Cloud Architect

A great career opportunity exists for a junior cloud architect at Santam’s Technology Services (STS) in the Western Cape or Gauteng.

The purpose of an enterprise architect is to align Santam’s business strategy and objectives with its information technology infrastructure.

Being involved in the complete Santam landscape, the enterprise architect ensures that Santam’s systems, processes, and resources are effectively designed, implemented, and managed to support the overall business goals.

In effect, the enterprise architect bridges the gap between business and technology allowing Santam to achieve its long-term goals by leveraging appropriate solutions.

PRINCIPLE ACCOUNTABILITIES INCLUDE:

Architecture functions

• Analyse Santam business strategy and translate it into an IT strategy that supports the business vision.
• Design and develop enterprise-wide technology architectures that encompass various aspects, including business processes, applications, infrastructure, and security, but with a focus on cloud solutions. These architectures provide a blueprint for Santam’s cloud strategy and IT systems, ensuring coherence, integration, and scalability.
• Establish and enforce architecture and design governance processes, principles, and standards to ensure consistency, interoperability, and compliance across IT projects and systems.
• Oversee the alignment of IT initiatives with the enterprise architecture and facilitate decision-making regarding technology investments.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, including business leaders, project managers, developers, and other architects, to understand their requirements and constraints. Enterprise architects communicate the architectural vision and plans effectively, ensuring buy-in and understanding from all involved parties.
• Understand how the business requirements can be met using the available cloud solutions or define what additional solutions are needed.
• Evaluate cloud solutions, emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices to inform decision-making regarding technology adoption, modernization, and retirement.
• Assess the impact of new cloud business solutions on the information technology landscape, including execution of technical due diligence across all dimensions of IT.
• Work as a team member with Development Managers and other technical staff to ensure the application is implemented according to requirements.
• Identify potential risks/issues and provide input into the risk plan.
• Engage actively with technology partners to deliver an integrated solution across platforms and cloud solution partners.

Generic functions

• Ensure that solution implementations are coherent and consistent with technology strategies, governance, and architecture.
• Provide advice and consultancy across the Santam Group on enterprise architecture matters.
• Participate in reviews and provide guidance to teams to ensure that the principles, architecture, and strategies are followed.
• Establish and participate in design reviews, architectural reviews, and technical issue management meetings.
• Ensure that design is optimised for use on the specific cloud infrastructure.
• Provide support to other members of the development team and business management team as required.
• Develop and maintain a deep understanding of cloud architectures, solutions, and packages.
• Work effectively in a team with other Enterprise Architects, Solution Architects, Business Architects, and Lead developers to consider design alternatives and agree on appropriate design decisions in support of business requirements.

Cloud functions

• Establish and maintain Santam Group cloud architecture principles.
• Develop and maintain specific cloud architectures for major cloud providers – AWS, Azure, and any future providers.
• Calculate total cost of ownership options and advise on the best and most cost-effective implementations.
• Accountable for establishing and maintaining Santam Group Logical cloud architecture.
• Accountable for establishing and maintaining Santam Group Cloud Platform architecture.
• Maintain and mature the architecture capability as per the Zachman framework.

Quality Assurance

• Ensure alignment of initiatives to the target cloud architecture and standards with Santam and the Sanlam Group.
• Design and improve the Santam STS Enterprise Architecture Governance framework.
• Accountable for regulating and enforcing adherence to the above framework, focusing on cloud aspects, in the Santam Solution Design Forum, Sanlam Saser, and other forums.
• Review agreed implementation to ensure correct interpretation of requirements, architecture, and strategies.
• Facilitate and lead quality assurance processes for design and development to ensure the ongoing integrity of the end-to-end systems landscape.

QUALIFICATION

• BSc / BCom / BTech / BEng/ Honours with Information Systems or Business as a major.
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect (preferred) or Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE

• Minimum 8 years of experience in technology roles.
• 3 years in enterprise architecture, solution architecture, systems design, operating at the enterprise level.
• 3 years of experience in the application of IT architecture governance principles.
• 2 years of experience in cloud architecture, cloud designs, and cloud implementation on AWS (preferred), Azure, or both.
• Experience in cloud security concepts such as virtual private cloud, subnets, routing, firewalls, VPN connections, identity and access management.
• Experience in cloud concepts such as infrastructure as code, continuous integration and continuous deployment, containers, and serverless computing.
• Experience working in a hybrid and multi-cloud environment.
• Experience in providing cost estimates for cloud solutions and in calculating and designing alternative solutions in the event of cloud cost increases.
• Understanding of Santam systems and specifically software development experience is a benefit.

SKILLS

• Strong leadership and influencing skills.
• Ability to negotiate and positively influence others.
• Ability to effectively deal with conflict situations and complexity.
• High level of emotional intelligence.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent facilitation skills.
• Networking skills.
• Applying technologies.
• Conceptual thinker.
• Risk management.
• Change management.
• Develop and implement strategy.
• Interpersonal skills, ability to engage with senior business stakeholders.
• Ability to accept accountability for actions and decisions.
• Analytical in nature.
• Problem resolution.
• Team player.
• Pragmatism.
• Plans and aligns.

COMPETENCIES

• Client Focus.
• Collaboration.
• Flexible and adaptable.
• Cultivates Innovation.
• Building and maintaining relationships.
• Strategic alignment.
• Cloud Architecture Development.
• Systems Architecture Development.
• Data Security.
• IT Policies, standards, industry regulations, and best practices.
• Technologies.
• Reporting and Administration.
• Business Requirements Definition.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Santam is the market leader in the general insurance industry in Southern Africa. We are a large, diversified, expanding, and transforming company and whilst based in South Africa, we are rapidly moving into a number of emerging markets, both in Africa and Asia.

Our success is rooted in our passion for our clients and everything we do is centered on our delivery of Insurance Good and Proper. We’re about people. People drive our business so it follows that we want to recruit the best people possible whether they work for us permanently or for a short time as temporary employees.

At Santam we are committed to transformation and embracing diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse workplace with employment equity as a key goal to create an inclusive workforce, representative of the demographics of our society. In achieving our employment equity goals we give preference to applicants from the designated groups in alignment with the Divisions Employment Equity targets.

Qualified applicants are invited to submit their cover letter, CV, and salary requirements in MS Word format online at www.santam.co.za / careers. Should you be aware of a qualified individual, please pass this vacancy on to them.