Technical Architect, Sandton

The Technical Architect is a seasoned professional who is responsible for specifying and designing solutions based on their technical expertise across one or more technology domains. The individual in this position takes responsibility for the successful overall technical design and build of the custom elements of the solution to meet a client’s business requirements.

"Provides primarily pre-sales technical support for the development and implementation of complex products/applications/solutions. Uses in- depth product knowledge to provide technical expertise to sales staff and the customer through sales presentations and product demonstrations. Assists the sales staff in assessing potential application of company products to meet customer needs and may prepare detailed product specifications for the development and implementation of customer products/applications/solutions. May create detailed design and implementation specifications for complex products/applications/solutions. May build a mini-application based on customer requirements to demonstrate feasibility of the application, often requiring rapid prototyping and/or product demo for client. May provide consultation to prospective users and/or product capability assessment and validation. Report only those incumbents with incentives not tied to product sales."

Key roles and responsibilities:

Select and apply appropriate design standards, methods and tools, consistent with the agreed enterprise and solution architectures and ensure that these are effectively applied and adopted.

Guide successful implementation and execution of system solutions.

Provides detailed and specific advice regarding the application of their specialism(s) to the planning and operations processes.

Contributes to the development of solution architectures in specific business, infrastructure or functional areas.

Defines and manages scoping, requirements definition and prioritisation activities for small-scale changes and assists with more complex change initiatives.

Designs components using appropriate modelling techniques following agreed architectures, design standards, patterns and methodology.

Provides pre-sales technical support and expertise in analysing client requirements, in conjunction with the client’s current infrastructure, architecture, system capabilities and business challenges.

Ensure technical solutions accomplish the client’s objectives.

Develop the technical design document to match the solution design specifications.

Lead the scope of work determination, product pricing and RFP/RFI responses and assist with the decision to pursue or abort a deal.

Manages client proof of concept (POC) initiatives, which require appropriation of appropriate resources, and setup and delivery of the POC.

RequirementsAcademic qualifications and certifications:

Qualification in Information Technology, Computer Science or Information Systems

Relevant vendor and industry certifications, e.g., Dell, HPE, Cisco, VMware, Microsoft MCSE, Converged Infrastructure (CI)/Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI), VMWare ESX, ESXi, vSAN), Storage Arrays, X86 Compute Platforms, NSX

VMware Certified Professional certification (VCP) is preferred

Certification and working knowledge of Enterprise Architecture methodologies (e.g. TOGAF, ITIL, COBIT, etc.) advantageous

SAFe Scaled Agile certification advantageous

Experience required:

Proven track record as an architect of new systems/solutions

Previous work experience working as a Presales Engineer, Solutions/Technical Architect, Systems Administrator or Engineer

Proven client engagement and consulting experience

Experience managing expectations when balancing alternatives against business and financial constraints

Proven experience in a variety of architectures for specific domain or specialization e.g. Dell, HPE, VMware, Microsoft Solutions

Experienced DC solutions design, scoping, sizing and assessments know-how

Experience presenting technical solutions to non-technical audiences

IT Modernization or Software Defined Data Center Experience

Experience working with diverse teams e.g., Architects, Sales Teams and Account Managers

Knowledge, skills and attributes

Demonstrate broad product knowledge integrated with strong technology understanding

Good understanding of the vendor’s products, business and technology positioning

Excellent communication skills both verbal and written

Ability to establish and create excellent client relationships with their technical expertise

Ability to develop and leverage their knowledge of reference architectures

Ability to maintain knowledge of trends and development in technology domains

Knowledgeable in core frameworks used

Strong knowledge of the problem domain that their systems are to provide solutions for