DESCRIPTION

We are pleased to announce the following opportunity in the Enterprise Solutions Design & Implementation Department within the Technology Division. In keeping with our current business needs, we are looking for a person who meets the criteria indicated below:

Senior Solutions Architect, reporting to the Manager - Solutions & Architecture, the position holder will be responsible for translating business requirements of Enterprise customers into technical solutions and describing them through the set of architectures, design artifacts and implementation approach using the most appropriate technology to achieve the intended business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Consultative and always seeks to first understand the customer’s business, information, and application requirements
• Responsible for designing, specifying and selecting of solutions, considering functionality, data, security, integration, infrastructure and performance.
• Responsible for the delivery of Customer technical proposals; production of  both High Level and detailed customer design to match customers’ business objectives
• Provides current best practice and 3rd Party solution alternatives as part of the solutions design document
• Establishes or enhances customer relationships, provide technical guidance on engagements, and identifies new opportunities within customer and prospect accounts
• Responsible for identifying, establishing, and managing Proof of Concept (POC), Proof of Value and/or Benchmark engagements, in the customer environment
• Participates in pre-sales activities by assisting with opportunity qualification utilizing knowledge of the customer’s business and technical requirements plus industry solutions
• Gathering and documenting client requirements and translating them into process and architecture designs
• Ensure compliance with internal and external standards and regulations
• Participate and lead, when needed, project meetings with the customer during build phase
• Establishes standards, processes and best practices in solution architecture, to ensure high quality deliverables.
• Translates business requirements throughout the solution architecture procedure; delivers technical solutions in accordance with architecture standards, and design specifications
• Train the stakeholders/partners on technical solutions design, process documentation and best practice.
• Liaise with other sections/departments in the delivery of services and projects as well as maintain good working relations between the team and all stakeholders
• Provide support to the EBU Automation Program by assisting in the development/reviewing of User Requirement Specifications
• Participate in innovation to improve delivered products and services and to explore new technologies and their applications to the enterprise space
• Provide weekly and ad-hoc progress reports for Safaricom Management
• Undertake other duties as may be assigned from time to time
• Safaricom way Values and behaviors.
• Drive the attainment of the EBU Net Promoter Score target
• The successful candidate must be willing to relocate to region that he/she will be assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in either Computer Science or Telecommunication Engineering or Electrical & Electronics Engineering or in a relevant field
• At least 5 years work experience in design/implementation/deployment of business solutions in a Service Provider environments for Enterprise customers
• Project Management and Technical Support experience an added advantage
• Broad technical expertise combined with business acumen and strong consulting skills
• Knowledge of future trends/changes and the ability to articulate the likely impact of these to customers
• Highly effective technical planning across customer, internal and 3rd Party technical teams
• Consultative Selling
• Proposal Development, Service Offer Scoping, and Project Definition
• Builds influential and effective relationships with technical, service/support and delivery teams
• Significant experience of fixed product market, in depth understanding of complex customer solutions including UC, Contact Centre, NGN, AI, NGN, Cloud, Cyber Security, IoT, Big Data Analytics and LAN/WAN related technologies
• Proven track record for delivery of large scale, complex projects delivering IT/Telco customer solutions; demonstrable leadership skills and organizational experience
• Good report writing skills
• Team player