32–40 hours | Overijssel | Hybrid
Are you a Solution Architect who can see the bigger picture while staying close to technology and implementation?
For an international engineering and consultancy organisation, we are looking for an experienced Solution Architect who can take a business challenge, understand its impact across the application and integration landscape, translate it into a concrete Solution Design and work with Product Owners, DevOps teams and engineers to make sure it is actually implemented.
This is not a high-level Enterprise Architecture position, nor is it a role focused purely on cloud, infrastructure or platforms.
You will operate at the intersection of Business, applications, integrations and technology and
play an important role in shaping how the application landscape develops over the coming years.
The role
As Solution Architect, you are the bridge between strategic architectural direction and practical implementation.
You start by understanding the actual business challenge. From there, you assess the impact on the existing application landscape, identify dependencies and translate functional and technical requirements into coherent, future-proof solutions.
This means looking beyond individual applications or technologies. You understand how applications, integrations, data, processes and technology connect and can determine what needs to change to support the organisation's future direction.
You will work closely with the Enterprise Architect, fellow architects, Product Owners, DevOps teams, engineers, vendors and business stakeholders.
The Enterprise Architect focuses on the broader architectural direction and coherence across the organisation. As Solution Architect, you bring additional technical depth: challenging and advising on technical choices, translating architectural principles into concrete solutions and ensuring that these solutions are feasible and implementable. What does hands-on architecture mean to us?Being hands-on does not mean that you need to write code every day. It means that you stay close to the actual solution. You understand technical dependencies, create Solution Designs, challenge technical decisions, discuss solutions with developers and engineers and remain involved from the initial business requirement through to implementation. You are comfortable moving between a conversation with a business stakeholder and a technical discussion with a DevOps or engineering team.
What you will be working on
As Solution Architect, you will:
- Translate business, functional and technical requirements into concrete Solution Architectures;
- Design application and integration solutions that align with the broader Enterprise Architecture;
- Understand and assess dependencies between applications, integrations, data, processes and technology;
- Help determine which applications or solutions should be retained, replaced, consolidated, simplified, integrated differently or phased out;
- Create Solution Designs, Project Start Architectures, architecture models and supporting documentation;
- Contribute to target architectures and translate architectural direction into realistic roadmaps;
- Act as a technical sparring partner for the Enterprise Architect, providing additional technical depth and challenging or advising on architectural decisions;
- Work closely with Product Owners, DevOps teams, developers, engineers and vendors throughout implementation;
- Conduct architecture reviews and safeguard architecture principles and standards;
- Advise on security, privacy, compliance and technical dependencies;
- Ensure that architectural decisions are clearly understood by both Business and IT;
- Contribute to digitalisation, standardisation and the continued development of the application landscape.
The architect we are looking for
Above all, we are looking for someone who can connect the dots between Business and IT.
You first understand the business challenge and then have enough technical depth to determine what it means for the wider IT landscape.
You don't look at an application in isolation. You understand the end-to-end connection between business capabilities, applications, integrations, data and technology and can identify the consequences of architectural decisions across that landscape. You combine architectural vision with a pragmatic mindset. You can define direction, but you are equally comfortable discussing the technical feasibility of that direction with developers and engineers. You also have the confidence to challenge architectural or technical decisions when necessary. Rather than simply following direction, you bring your own expertise, explain the consequences of different choices and propose practical alternatives. Communication is essential. You are able to listen to stakeholders, understand the actual problem behind a request and explain complex architectural decisions in a clear, structured and understandable way to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Most importantly, you remain involved. Architecture does not end when the design is finished. You help teams translate that design into a solution that can actually be delivered.
In short: you see the bigger picture, understand the technology and maintain the end-to-end connection from business challenge to implementation.
What you bring
- A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Business IT, Information Systems or a comparable field;
- At least 5 years of relevant experience as a Solution Architect or in a comparable architecture position;
- Strong experience with application and integration architecture;
- Experience translating business and functional requirements into concrete technical solutions;
- Sufficient technical depth to challenge, advise and support architects, developers and engineering teams;
- Experience working with Product Owners, DevOps teams, developers and other delivery stakeholders;
- Understanding of modern integration patterns, APIs, cloud solutions and contemporary application landscapes;
- Experience with architecture methodologies and modelling techniques such as TOGAF and ArchiMate is an advantage;
- Experience with architecture tooling such as Blue Dolphin is an advantage;
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to maintain an overview of complex application landscapes;
- Excellent communication skills in English;
- A proactive, pragmatic and results-oriented way of working.
What we offer
This is a 32–40 hour position, two days per week in the office.
Depending on your education and professional experience, the salary ranges from:
€6,208 – €7,761 gross per month.
You will join an Architecture & Information Management team consisting of different architecture disciplines, including Enterprise, Data & BI, Infrastructure and Solution Architecture, alongside designers and Information Managers.
The environment is open and informal, with room for professional discussion, knowledge sharing and your own ideas. You will have the opportunity to make a visible contribution to how the organisation's application landscape develops over the coming years.
Don't meet every single requirement, but recognise yourself in the type of architect we are looking for? We would still like to hear from you.
Niek@fullCircleIT.nl
06-48908987