Purpose
The Director Domain Architecture is responsible for the creation, iteration, and maintenance of structures such as enterprise and business architectures embodying the key principles, methods and models that describe the organisation's current and future state, and that enable its evolution within the respective domain.
The primary focus of the role is to maintain a specific set of technologies and applications, acting as the gatekeeper and guiding the design to meet the overall objectives for the given domain.
This typically involves the interpretation of business goals and drivers; the translation of business strategy and objectives into an “operating model”; the strategic assessment of current capabilities; the identification of required changes in capabilities; and the description of inter-relationships between people, organisation, service, process, data, information, technology and the external environment.
Key Accountabilities
* Enterprise and business architecture
* Captures and prioritises market and environmental trends, business strategies and objectives, and identifies the business benefits of alternative strategies.
* Establishes the contribution that technology can make to business objectives, conducting feasibility studies, producing high-level business models, and preparing business cases.
* Leads the creation and review of a systems capability strategy that meets the strategic requirements of the business.
* Develops enterprise-wide architecture and processes that ensure that the strategic application of change is embedded in the management of the organisation, ensuring the buy-in of all stakeholders.
* Develops and presents business cases, for high-level initiatives, for approval, funding and prioritisation.
* Ensures compliance between business strategies, enterprise transformation activities and technology directions, setting strategies, policies, standards and practices.
Consultancy
* Takes responsibility for understanding client requirements, collecting data, delivering analysis and problem resolution.
* Identifies, evaluates and recommends options, implementing if required.
* Collaborates with, and facilitates stakeholder groups, as part of formal or informal consultancy agreements.
* Seeks to fully address client needs, enhancing the capabilities and effectiveness of client personnel, by ensuring that proposed solutions are properly understood and appropriately exploited.
Technical Specialism
* Maintains an in-depth knowledge of specific technical specialisms, and provides expert advice regarding their application.
* Can supervise specialist technical consultancy. The specialism can be any aspect of information or communication technology, technique, method and product or application area.
Research
* Contributes to research goals and builds on and refines appropriate outline ideas for the evaluation, development, demonstration and implementation of research.
* Uses available resources to gain an up-to-date knowledge of any relevant IT field.
* Reports on work carried out and may contribute significant sections of material of publication quality.
* Contributes to research plans and identifies appropriate opportunities for publication and dissemination of research findings.
Emerging technology monitoring
* Monitors the market to gain knowledge and understanding of currently emerging technologies.
* Identifies new and emerging hardware and software technologies and products based on own area of expertise, assesses their relevance and potential value to the organisation, contributes to briefings of staff and management.
Business analysis
* Investigates operational requirements, problems, and opportunities, seeking effective business solutions through improvements in automated and non-automated components of new or changed processes.
* Assists in the analysis of stakeholder objectives, and the underlying issues arising from investigations into business requirements and problems, and identifies options for consideration.
* Works iteratively with stakeholders, to identify potential benefits and available options for consideration, and in defining acceptance tests.
Requirements definition and management
* Facilitates scoping and business priority setting for large or complex changes, engaging senior stakeholders as required.
* Selects the most appropriate means of representing business requirements in the context of a specific change initiative.
* Drives the requirements elicitation process where necessary, identifying what stakeholder input is required.
* Obtains formal agreement from a large and diverse range of potentially senior stakeholders and recipients to the scope and requirements, plus the establishment of a base-line on which delivery of a solution can commence.
* Takes responsibility for the investigation and application of changes to programme scope.
* Identifies the impact on business requirements of external impacts affecting a programme or project.
Business modelling
* Produces models in support of business strategy.
* Has in-depth knowledge of a broad range of industry-wide modelling techniques.
* Advises on the choice of techniques and approach and influences customers accordingly.
* Capable of developing bespoke models for unusual contexts.
* Responsible for planning and coordinating team modelling activities and for ensuring the quality of their work.
Sustainability Assessment
* Assesses, records and reports on elements of IT sustainability showing expertise in a given area such as service reusability, data centers, total value of ownership of building blocks, scalability, IT standards etc.
* Provides advice on the improvement of IT sustainability in that area of expertise.
Data Analysis
* Investigates corporate data requirements, and applies data analysis, data modelling and quality assurance techniques, to establish, modify or maintain data structures and their associated components (entity descriptions, relationship descriptions, attribute definitions).
* Provides advice and guidance to database designers and others using the data structures and associated components.
Relationship management
* Identifies the communications needs of each stakeholder group in conjunction with business owners and subject matter experts.
* Translates communications / stakeholder engagement strategies into specific tasks.
* Facilitates open communication and discussion between stakeholders, acting as a single point of contact by developing, maintaining and working to stakeholder engagement strategies and plans.
* Negotiates with stakeholders at senior levels, ensuring that organisational policy and strategies are adhered to.
* Provides informed feedback to assess and promote understanding.
Knowledge, Capabilities and Experience
* English language (fluent)
* Acquiring understanding of the underlying issues in complex problems or situations by correctly relating these to simpler or better understood concepts, models or previous experiences.
* Identifying gaps in the available information required to understand a problem or situation and devising means of remedying such gaps.
* Keeping overall objectives and strategies in mind, and not being deflected by matters of detail.
* Determining a course of action by breaking it down into smaller steps and by planning and resourcing each of these, making allowance for potential problems.
* Understanding the needs of the internal or external customer and keeping them in mind when taking actions or making decisions
* Being proactive, taking action and anticipating opportunities.
* Meeting targets and fulfilling agreements even when adverse circumstances prevail.
* Understanding the hierarchy and culture of own, customer and supplier organisations and being able to identify the decision makers and influencers.
* Communicating effectively by word of mouth.
* Communicating effectively in writing and via emails.
* Establishing relationships and maintaining contacts with people from a variety of backgrounds. Effective and sensitive communicator in different societies and cultures.
* The ability of an individual to convey a level of confidence and professionalism, positively influencing and persuading others to take a specific course of action when there is no direct line of command or control.
* Working co-operatively (rather than competitively) with others to achieve a common goal.
Qualifications
1. M.Sc. / B.Sc. or similar in IT
2. 10+ years IT experience. At least 6+ in Enterprise, Domain or Segment Architecture