Assistant Manager – Enterprise Application Architecture at Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Full Time

Job Purpose

The Assistant Manager Enterprise Applications Architecture is responsible for defining, maintaining and evolving the emerging Applications Architecture to enable the digital vision and business objectives, maximizing the value of technology disruptions into current and future capabilities.

This role is responsible for;

• Identifying, analyzing, and directing the execution of change towards the application architecture vision and digital business vision, by providing and prioritizing “technical epics”, through documenting of target application architectures, roadmaps & application architecture change management.
• This role support continuously assessing, valuing, and sizing initiatives to inform the Portfolio Backlog and related decisions.
• This role is responsible for transferring the vision and objectives to Solution Architects across the digital organization, fostering establishment of architecture practices, patterns and innovations.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and manage target applications architecture vision and roadmap in alignment with the Digital Architecture blueprint.
• Oversee and lead the design, development, and deployment of applications architecture practices, standards, and patterns.
• Scout new technologies and vendors to enable innovation and identify technical enablers.
• Manage Applications Architecture innovations and establish the capability to monitor new technology developments and trends in the industry.
• Provide thought leadership on foundational applications architecture best practices and disruptive technology trajectory and implications.

Academic qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology or related fields from a recognized university.

Professional Qualifications / Membership to professional bodies

• TOGAF
• COBIT
• ITIL
• PRINCE 2 or PMP
• ISACA and other ICT Professional Bodies

Work experience required

• Four (4) years of business experience in relevant field and in strategic and operations planning and/or business analysis and at least one (1) year at Supervisory level
• Extensive experience in IT strategic planning, organization design and development.
• Experience in leading large architecture teams in an agile context, operating and influencing effectively across the organization and within complex contexts.
• Experience in business capability modelling and Applications Architecture development.

Functional and Technical Skills

• Definition of long-term business, data and IT architecture strategy and roadmap
• Enterprise Architecture governance in agile software delivery
• Definition of integration APIs and ecosystem strategy
• Technology Innovation: scouting, screening and evaluation
• Cost of ownership of technology, Application portfolio management
• Estimation techniques for scaled agile
• Web-scale cloud-native architectures including IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
• Design of Applications Architecture strategy and roadmap
• Design of web-scale architectures and systems of innovation and engagement
• DevOps practices and automation tools
• Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning and Big data technologies and architectures

Behaviours and Competencies

• Trusted and respected as a thought leader and change agent who can influence and persuade business and IT leaders.
• Organizationally savvy, and understanding of the political climate of the enterprise and how to navigate obstacles and politics.
• Comfortable, experienced and accomplished at working with business executives, and able to push back in a professional and diplomatic way.
• Excellent analytical, technical, and problem-solving skills, with high-levels of creativity and a practical approach that is principle-driven.
• Ability to balance the long-term (“big picture”) and short-term implications of individual decisions and effective at driving short term actions that are consistent with long-term goals.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills, able to distil complex technical concepts into simple terms, with strong persuasion skills to gain support for and establish principles, standards, and change.
• Excellent relationship building, teamwork, and collaboration skills that enables the provision of effective support and guidance across programs.
• Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of new technologies, with natural intellectual curiosity and integrity.
• Vendor and technology neutral –driven primarily by long-term business outcomes rather than personal preferences.