Lead Architect - Absa Bank

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

Design & deliver fit-for-purpose, business strategy-aligned, high-impact, cross-domain technology solution blueprints & associated solutions.

Job Description

Architecture

• Leverage a solid & deep understanding of the organization's strategy to identify, design & deliver relevant, scalable, testable, re-usable technology solutions
• Work with the broader architecture team to analyse customer requirements & current state business capabilities to support the specification/framing ‘of the business problems we are aiming to solve’ with each solution design or solution evolution
• Leverage expertise in analytical & creative problem solving to synthesise a solution design (build a solution from its components) beyond the analysis of the problem

• Participate in design thinking processes to successfully deliver solution blueprints & associated roadmaps
• Create components of complex end to end solution blueprints / lower complexity solution blueprints & ensure these can be implemented across all phases of the initiative life-cycle (ideation through to product launch & commercialization)
• Contribue to the design & implementation of detailed feasibilities & business cases
• Leverage a strong engineering background to make the right choices or contribute to the choices to be made in solution design – this knowledge includes but is not limited to: domain driven design, loosely coupled integration, microservices and other modern software design practices
• Work with project / program management teams to design solution roadmaps through which the solution can be implemented across all phases of the initiative life-cycle (ideation through to product launch and commercialization)
• Work embedded, as part of a delivery team, to ensure the successful design & implementation of solution blueprints or components thereof
• Ensure that the detail of the solution (across all architecture domains) is accurate to the implementation of the initiative, true to the bank’s architectural principles/preferences, implementable by the different teams involved in the solution
• Work as part of embedded delivery teams to conduct solution reviews, code reviews, testing and other disciplines associated with solution design & delivery
• Ensure a solid understanding of emerging & evolving architectural principles
• Contribute to the architecture body of knowledge
• Contribute to the design & evolution of architectural principles and preferences

People

• Participate in peer & dev team reviews (code, solution, testing etc.) and transfer knowledge and capability across delivery teams for improved solutions & evolving architectural practices
• Build & evolve the architectural capability of Delivery teams across the business – through active coaching & information/knowledge sharing
• Work as a high-performance contributor as part of agile delivery teams across the organization & continuously improve skills & knowledge in agile/other practices for successful delivery

Financial, Risk & Governance

• Proactively identify solution design & delivery risk & associated mitigating strategies throughout the development / initiative lifecycle
• Apply the organization's risk & governance frameworks
• Ensure solution designs align to the organisations regulatory, compliance & governance frameworks
• Proactively involve / engage chapter & guild leads in solution decision making, applying an enterprise wide lens to product & service development
• Deliver on time & on budget (always)

Education

Bachelor’s Degree: Information Technology (Required)