Solutions and Business Architecture Area Chapter Lead at Safaricom Kenya

Job Description

• Reporting to the HOD - Data AI Systems & Architecture, the Solution & Business Architecture Area Chapter Lead is responsible for providing strategic leadership and governance for the Solution Architecture and Business Analysis disciplines across the enterprise. The role develops and grows architecture and business analysis capabilities, establishes standards, methodologies, and best practices, and ensures the consistent delivery of high-quality business and solution designs that align with Enterprise Architecture principles, business strategy, and technology roadmaps.
• Reporting to the Head of Data, AI Systems & Architecture, the Chapter Area Lead provides leadership to the Engineering Managers responsible for Consumer Business, Enterprise & Public Sector, Financial Services, Technology, and Business Analysis. The role ensures consistent architecture practices across all business units while driving capability maturity, innovation, talent development, architecture governance, and continuous improvement.
• The Area Chapter Lead acts as the custodian of the Safaricom Business Architecture, System and Application roadmaps and the organization's solution architecture and business analysis practices, enabling delivery teams to build scalable, secure, reusable, and business-aligned digital capabilities.

Responsibilities

Health and Safety

• Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work.
• All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions

Practice Leadership

Define and own the Solution Architecture and Business Analysis strategy, operating model, and capability roadmap.

• Establish a unified Architecture and Business Analysis practice across the organization. 
• Drive continuous improvement and maturity of both disciplines. 
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, collaboration, and customer-centric design. 
• Promote reuse of architecture patterns, business capabilities, APIs, and design assets.

People Leadership
Lead and develop the Engineering Managers responsible for:

• Consumer Business Solution Architecture 
• Enterprise & Public Sector Solution Architecture 
• Financial Services Solution Architecture 
• Technology Solution Architecture 
• Business Analysis

Responsibilities include:

• Coaching and mentoring Engineering Managers. 
• Performance management. 
• Succession planning. 
• Capability development. 
• Workforce planning. 
• Recruitment of senior architecture talent. 
• Career progression. 
• Learning and certification programmes.

Architecture & Business Analysis Governance
Own governance across all architecture and business analysis activities by:

• Establishing architecture principles and standards. 
• Defining business analysis methodologies. 
• Governing architecture review boards. 
• Governing business requirements quality. 
• Defining documentation standards. 
• Ensuring compliance with Enterprise Architecture standards. 
• Ensuring alignment with security, data, AI, integration, and cloud strategies. 
• Managing architecture and business analysis exceptions.

Business & Technology Roadmaps
Provide oversight of Business Unit technology evolution by ensuring:

• Application roadmaps remain current. 
• Technology modernization roadmaps are maintained. 
• Legacy technology retirement plans exist. 
• Capability roadmaps align to enterprise strategy. 
• Business capability maps remain current. 
• Technology investment decisions align with enterprise priorities.

Capability Development
Develop and continuously improve:

• Architecture frameworks 
• Business capability models 
• Reference architectures 
• Solution patterns 
• Business analysis templates 
• Design standards 
• Reusable architecture assets 
• AI-assisted architecture practices 
• AI-assisted business analysis practices 
• Drive adoption across all delivery teams.

Quality Assurance
Provide quality oversight of:

• Business Requirements Documents 
• Solution Design Documents 
• Integration Designs 
• Non-functional Requirements 
• Architecture Decision Records 
• Solution Reviews 
• Architecture compliance assessments 
• Ensure consistent quality before governance approval.

Enterprise Collaboration
Partner closely with:

• Enterprise Architecture 
• Product Management 
• Digital Engineering 
• Data & AI Engineering 
• Cyber Security 
• Infrastructure 
• Operations 
• Delivery Management 
• Vendor Partners to ensure end-to-end solution alignment.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement
Champion:

• AI-assisted architecture 
• AI-assisted requirements engineering 
• Architecture automation 
• Architecture repositories 
• Digital twins 
• Architecture knowledge management 
• Reusable solution accelerators 
• Cloud, API, AI-first design 
• Event-driven architecture 
• Cloud-native architecture 
• Business capability modelling 
• Continuous architecture

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business Information Systems, or a related discipline. 
• Master's degree in Technology, Business Administration (MBA), Enterprise Architecture, or a related field is highly desirable. 
• 8+ years' experience in Solution Architecture, Business Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, or Business Analysis.
• 5+ years leading architecture or business analysis practices, chapters, or centres of excellence.
• Proven experience leading senior technical leaders and multidisciplinary architecture teams.
• Demonstrated success delivering enterprise-wide digital transformation programmes.
• Strong experience in Enterprise Architecture governance, application portfolio management, business capability modelling, cloud-native architectures, API-led integration, and technology modernization.
• Experience establishing architecture and business analysis standards, governance frameworks, and capability development programmes within large, complex enterprise environments.

Professional Certifications

• TOGAF® Certified 
• TM Forum Open Digital Architecture (ODA) certification 
• Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) or equivalent 
• Cloud certifications (AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud) 
• SAFe Agilist, Scrum, or other Agile certification 
• ITIL Foundation or equivalent

Functional & Technical Skills:

Leadership

• Strategic Leadership
• Practice Leadership
• People Development
• Coaching & Mentoring
• Stakeholder Management
• Organizational Design

• Change Leadership

Business

• Business Architecture
• Business Capability Modelling
• Business Process Modelling
• Customer Journey Mapping
• Product Operating Model
• Digital Transformation
• Portfolio Management

Architecture

• Enterprise Architecture
• Solution Architecture
• Application Architecture
• Integration Architecture
• Cloud Architecture
• Security Architecture
• Data Architecture
• AI Architecture
• API Architecture
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Microservices
• Domain-Driven Design

Technical

• Cloud Platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Kubernetes
• API Management
• DevSecOps
• CI/CD
• Architecture Modelling (ArchiMate, UML, BPMN, C4)
• Integration Platforms
• AI Engineering
• Data Platforms
• Enterprise Integration Patterns

Governance

• TOGAF
• TM Forum ODA
• Architecture Review Boards
• Technology Standards
• Design Governance
• Business Analysis Frameworks
• Risk Management

Behaviors & Competencies:

• Trusted and respected as a thought leader and change agent who can influence and persuade business and IT leaders
• Organizationally savvy, and understanding of the political climate of the enterprise and how to navigate obstacles and politics
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent analytical, technical, and problem-solving skills, with high-levels of creativity and a practical approach that is principle-driven
• 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
• 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
• Excellent relationship building, teamwork, and collaboration skills that enables the provision of effective support and guidance across programs
• Designs for scalability and reuse; anticipates future data needs; aligns architecture with organizational goals.
• Vendor and technology neutral –driven primarily by long-term business outcomes rather than personal preferences
• Regularly brings forward improvements; pilots emerging tools and evaluates fit.