M-Pesa Africa - Software Architect at Safaricom Kenya

JOB DESCRIPTION

To support M-Pesa Africa in achieving its goal of becoming the #1 FinTech company in Africa & as part of the MPA Architecture Team you will be responsible for establishing and maintaining software architecture and designs for deployment of mobile money solutions. You will also work with the other Technology, Security and Operations teams to ensure alignment with company standards and policies. 

The agile SAFe Framework has been adopted across M-Pesa Africa and in line with the framework you will acquire a systems-thinking mindset that supports the continuous flow of value through the Continuous Delivery Pipeline enabling and fostering a DevOps culture. Working closely with Agile Teams, you will help them implement enablers that define, explore and evolve our solutions. You will help plan and develop the Architectural Runway in support of new business Features and Capabilities by actively participating in Program Increment (PI) planning, System Demos and Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events. You will have an overarching appreciation for Agile Architecture in SAFe promoting a set of values, practices and collaborations that support the active, evolutionary design and architecture of our systems. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide software architecture and designs that enable testability, deployability and releasability using industry standard notations, such as UML and Data Flow Sequences, 
• Defining a set of purposeful architectural strategies and initiatives which enhance solution design, performance and usability
• Promoting and building trust in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline for Agile Release Trains to independently explore and test ideas in a true production environment
• Providing guidance for inter-team design and synchronise architectural implementation activities of system
• Producing High and Low Level designs (using industry standard notations such as UML) for Software Solutions required to run Tier 1 Business Critical Applications.
• Defining a Minimum Viable (“just enough”) Architecture supporting the creation and evolution of systems and systems interfaces 
• Collaborating with Systems, Security, and Data Architects to ensure discrete solutions created by ARTs and Suppliers fit into and support the larger capabilities of the overall solution
• Fostering architecture as code through common naming conventions, attributes and annotations
• Defining enabler capabilities and NFRs
• Participating in Pre- and Post-PI Planning to work with relevant stakeholders and defining the architectural approach and high-level objectives for upcoming PI planning
• Participating in regular Solution Demo sessions to demonstrate new implemented approaches and assessing fitness for purpose
• Collaborating with Release Management to assess releasability of elements of the solution in line with the Release Strategy
• Actively working with Agile Teams to ensure that emergent design choices minimise technology complexity and avoid unnecessary duplication of capabilities

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, IT, Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications or related IT field
• 5+ years of experience inclusive of software architecture, software design and software development lifecycle
• Certification in Solution Architecture, TOGAF, Cloud expertise is desired
• Expertise in deploying, configuring and supporting Software into Dev, Test, and Operations environments
• Experience in best practice implementation of VMWare, API and middleware design and build experience
• Previous experience of AWS (Amazon Web Services hosting), Windows and Linux Operating Systems (actual hands-on work will be required)
• Experience of working with vendors from own & other countries and COTS products
• Experience in Service Management and knowledge of ITIL
• Experience of implementation projects
• Understanding of Programme level technical and architectural policies and ability to transform that policy into detailed technical design.
• Ability to read code & map code to Software Designs and maintaining software repositories 
• Knowledge and interest in market leading Mobile Money technologies, suppliers and innovations
• Ability to mentor/coach developers and other architects in architecture principles
• Strong business acumen and leadership mindset with the ability to communicate and influence others
• Domain experience in Financial Services and Financial technologies will be an added advantage 
• Has demonstrable knowledge and experience in both Agile and Waterfall methodologies