Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia Plc is a company supporting Ethiopia’s digital transformation. As a member of the Vodacom family, we have a wealth of experience connecting over 334 million people globally and over 180 million people in Africa across our network. We look forward to partnering with Ethiopians as we build a new network in Ethiopia.

We are setting the groundwork in readiness for the launch of our services next year and are looking to work with purpose-led teams that put the community at the heart of service.

Safaricom Ethiopia is offering a wide range of careers, whether you’re looking to join our technology, commercial or corporate teams. If you would like a challenge and the promise of a digital future for the people of Ethiopia, we are looking for you.

We are pleased to announce the vacancy for  Senior Solutions Architect within the Enterprise Business Unit (EBU). In keeping with our current business needs, we are looking for a person who meets the criteria indicated below. This function will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and is a customer facing role at C Level. It is also intended that this function will lead a team of solution architects that have vertical industry knowledge. The suitable candidate should have demonstrable knowledge across Mobile, Fixed connectivity, Unified communications, Cloud and IOT (Internet of Things).

Roles purpose

Reporting to the EHOD – Enterprise Operations and Planning, the role holder responsibilities will be to set the directions for the solution design activities by assessing requirements in terms of feasibility, impact and cost, thereby advising and compiling accurate user requirements which are technically feasible and optimal to implement. The Senior Solutions Architect is to interact with customers to gather technical requirements, architect customer IT infrastructure and compile solution proposal documentation across the fixed connectivity portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Perform role of interface between customer, commercial and technical entities by translating between business requirements and technical specifications
• To maintain, re-evaluate, optimize or automate existing business processes
• To provide technical guidance into system definition and design activities and drive the delivery of value added solutions.
• Deliver an end-end Solution Architecture (Design) for the Enterprise roadmap.
• Provide a solution focused consultancy service to clients e.g. property developers, SMEs, business partners and retail customers.
• Deliver Technical Impact Assessment for new Enterprise initiative
• Responsible to craft Solution Designs by leveraging existing network and also defining new network designs where there is a need
• Provide pre and post solution implementation support for sales and pre-sales colleagues
• Build design principles for the Enterprise Solution Architecture in Safaricom
• Investigate and research on Enterprise product and solution architecture principles in-line with industry best practices.
• Maintain sound relationships with technology partners within the Network and Information Technology groups, suppliers and internal customers.
• Provide technical co-ordination of projects and become a central design authority for new initiatives. Furthermore ensuring that the initiative is rated as per Architecture Relevancy Index (ARIX). For initiatives rated L4 and higher to work with the design authority towards the architecture roadmap.
• Provide technical input to testcases and be involved in driving projects to successful completion/implementation.
• Provides guidance and inputs during the product testing phase
• Perform necessary dimensioning of the end to end solution as per individual domain areas involved in the design
• Interface and interact with system owners , vendors and partners to obtain end to end technical impact and design
• Guide business on possible products technical feasibilities during concept phase
• To help execute the Enterprise strategy for the Ethiopian market.
• To manage the technical assessment of the Enterprise pipeline in Safaricom
• To be the technical expert for Enterprise solutions
• Professionally present Safaricom Enterprise solutions, negotiate with solution partners regarding the viable way to provide a holistic Enterprise product solution that fulfil business needs
• Interact with the internal Safaricom technical domains or departments to define for Enterprise solutions including technical assessments, design , and support of Enterprise solution
• Knowledge of converged solutions, Enterprise Product Portfolios, technical design, Enterprise fixed offering, infrastructure design, platform services and unified communications.

Job Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

The candidate must be able to prepare initiatives for grooming and ensure the following business requirements are met:

• High level Design
• Network Design
• User Journey
• System Impact assessment
• System Integration Spec
• MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
• Acceptance Criteria AND/OR
• Must manage discussions around the following areas within Safaricom
• Fixed and Mobile convergence
• Mobile Money
• Mobile and Fixed CRM
• Deep knowledge of use of digital architecture and customer experience and how digital architecture can benefit the business.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• 3 year completed Degree in Engineering, Computer Science or Information Technology
• 5-8 years’ experience in a telecommunications environment (Fixed Line and Mobile services preferable)
• At least 5 years’ experience in a Solution Engineer, Solution Design or architecture role
• 2-3 years’ Project management experience
• At least 5 years’ experience across agile and scrum environment
• At least 2 years of architect experience in developing and delivering complex Microservices solutions across multiple technologies and cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, etc.
• Industry certification e.g. Cisco (CCNA/CCDA and above), Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

How to Apply

If you feel that you are up to the challenge and possess the necessary qualification and experience, kindly proceed to update your candidate profile on CLICK HERE