Domain Architect - Ava Consulting

Job ID: TYA1322368

Job Title: Domain Architect
Location: Plano, TX
Duration: 06 Months

Job Description:
Company Background:
Our client, a major employer in the area, is looking for a Domain Architect to be part of its team in its North American operations.

The Domain Architecture Owner is responsible and accountable for all Architecture and design decisions within a Domain. They ensure proposed technology solutions are designed to meet or exceed functional requirements, non-functional requirements, adhere to the Architecture Standards, and aligns with the longer-term digital transformation strategy.

The candidate would possess strong leadership, excellent oral and written communication skills, and a proven ability to present and discuss technical, functional, and managerial information clearly and concisely to various stakeholders from Business Executives to Developers. Expertise in architecting and developing secure, scalable, reliable, fault-tolerant distributed applications.

The Domain Architecture Owners partner with their assigned Domains to drive key technology decisions. They create and maintain business architecture artifacts and domain technology roadmaps.

What you'll be doing :

1. Be part of the Domain leadership team to create technology strategy and influence technology direction.
2. Responsible and accountable for all architecture functions within the domain.
3. Collaborate with other stakeholders and architects to drive consensus.
4. Responsible for creating and maintaining Business Capability map for the domain.
5. Creates and maintains Technology Strategy, current and target State architectures for the domain.
6. Participates in all Cross-domain architecture routines.
7. Support solution architecture to create application high level and low-level designs and document the necessary artifacts.
8. Other activities as assigned by the Domain Architecture Leader.

Job Accountabilities
Primary Job Accountabilities	% of Time
Domain Leadership Engagement o Engage with the domain as part of the Domain Leadership Team. o Drive consensus among the leadership on Technology Strategy. o Validate technology feasibility of business case and concept proposals.	10%
Engagement on assigned Domain OKRs and other miscellaneous projects o Work with domain stakeholders to understand business requirements. o Ensure all designs are approved per architecture guidelines and standards.	15%
Supporting Solution Architecture o Partner with Solution Architects to create High level design. o Validate low level designs presented by Solution architects. o Provide guidance and thought leadership to drive fit for purpose solutions. o Mentor Solution Architects	15%
Creating and maintaining Business capabilities and target state technology architecture o Create business capability maps by interviewing various business stakeholders. o Perform capability assessments on new projects and initiatives. o Create various relevant capability heatmaps to help create technology roadmaps. o Create value streams for the domain.	15%
Documenting Key decisions, artifacts, or other items as required o Capture decisions, risks, impediments, and open items on any design items being discussed. o Capture proper evidence of decisions. o Ensure consensus of all relevant stakeholders is captured.	15%
Architecture Governance o Provide oversight on all high level and low-level designs presented in Domain Architecture Office Hours. o Approve designs that meet gating criteria. o Make decisions using approved processes such as buy-vs-build. o Represent the domain in all architectural governance routines.	20%
Cross Domain collaboration o Work with other SME/Domain Architects to drive design consensus. o Collaborate with other domain architects and domain architecture leader to identify cross domain impact on design. o Provide education on any reusable design aspects that can be used across domains. o Collaborate on other cross-domain initiatives.	10%

• Requirements:

Challenges Examples	Approach / Solution
1. There are multiple vendors, development teams and business users involved to create and finalize end-to-end technical solutions. It can be challenging to ensure that everyone is aligned and working together effectively.	Should understand current and future IT technical offerings and identify appropriate solutions that are fit for purpose. They should establish clear communication channels to guide, and mentor involved parties in the ongoing collection, development, review and adoption of architecture standards and best practices.
2. Designing too close to a delivery sprint will lead to a potential compromise on architectural standards and best practices.	Early engagement with key stakeholders and understanding requirements and viewpoints will help create a design that can be better aligned with the delivery timelines.
3. Vendor engagements without proper technical due diligence can impact domain's strategic goals.	Enable decisioning of product selection through proper technology due-diligence and alignment with business and technology strategy.

• Decision-Making

1. Articulating and solving critical business problems while demonstrating a strong business acumen.

2. Owning and managing the full technology architecture and the relevant parts of SDLC.

3. Approving system design as changes/enhancements are designed that are alignment with Architecture standards and guidelines.

• Working Relationships

Contact (e.g., Asst. Legal Counsel, ITX, external vendor)	Purpose of Contact	Frequency (e.g., daily, weekly, quarterly)
1. Solution & SME Architects	Coordination of system solutions	Weekly
2. Platform Teams (Platform, Cloud, Infosecurity, governance, SRE)	Coordination of system solutions	As needed
3. Design Stakeholders (Factory Leaders)	Coordination of architecture and development walk-through and signoffs	As needed
4. Domain Leadership	Create and maintain Capability maps and technology strategy	Weekly

• Knowledge and Skills

Education
Required	Preferred	Degree
		High School Education or Equivalent
		Associate Two-Year College Degree
Yes		Four-Year College Degree (BA or BS)
		Advanced Degree. Specify:

• Experience Subject Matter Expertise

Required	Preferred	Work Experience
		0-2 years of work experience
		0-2 years of relevant work experience (in similar field and/or industry)
		2-5 years of relevant / progressive work experience (in similar field and/or industry)
Yes		5-10 years of relevant / progressive work experience (in similar field and/or industry)
	Yes	10+ years of relevant / progressive work experience (in similar field and/or industry)

Licenses, Certifications & Specialized Skills [IH1] (if applicable)
Required	Preferred	Degree
	Yes	Cloud experience: Migrating or transforming legacy solutions to the cloud. Architecting/designing solutions built on cloud ideal but not required (AWS, Azure, GCP).
Yes		Broad technology experience including cloud architecture, applications development, relational databases, NoSQL databases, analytics, machine learning, networking, security, storage, DevOps, containers, serverless, CI/CD, management and monitoring, cloud migrations, and IT transformation.
Yes		Software Development Expertise such as, Solid understanding of domain specific applications. Mastery of distributed applications, project life cycle, and the basics of technical operations (networks, data center, database, integration, and migration activities). Development Methodology has mastered and understands common development models including waterfall and agile processes. Mastery of unit testing, software change management, software release management.
	Yes	Project management skills: Working knowledge of project management principles. Experience in estimating and measuring project size and scope.
Yes		Business skills: Presentation and whiteboarding skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with internal and external executives, IT management, and technical teams. Excellent communication skills with an ability to right level conversations.

• Supervision or Management

Collective Number of Team Members Direct and Indirect Reports	N/A
Responsible for oversight of contingent workers ( typically, how many?)	Associates: ad hoc teams, no direct reports Contingents/Consultants: N/A Vendor/Partners: Varies

• Additional Comments, Including Unique Circumstances

Ability to work independently, with strong organizational and flexibility skills in a team-oriented environment, and exhibit characteristics of excellent time management.