Azure Solution Architect Role Purpose The Azure Solution Architect will lead the definition and governance of the technical architecture and integration strategy for a secure, scalable, and cloud-native platform built on Microsoft Azure. This role will establish the foundational architectural patterns, ensure seamless system interoperability, and deliver high-performance, secure, and resilient services aligned to cloud engineering best practices. Working closely with engineering teams, DevOps professionals, product managers, and external technical stakeholders, the Platform Architect will guide the delivery of a modular, microservices-based platform with a strong emphasis on API-first design, automation, and observability. Key Responsibilities 1. Cloud-Native Architecture Design Define and implement a modular, scalable, and highly available architecture using Microsoft Azure services. Ensure full alignment with the Azure Well-Architected Framework across the pillars of performance efficiency, reliability, security, cost optimisation, and operational excellence. 2. API & Integration Strategy Lead the development and adoption of an API-first architecture using RESTful APIs and JSON standards. Define scalable, versioned service contracts and secure interfaces to integrate with internal components and external systems. Apply best practices for service authentication, authorisation, and message integrity using OAuth2, JWT, and API gateway architectures. 3. Technical Governance and Leadership Establish and lead architectural governance processes, including solution design reviews, sprint planning, and retrospectives. Define development standards, coding conventions, and secure design patterns for a microservices and event-driven architecture. Mentor engineers and DevOps teams on technical design, performance optimisation, and platform automation. Translate non-functional requirements (e.g. availability, performance, compliance) into platform-level architectural decisions. 4. Stakeholder Engagement Facilitate technical workshops to align platform architecture with stakeholder requirements. Work collaboratively to co-design integration strategies, data flow models, and deployment patterns. Provide architectural direction throughout the software development lifecycle—from roadmap and scoping to release and continuous improvement. Requirements Essential Skills & Experience Azure Cloud Architecture Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise-grade, cloud-native systems on Microsoft Azure, including: AKS, Azure Functions, and App Services Azure SQL/PostgreSQL, CosmosDB Service Bus, Event Grid, Event Hub Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using ARM, Bicep, or Terraform Azure-native observability and cost governance tooling Microservices & Data Engineering Expertise in microservices design, distributed systems, and container orchestration Practical experience in backend and data platform development using: .NET Core (C#) for microservices and APIs Python for ETL, data validation, and orchestration pipelines Familiarity with: Redis, Elasticsearch, and caching strategies Schema management and API versioning ETL/ELT frameworks and data quality tooling Security & Platform Compliance Advanced understanding of security architecture including: Identity and Access Management (IAM) Encryption, key vault management, and secure communications Threat protection, auditing, and alerting strategies Experience applying enterprise-grade security, resilience, and compliance practices to production environments Required Certifications Certification Status AZ-305: Azure Solutions Architect Expert Mandatory AZ-500: Azure Security Engineer Associate Strongly Preferred AZ-400: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert Desirable Desirable Skills & Experience Experience with API standards and interoperability frameworks Familiarity with: Secure Software Development Lifecycles (SSDLC) Vulnerability management and penetration testing coordination SaaS or multi-tenant platform delivery models Data protection regulations (e.g. GDPR, ISO 27001 ) Disaster Recovery (DR), high availability (HA), and business continuity planning Observability tooling: Prometheus, Grafana, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics Role Context This senior role sits at the intersection of cloud engineering, architecture governance, and strategic platform enablement. The Azure Solution Architect will operate across the product lifecycle to ensure that architectural decisions enable long-term scalability, operational efficiency, and innovation readiness. They will play a key role in ensuring cloud-native design principles are embedded across teams and throughout the delivery lifecycle.