Solution Architect (Functional Architect)

We are seeking an experienced Solution Architect (Functional Architect) with 5+ years of expertise in designing and delivering enterprise-scale infrastructure and integration solutions. The ideal candidate will possess a unique blend of infrastructure architecture, integration architecture, and technical project management experience within global organizations. With demonstrated competence in Kafka, API Management, Kubernetes, and Microservices, this senior role requires a strategic thinker who can bridge business requirements with technical solutions, lead cross-functional teams across geographies, and drive digital transformation initiatives. The Solution Architect will serve as a trusted advisor to business and IT stakeholders, designing end‑to‑end solution architectures that align with enterprise standards, optimize operational efficiency, and enable business agility.

Roles and Responsibilities

Solution Architecture & Design

• Design comprehensive end‑to‑end solution architectures spanning infrastructure, integration, and application layers
• Develop architecture blueprints, patterns, and reference implementations for enterprise‑wide adoption
• Create functional architecture specifications that translate business requirements into technical solutions
• Design hybrid and multi‑cloud architectures leveraging Azure, AWS, or GCP platforms
• Architect disaster recovery, high‑availability, and business continuity solutions
• Evaluate and recommend technology stacks, platforms, and tools aligned with business objectives
• Ensure architectural solutions adhere to enterprise security, compliance, and governance standards

Infrastructure Architecture (5+ Years)

• Design enterprise infrastructure architectures including compute, storage, networking, and virtualization
• Architect cloud‑native infrastructure solutions on Azure with focus on scalability and cost optimisation
• Design containerisation strategies and Kubernetes cluster architectures for enterprise workloads
• Create infrastructure automation frameworks using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles
• Architect network topologies, connectivity patterns, and security zones for hybrid environments
• Design monitoring, logging, and observability solutions for infrastructure health and performance
• Evaluate and select infrastructure technologies: servers, storage, networking, and cloud services

Integration Architecture (3+ Years)

• Design enterprise integration architectures connecting diverse systems, applications, and data sources
• Architect API‑led connectivity strategies using API Management platforms (Azure APIM, MuleSoft, Kong)
• Design event‑driven architectures leveraging Apache Kafka for real‑time data streaming and processing
• Create microservices integration patterns including service mesh, API gateways, and service discovery
• Architect data integration solutions: ETL/ELT patterns, data synchronization, and master data management
• Design B2B integration solutions using protocols: AS2, SFTP, EDI, and modern APIs
• Evaluate integration patterns: point‑to‑point, hub‑and‑spoke, bus, and event‑driven architectures

Technical Project Management (3+ Years)

• Lead technical workstreams and architecture tracks within global project delivery initiatives
• Manage technical scope, dependencies, and risks across distributed teams in multiple geographies
• Coordinate with project managers, delivery leads, and stakeholders to ensure architectural alignment
• Drive technical decision‑making processes and resolve architecture‑related conflicts
• Oversee proof‑of‑concept implementations and architecture validation activities
• Manage technical vendor relationships and third‑party solution evaluations
• Ensure timely delivery of architecture deliverables: design documents, patterns, and guidelines

Primary Skills (Required)

Infrastructure Solution Architecture (5+ Years)

• Expert‑level experience designing enterprise infrastructure solutions including cloud infrastructure architecture on Azure (VMs, networking, storage, identity), hybrid and multi‑cloud infrastructure strategies, virtualization and containerisation technologies (VMware, Hyper‑V, Docker), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, ARM templates, Bicep, Ansible), network architecture (VNets, VPN, ExpressRoute, load balancing, firewalls), storage architecture (blob storage, file shares, databases, data lakes), identity and access management (Azure AD, Active Directory, SSO, MFA), disaster recovery and business continuity planning, infrastructure monitoring and observability solutions

Integration Solution Architecture (3+ Years)

• Proven experience architecting enterprise integration solutions: API‑led connectivity and API Management strategies, event‑driven architecture and messaging patterns, Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and integration middleware, data integration and ETL/ELT architecture, B2B integration protocols and standards, microservices integration patterns and service mesh, integration security and data governance

Technical Project Management (3+ Years)

• Demonstrated experience managing technical delivery in global organisations: leading technical workstreams in large‑scale transformation programmes, managing cross‑functional and geographically distributed teams, technical scope management and requirement analysis, risk management and mitigation planning for technical deliverables, vendor management and third‑party solution evaluation, agile and waterfall project methodologies, stakeholder management and communication in matrix organisations

Apache Kafka (3+ Years)

• Deep expertise in Apache Kafka and event streaming architectures: Kafka cluster architecture and sizing (brokers, partitions, replication), Kafka ecosystem (Kafka Connect, Kafka Streams, ksqlDB, Schema Registry), event‑driven microservices with event sourcing and CQRS patterns, real‑time stream processing and event‑driven integrations, Kafka security (SSL/TLS, SASL, ACLs, and encryption at rest), Kafka monitoring and performance tuning, cloud‑managed Kafka (Confluent Cloud, Azure Event Hubs)

API Management (3+ Years)

• Extensive experience with API Management platforms and strategies: Azure API Management architecture and implementation, API gateway design patterns and traffic management, API security (OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JWT, API keys, mTLS), API developer portals and API lifecycle management, API versioning, deprecation, and backward compatibility, API governance and compliance frameworks, alternative platforms (Kong, Apigee, MuleSoft, AWS API Gateway)

Kubernetes & Microservices (3+ Years)

• Strong competence in container orchestration and microservices architecture: Kubernetes architecture (control plane, worker nodes, networking, storage), OpenShift Container Platform enterprise deployments, microservices design patterns (DDD, bounded contexts, sagas, circuit breakers), service mesh (Istio, Linkerd, Consul Connect), container security (image scanning, runtime security, network policies), Kubernetes deployment strategies (blue‑green, canary, rolling updates), Helm charts and GitOps workflows (ArgoCD, Flux)

Cloud Platforms

Extensive experience with Azure, AWS, and GCP platforms.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration (MBA), or related field is highly preferred
• Total 5+ years of professional experience in solution architecture, enterprise architecture, or technical leadership roles
• Minimum 5 years as infrastructure solution architect designing enterprise‑scale infrastructure solutions
• Minimum 3 years as integration solution architect designing API, messaging, and data integration solutions
• Minimum 3 years as technical project manager leading delivery in global organisations with distributed teams
• Minimum 3 years specific competence in Kafka, API Management, Kubernetes, and Microservices
• Proven track record of delivering complex, enterprise‑scale architecture solutions
• Experience working in global organisations with cross‑cultural and cross‑geographical collaboration

Architecture Competencies:

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