Solution Architect

Solution Architect

Total Experience: 10+ years (software development + cloud/DevOps + architecture)

Relevant Experience: 8 years in cloud/DevSecOps; 4+ years as Application/Solution Architect

Primary Cloud Platform: Microsoft Azure

Additional Platforms: AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Engagement Type: Enterprise production, multi-region, regulated environments; pre-sales & discovery

Required Certification:

• Azure Solutions Architect Expert or AWS Solution Architect (must);

ABOUT THE ROLE & ORGANISATION

Together with our client, we are building an enterprise-grade Azure platform that supports critical business operations where reliability, security, and delivery speed directly impact outcomes.

The DevOps team owns the infrastructure lifecycle, including IaC, CI/CD, Kubernetes, observability, and close collaboration with development, security, and operations teams.

KEY SKILLS & TECHNOLOGY STACK

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Solution Architecture & Pre-Sales

• Lead discovery, client workshops, proposal input, estimation, scope decomposition, risk assessment, and architecture documentation.
• Design scalable solutions across Azure-first, multi-cloud, microservices, event-driven, serverless, and domain-driven architecture patterns.
• Create prototypes, proofs of concept, technical specifications, architecture diagrams, risk registers, and system requirements.
• Guide implementation, evaluate technology options, support decision-making, and transfer knowledge to engineering teams.
• Partner with customer, business, product, security, operations, and engineering stakeholders throughout delivery.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and mentor engineers and technical leads while establishing engineering standards, ownership, and continuous improvement practices.
• Improve developer experience through practical documentation, reusable patterns, and collaboration across engineering, product, and business teams.
• Contribute to cloud architecture practices and community knowledge sharing.

Cloud Architecture & Platform Ownership

• Own the Azure cloud and DevOps architecture roadmap, standards, and reusable reference patterns.
• Design Terraform-based, environment-separated, production-grade, multi-region infrastructure.
• Architect and govern core Azure services including AKS, API Management, Application Gateway, Front Door, VNet, Private Link, Key Vault, Service Bus, and Event Hub.
• Standardize configuration, environment parity, cost optimization, and reliability across production, staging, and development.

CI/CD & Delivery Engineering

• Build and improve GitLab CI/CD and Azure DevOps pipelines, reusable templates, runners, registries, and multi-environment deployments.
• Integrate security controls such as SAST, secret scanning, and container image scanning into delivery workflows.
• Implement auditable Kubernetes delivery using appropriate CI/CD tooling.

Kubernetes & Container Platform

• Manage AKS clusters and containerized workloads - from ingress configuration and autoscaling to service mesh adoption.
• Maintain Helm chart libraries and containers build pipelines for multi-environment application delivery.
• Investigate and remediate Kubernetes infrastructure issues; perform root-cause analysis and implement scalable long-term fixes.

Observability & Reliability

• Drive observability with Dynatrace, Azure Monitor, and Log Analytics, including tracing, dashboards, SLOs, alerts, and error budgets.
• Lead incident management, on-call triage, root-cause analysis, and post-incident reviews.
• Improve reliability and deployment efficiency through proactive monitoring and automated remediation.

Security & Compliance (DevSecOps)

• Embed DevSecOps controls across secrets, identity, RBAC, network policies, and cloud governance.
• Manage security posture using Entra ID, Managed Identities, Azure Policy, Defender for Cloud, NSG, Private Endpoints, and Key Vault.
• Support vulnerability remediation, public-access findings, and regulatory compliance using Qualys and related platforms.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Experience & Background

• 10+ years of technology experience across software development, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, and solution architecture.
• 5+ years in DevOps, Cloud, or SRE roles, including at least 2 years in a lead or architect capacity.
• Experience in application or solution architecture, pre-sales, proposal input, estimation, scope decomposition, and client workshops.
• Readiness for business travel up to 4 weeks per year.

Cloud & Infrastructure

• Strong Azure experience across AKS, API Management, Application Gateway, Front Door, VNet, Private Link, Key Vault, Service Bus, Event Hub, Entra ID, RBAC, Managed Identities, Azure Policy, and Defender for Cloud.
• Working knowledge of AWS and GCP for multi-cloud design and evaluation.
• Proficiency in Terraform, Kubernetes on AKS, Helm, containers, and cloud networking including subnets, NSG, DNS, Private Endpoints, and load balancing.

Software Development & Architecture

• 10+ years of hands-on development using Python, .NET/C#, Java, Node.js, or comparable modern stacks.
• Deep knowledge of SOA, microservices, event-driven, CQRS, serverless, and domain-driven design patterns.
• Skilled in scalable system design, quality attributes, technical drivers, design patterns, and architecture documentation.

CI/CD, Observability & Security

• GitLab CI/CD end-to-end: pipelines, runners, environments, container registries, and reusable pipeline templates.
• Proficiency in scripting with Bash, PowerShell, or Python.
• Strong troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and production support skills in enterprise, multi-region environments.

Soft Skills & Communication

• Strong leadership, stakeholder management, customer engagement, and presentation skills.
• Ability to collaborate across teams without direct reporting lines.
• Upper-intermediate English or above; comfortable presenting to multidisciplinary audiences.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• FinOps experience: cloud cost optimization, resource rightsizing, reserved capacity planning.
• Familiarity with different CI/CD tools.
• Experience with Dynatrace or similar APM and full-stack observability platforms.
• Experience with Qualys or similar vulnerability management platforms.
• Exposure to regulated or financial services environments.
• Knowledge of service mesh technologies (Istio, Linkerd).
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps pipelines (complementary to GitLab CI/CD).
• Graduate or postgraduate degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent.
• Experience supporting global, cross-functional operational teams across multiple time zones.

CERTIFICATIONS

Strongly Recommended

• AZ-305 -- Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert (highly aligned with SA responsibilities)
• Or
• AWS Solutions Architect Associate or Professional

Advantageous

• HashiCorp Terraform Associate or Professional
• GitLab Certified CI/CD Associate or Professional