What is redefining the banking business is the customer-centered approach in solution architecture and development, letting the customer decide what to achieve as they do business with services and products they desire to have.

Are you highly innovative, always redefining the way of doing things? Are you agile, visionary, and very passionate about technology and what it can deliver to meet customer needs? Do you have a customer-centric attitude in your experience as a Solutions Architect? Does it excite you to keep making improvements, innovating, and delivering new products and services driven by the customer’s need? Do you possess a deep understanding of ICT architectural concepts and the fundamentals of good software design and the ability to deliver innovative solutions and make sound qualitative judgments on appropriateness and the effectiveness of solution approaches? Join us at Co-operative Bank and be part of the Digital Transformation journey where opportunities are limitless.

Reporting to the Head of Enterprise Architecture, the role holder is intended to provide detailed technical analysis of business requirements to provide the end-to-end solution to a business need. Provide the projects solutions approach by building software/API and integrating technical designs to ensure they are in line with the enterprise architectural plan in collaboration with Enterprise Architects, Data Architects, Business Analysts, and Full Stack Developers. The Solution Architect will also provide technical support with existing solutions and enhancements with respect to effort estimation and impact assessment as well as identify system, infrastructure, and project interdependencies and balance competing demands to ensure project deliverables are achieved.

The role holder will also provide input to the strategic direction of technology investments to assist in technology review and development of the enterprise architecture to maximize the return on technology investment. The Solution Architect will also provide technical support with existing and occurring enhancements with respect to effort estimation and impact assessment as well as identify system, infrastructure, and project interdependencies and balance competing demands to ensure project deliverables are achieved.

The role
The successful jobholder will be expected to:

• Use appropriate tools, including logical models of components and interfaces, to contribute to the development of systems architectures in specific business or functional areas.
• Produce detailed component specifications and designs for implementation using selected products.
• Assess current systems architecture in place and recommend the best solutions for improvement.
• Resolving technical problems as they arise and assessing the business impact that certain technical choices have.
• Evaluate and undertake impact analysis on major design options, assess and manage associated risks and ensure that the system design balances functional, service quality and systems management requirements.
• Test and provide guidance to teams on integrations and software components in accordance with the design.
• Continually research current and emerging technologies and propose changes where needed.
  Inform various stakeholders on problems with the current technical solutions being implemented.
• Provide advice on technical aspects of system development and integration (including requests for changes, deviations from specifications, etc.) and ensure that relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices are applied correctly. Provide input to the strategic direction of technology investments to assist in the development of the enterprise architecture to maximize the return on technology investment, participate in governance/stewardship of ESB/SOA, MSA artifacts definitions, including enterprise services, data, business events/topics, contracts and associated publish/subscribe participants.
• Specify and design large or complex systems, select appropriate design standards, methods and tools, consistent with agreed enterprise and solution architectures and ensure they are applied effectively.
• Peer review system designs, ensure the selection of appropriate technology and multiple technology integrations.
• Evaluate and undertake impact analysis on major design options and assess and manage associated risks and ensure that the system design balances functional, service quality and systems management requirements.
• Monitor the market to gain knowledge and understanding of currently emerging technologies, identify new and emerging hardware and software technologies and products and potential value to the organization.
• Document policies, procedures and reference architectures on Intranet and communicate updates to appropriate staff. Provide best practice recommendations for design and project implementation
• Attend code reviews to ensure that platform-specific standards and best practices are followed.
• Provide team support in project delivery; systems development, solution architecture design, architecture reviews, architecture assessment, component development, ICT tools evaluation, vendor review.
• Ensure that the solution architectures align with the roadmaps established by enterprise architecture, and that they adhere to the enterprise architecture principles.

Qualifications, Skills & Attributes

The successful jobholder will be required to possess the following qualifications: –

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Statistics, Actuarial Science and/or related fields4 years’ professional experience in IT solution architecture, development of APIs on Enterprise service Bus (ESB) Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) or Microservice Architecture (MSA) experience is desirable.
• Solid grasp of design patterns and principles, particularly Object-Oriented Design (OOD), SOA, MSA, and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA). Microservice Architecture (MSA), Docker Kubernetes knowledge is desirable.
• Excellent software development skills – Java, Spring Framework, JBoss, Websphere, C#, Oracle databases, SQL Server, DevOps, Docker and Kubernetes, Cloud-based solutions, Android, REST, XML/RPC, MQ, and Kennel. 
• Experience with systems like Mobile money transfer, USSD/SMS, Internet Banking, Omni Channel, Open Banking architecture, core banking systems and other systems in a financial services ecosystem.
• Ability to analyze, simulate/prototype, design, document and develop APIs or product components with. 
• Experience in Agile, DevOps, Automation of testing, deployments, monitoring is desirable.
• Familiarity with Unified Modeling Language (UML) and possesses knowledge of ancillary technologies in use at, such as Java, MS SQL Server, Eclipse, Oracle, or an ability to quickly learn any of these if needed.
• Possesses a strong customer service attitude, excellent communication skills, exhibits a passion for learning and continuous improvement. Takes responsibility for acquiring new skills and broadening knowledge.
• Exhibits a commitment to the utilization of defined standards and processes and strong business acumen.
• High level of mathematical aptitude and strong problem-solving skills, logical, analytical and investigative mind.
• Ability to handle complex information with accuracy and attention to detail with creative abilities.

How to apply:

If you fit the profile, then apply today! Please forward your application enclosing detailed Curriculum Vitae to jobs@www.co-opbank.co.ke indicating the job reference number SA/ICT-ID/2022 by 23rd March 2022.

We are an equal opportunity employer.