Business Solutions Architect

Job description
Bring your possibility to life! Define your career with us

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

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Job Summary

Reporting to the Director, Digital and Change Enablement, this role will have the core accountability for the design and development of architectural blueprints for all user requirements specifications. This will be achieved through close collaboration with the Development & Release Management teams, as well as Subject matter experts and vendors to design solutions that meet customer needs.

Job Description

Accountability: Requirements Planning, Analysis and Documentation: – (50%)

Outputs:
Manage requirements gathering to ensure user requirements are broken down into proper low level Business Requirements Documentation (BRDs) to facilitate technical solution designs
Develop technical designs and implementation blueprints to assist procurement, development, and release teams with onward project execution
Manage the completion of assigned tasks on time, on budget and to acceptable quality.
Ensure assigned team members have a clear understanding of business requirements & implementation blueprints
Ensure assigned team members have a clear understanding of bank policies, processes, and procedures necessary for them to support project development
Participate in the evaluation of tenders as and when called upon.
Defend and influence changes by providing relevant information to help make appropriate decisions for project execution
Improve project administration processes by identifying inefficiencies and recommending solutions
Maintain a detailed up to date project plan for each project
Continually communicate the status of each assigned project to all project participants and stakeholders
Support the development of departmental budgets. Establish and maintain project management standards including regular review of adherence
Engage and obtain formal agreements on development objectives and timelines once signed user requirements specifications are provided.
Identify dependencies and sequence activities into a realistic schedule that conforms to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) as prescribed in the agreed architectural procedures
Work with various teams to transform requirements into quality technical plans to inform procurement, development, and release teams on execution
Provide support to the Supply Chain Management and development teams to facilitate smooth transition into development
Provide technical support to Technical BAU teams when required

Accountability: Communication Management (20%)

Outputs:
Serves as a key participant in team and client meetings for projects under Architecture
Effective communication of architectural progress through timely and quality reports
Tactfully communicate sensitive information
Handle difficult situations directly, using appropriate discretion, confront issues openly and quickly
Present sound and well-reasoned arguments to convince/influence stakeholders in support of decision making

Accountability: Leadership and Staff Development (15%)

Outputs:
Provide clear and consistent guidelines on vision and strategic goals for the department to the architecture team.
Agree targets with architecture team members, monitoring their performance and ensuring SLA adherence
Coach and develop architecture team, building their skills and competencies to manage and maximize their effectiveness and performance
Work with team members to conduct root cause analysis of issues.
Work with team members to review new and existing code and/or perform unit testing.
Work with team members to develop solutions.

Accountability: Risk and Control:- (15%)

Outputs:
Ensure that all risks applicable to your area are identified, assessed, reported and captured in the risk register.
Ensure accurate and complete reporting of risk events within the stipulated timeline (i.e. 7 calendar days)
Ensure all emerging risks are reported and mitigating factors put in place
Identify, monitor and report Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) in your respective unit/department
Ensure that you are operating within the given risk appetites and report any breaches promptly
Implement and close all audit recommendations, identified control weaknesses from Risk RCSAs, Consultancy reports or Customer complaints and risk events
Participate in the annual review of procedure manuals when requested
Familiarisation with and adherence to risk management framework and participation in relevant risk management trainings
Strict adherence to laid down project management processes and procedures
Ensure Architecture related issues are identified, tracked, reported on and resolved in a timely manner.

Education

Bachelors Degree and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)