Manager – Solutions Architecture at Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA)

Job Purpose

The job holder as the lead solutions architect is responsible for defining, maintaining and evolving the emerging solution architecture to enable actualisation of business objectives, harmonised with KRA’s reference architecture and evolution of solutions for modern, efficient and optimal operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Identifying, analysing, and directing the execution of change towards the solution architecture vision and enterprise mission, by providing and prioritising “technical epics”, through documenting of target architectures, roadmaps & supporting solution evolution/transformation.
2. Working in collaboration with Process Leads to build solutions right, support in feature/ product roadmaps, champion and define architectural governance frameworks.
3. Working in collaboration with other tech leads to guide the organisation on harnessing technology trends and making critical solution decisions to achieve KRA’s mission and vision.
4. Oversee and lead the design, development, and deployment of best solution architecture practices, standards, and patterns.
5. Architect modern solutions using new technologies to define critical solutions evolution map.
6. Lead a world-class Solutions Architecture team.
7. Provide thought leadership on foundational digital architecture best practices and disruptive technology trajectory and implications.
8. Assesses the systems architecture currently in place and works with technical subject matter experts to identify and recommend areas of improvement
9. Supervises and leads the design, development, and deployment of best solution architecture practices, standards, and patterns
10. Plans and supports solutions architecting and innovation Tools
11. Ensures teams engagement though constant feedback, communication and performance discussions
12. Continuously researches current and emerging technologies and proposes changes to the existing architecture where needed
13. Conducts a system architecture evaluation and collaborates with process leads and IT development teams to implement identified improvements
14. Assesses the business impact that certain technical choices have and advises stakeholders appropriately

Academic qualifications

1. Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology or related fields from a recognized university.

OR

1. Bachelor’s degree and Postgraduate qualifications in Computer Science, Management Information Systems, Information Technology, Electrical / Electronic Engineering

Professional Qualifications / Membership to professional bodies

1. Trainings/Certifications around Software Development and Database technologies, IT Security, Network, Cloud & Networking and Data Centre Design/Management.
2. ITIL, PRINCE 2, PMP and Agile delivery methodologies.
3. COBIT, ITIL, PRINCE 2, PMP and Agile delivery methodologies.
4. Software Quality Assurance
5. ISACA and other ICT Professional Bodies

Work experience required

1. Five (5) years of experience in at least three (3) disciplines, such as business, information, solution or technical architecture, application development, middleware, information analysis, database management or operations in a multitier environment and two (2) years at a management level.
2. Three (3) or more years of business experience in strategic and operations planning
3. Extensive experience in IT strategic planning, organization design and development.
4. Experience in leading architecture teams in an agile context, operating and influencing effectively across the organization and within complex contexts.
5. Experience in business capability modelling and technical and solution architecture development.

Functional and Technical Skills

1. Definition of long-term business, data and IT architecture strategy and roadmap
2. Solution Architecture planning and designing
3. Definition of integration APIs and ecosystem strategy
4. Technology Innovation: scouting, screening and evaluation
5. Cost of ownership of technology, Application portfolio management
6. Estimation techniques for scaled agile
7. Web-scale cloud-native architectures including IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
8. Design of infrastructure strategy and roadmap
9. DevOps practices and automation tools
10. Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning and Big data technologies and architectures

Behaviours and Competencies

1. Trusted and respected as a thought leader and change agent who can influence and persuade business and IT leaders
2. Organizationally savvy, and understanding of the political climate of the enterprise and how to navigate obstacles and politics
3. Comfortable, experienced and accomplished at working with business executives, and able to push back in a professional and diplomatic way
4. Excellent analytical, technical, and problem-solving skills, with high-levels of creativity and a practical approach that is principle-driven
5. Ability to balance the long-term (“big picture”) and short-term implications of individual decisions and effective at driving short term actions that are consistent with long-term goals
6. Excellent written and verbal communications skills, able to distil complex technical concepts into simple terms, with strong persuasion skills to gain support for and establish principles, standards, and change
7. Excellent relationship building, teamwork, and collaboration skills that enables the provision of effective support and guidance across programs
8. Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of new technologies, with natural intellectual curiosity and integrity
9. Vendor and technology neutral –driven primarily by long-term business outcomes rather than personal preferences