Enterprise Architect at Equity Bank Kenya

Role Objective:

This role serves to ensure that transformation initiatives align with the overall enterprise architecture and long-term technology and business strategy. The role acts as a bridge between the Equity Group strategic vision and the detailed execution of transformation programs, ensuring that all projects conform to the defined architecture principles, frameworks, and standards.  

Key Functions: 

• Defines and maintains the overall architectural vision, ensuring alignment between business strategies and technology solutions.
• Oversees the design, integration, and governance of technology systems and platforms as part of the transformation program.
• Ensures that all transformation initiatives follow a unified architectural approach and enable realization of EGH strategic objectives. 

Responsibilities: 

Architectural Vision and Strategy 

• Enterprise Architecture Framework: Develop and maintain an enterprise architecture framework that aligns with EGH strategic objectives, business transformation initiatives, and technology roadmaps.
• Long-Term Vision: Define the architectural vision that supports the transformation office’s objectives, ensuring alignment between business, data, application, and technology layers.
• Strategic Alignment: Ensure all transformation initiatives, including business, technology, and digitization projects, adhere to the enterprise architecture vision and strategy. 

Technology Roadmap and Integration 

• Technology Roadmap Development: Work closely with Technology Architects to develop and implement a technology roadmap that ensures the applications and platform aligns with future-state architecture.
• Platform Integration: Ensure that new technologies, systems, and solutions introduced during the transformation program are seamlessly integrated and improve the existing technology landscape.
• Scalability and Flexibility: Ensure that the architectural design accommodates future growth, scalability, and flexibility in response to emerging business needs and new technologies. 

Standards and Governance 

• Architecture Governance: Establish and enforce architectural standards, principles, and best practices to guide the design and implementation of technology solutions across EGH.
• Technology Governance: Ensure that all technology-related transformation projects adhere to predefined governance frameworks and quality standards.
• Architecture Reviews: Conduct architecture reviews of key transformation initiatives to ensure conformance with the defined enterprise architecture and recommend adjustments as necessary.
• Architecture Tools: Identify tools to guide integrated management and delivery of business and IT activities, leveraging automation to enforce compliance to architecture principles during design, build, test and deployment cycles. 

Collaboration with Stakeholders 

• Business and IT Collaboration: Collaborate closely with business and IT leadership to ensure that architectural decisions align with the EGH business model and technological capabilities.
• Transformation Steering Committee: Provide architectural insights and guidance to the transformation steering committee, helping them make informed decisions on prioritization and alignment of transformation initiatives.
• Vendor and Partner Alignment: Work with strategic external co-creators (e.g., TCS, Huawei, Infosys) and partners to ensure that their solutions enable the EGH business model, strategic objectives and fit within the broader enterprise architecture. 

Innovation and Emerging Technologies 

• Technology Trends Analysis: Research and evaluate emerging technologies, trends, and innovations (e.g., AI, blockchain, cloud computing) and identify strategic fitment to direct modernization and recency of the EGH architecture design.
• Innovation Strategy: Lead efforts to incorporate new and emerging technologies into the enterprise architecture in ways that provide competitive advantage and improve operational efficiency.
• Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Management: Facilitate PoCs to test the feasibility and effectiveness of new technologies within the enterprise architecture framework before full-scale implementation. 

Risk Management and Compliance 

• Architecture Risk Management: Identify and mitigate risks associated with architectural decisions, particularly those related to business process modeling, system integration, scalability, data security, and regulatory compliance.
• Compliance Alignment: Ensure that the enterprise architecture adheres to industry standards, regulatory requirements, and security policies.
• Data Governance: Collaborate with data governance teams to ensure data architecture is compliant with regulations (e.g., GDPR, data privacy laws) and supports secure and efficient data management. 

Documentation and Knowledge Management 

• Architecture Blueprint: Develop and maintain detailed architecture blueprints, models, and documentation that describe the current and future state of the enterprise architecture.
• Knowledge Transfer: Ensure that architectural decisions and frameworks are well-documented and shared with relevant stakeholders across the transformation office to facilitate consistent implementation.
• Architecture Repository: Maintain an architecture repository that provides access to architectural artifacts, models, principles, and guidelines for ongoing transformation efforts. 

Continuous Improvement and Optimization 

• Architecture Optimization: Continuously evaluate and refine the enterprise architecture to ensure it remains relevant, efficient, and aligned with evolving business and technological needs.
• Lessons Learned: Analyze and document lessons learned from transformation projects to improve future architectural decisions and approaches.
• Performance Monitoring: Track the performance of the enterprise architecture in terms of how well it supports transformation initiatives and identify opportunities for improvement. 

Qualifications

Requirements: 

• Bachelor's or Master's in BBIT or related field that provides academic balance between business and IT
• At least 10 years of experience in a similar role in competitive international set up;
• Experience in business transformation and change incorporating significantly sized projects
• Experience in developing and implanting business reform and optimization architecture projects with proven experienced in supporting process change projects.
• Demonstrated ability to engage stakeholders at all levels, preferably in a multi country context.
• Strategic in mindset
• Good facilitation skills