Key Responsibilities
Architectural Vision & Strategy
* Define and lead the enterprise architecture strategy to enable the shift from stack-centric IT to a product-led, outcome-driven model.
* Establish a clear architectural vision aligned with business objectives, customer experience goals, and operational scalability.
Integration Leadership
* Design and govern integration patterns across modern cloud platforms, distributed retail/wholesale sites, and IBM i-series (AS/400) systems.
* Drive legacy modernisation by exposing core enterprise capabilities (pricing, inventory, fulfilment) through APIs and event-driven interfaces.
Strategic Influence & Leadership
* Act as a trusted advisor to senior technology and business leaders, shaping product strategy through architecture.
* Align multiple teams and stakeholders across business units, ensuring consistency while enabling innovation.
* Define and embed architecture principles, standards, and guardrails to support autonomous product teams.
Transformation Enablement
* Lead initiatives to transition delivery teams from project-based, technology stack–focused approaches to product-aligned operating models.
* Develop scalable architectural patterns and platforms that accelerate delivery, reduce technical friction, and support evolving business needs.
Operational & Technical Excellence
* Ensure non-functional requirements — security, observability, resilience, and performance — are integral to product and platform design.
* Oversee architectural governance that facilitates delivery rather than constrains it.
Mentorship & Community Building
* Mentor solution architects and senior engineers, raising organisational architectural maturity.
* Play a key role in architecture forums, communities of practice, and design reviews.
About You
* Extensive experience as a Lead Solution Architect, Principal Architect, or similar leadership role in a product-centric or hybrid enterprise environment.
* Proven track record of driving architectural transformation from stack/project-centric models to product- and outcome-driven architectures.
* Deep expertise in enterprise integration and hybrid architecture, including IBM i-series (AS/400) and distributed retail/wholesale operations.
* Strong knowledge of modern paradigms: domain-driven design, event-driven architecture, microservices, API-first.
* Hands-on experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP.
* Exceptional communication and influencing skills, engaging credibly with C-level, business stakeholders, and engineering teams.
* Strong leadership capabilities with experience guiding teams through large-scale change.
Nice to Have
* Experience in retail/wholesale technology transformation (ERP, POS, logistics integration).
* Familiarity with event streaming platforms, middleware, and API management solutions.
* Exposure to platform engineering, DevOps, or data architecture.
* Experience building and leading architecture practices or centres of excellence.