Solution Architect at CRDB Bank Tanzania

Reporting Line

SENIOR MANAGER ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE & SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Location

Tanzania Head Office

Department

SOFTWARE & DIGITAL SOLUTIONS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Number of openings

3

Job Purpose

The Solution Architect is responsible for transforming approved business and technical solution requirements into secure, scalable, resilient, maintainable and implementation-ready solution architectures aligned with the Bank's enterprise architecture, technology strategy and engineering standards. 

The role provides end-to-end technical architecture leadership across applications, microservices, APIs, enterprise integrations, data, security, identity, platforms, cloud/container environments, DevSecOps, observability and operational resilience. 

The Solution Architect shall own the solution architecture lifecycle from: Validated Solution Definition, Architecture Options, Architecture Decisions, HLD, LLD, Implementation-Ready Architecture, Architecture Review & Approval, Engineering Handover, Implementation Assurance, Architecture Change Control.

The Solution Architect must be capable of making and defending technical decisions based on business requirements, architectural principles, engineering trade-offs, security, resilience, cost, operational complexity and long-term technology strategy. This is a hands-on architecture and engineering leadership role, not a documentation, coordination, or project-management role. 

Principle Responsibilities

• Solution Architecture Ownership: Own end-to-end technical architecture for assigned initiatives from validated solution requirements through implementation and production readiness. 
• Architecture Options & Trade-off Analysis: Develop and objectively evaluate architecture alternatives considering business value, complexity, security, resilience, scalability, maintainability, cost, technology maturity and strategic alignment. 
• Architecture Decision Making: Establish and document significant technical decisions through ADRs and other approved governance mechanisms, including rationale, alternatives, trade-offs and consequences. 
• High-Level Architecture Design: Produce HLDs defining system context, architectural boundaries, major components, integrations, security zones, data flows, platforms, external dependencies and deployment topology. 
• Low-Level / Implementation-Ready Architecture: Develop sufficiently detailed LLDs covering components, interfaces, APIs, events, queues, persistence, state management, failure handling, security controls, deployment, observability and runtime behavior to guide engineering implementation. 
• Application Architecture: Define appropriate application architecture including modular monoliths, microservices, event-driven architectures, distributed systems, micro-frontends and other patterns based on justified requirements rather than technology preference. 
• Integration Architecture: Define integration boundaries, APIs, ESB/API Gateway usage, synchronous/asynchronous patterns, messaging, events, orchestration/choreography, service contracts, retries, idempotency, reconciliation and failure handling. 
• API & Contract Architecture: Govern API/service boundaries, contracts, versioning, security, lifecycle, reuse, interoperability and backward compatibility. 
• Data & Persistence Architecture: Define transactional boundaries, persistence patterns, relational/NoSQL selection, caching, data consistency, ownership, replication, CDC and other application-level data architecture requirements in alignment with enterprise data standards. 
• Security Architecture: Translate security requirements into architecture covering IAM, OAuth2/OIDC, authorization, service identities, TLS/mTLS, encryption, secrets, network boundaries, API security, auditability and zero-trust principles. 
• Resilience & Distributed Systems Design: Architect solutions for high availability, fault tolerance, timeouts, retries, circuit breakers, bulkheads, idempotency, graceful degradation, recovery, reconciliation and disaster scenarios. 
• Platform & Deployment Architecture: Define how solutions are deployed and operated across Kubernetes/container platforms, cloud/on-premises environments, middleware, databases, messaging infrastructure and other runtime platforms. 
• DevSecOps Architecture: Ensure architecture is compatible with Git-based source management, CI/CD, automated testing, security scanning, artifact management, infrastructure automation and controlled deployment practices. 
• Observability Architecture: Define logging, metrics, distributed tracing, correlation, dashboards, alerting and telemetry requirements using enterprise observability capabilities. 
• NFR Architecture: Translate approved NFRs into measurable architectural mechanisms addressing availability, performance, scalability, capacity, security, resilience, recoverability and maintainability. 
• Architecture Review & Approval: Conduct formal architecture/design reviews and determine whether solutions comply with approved principles, standards, reference architectures and engineering requirements before implementation. 
• Engineering Handover: Conduct technical architecture walkthroughs with Software Engineering, Integration Engineering, Platform/DevOps, QE, Security and relevant delivery teams, ensuring the architecture is understood and implementable. 
• Implementation Assurance: Remain actively engaged during development to verify that implementation conforms to the approved architecture and that significant architectural decisions are implemented correctly. 
• Architecture Change Control: Review material implementation changes and prevent uncontrolled deviations from approved architecture. Ensure deviations are documented, assessed, and formally approved through architecture governance. 
• Architecture Exceptions & Technical Debt: Evaluate architecture exceptions, establish compensating controls where required and ensure accepted architectural debt is explicitly recorded, owned, prioritized and time bound. 
• Architecture Fitness Functions: Define measurable architecture controls that can increasingly be automated through CI/CD to verify security, resilience, performance, dependency, API and architectural compliance. 
• Production & Operational Readiness: Ensure architecture addresses monitoring, supportability, capacity, recovery, backup/DR, reconciliation, operational procedures and production failure scenarios before release. 
• Architecture Standards & Reuse: Identify reusable architectural patterns, services, APIs and components and contribute them to the Bank's reference architecture and engineering standards. 
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Provide technical leadership to Solution Architects, Solution Analysts and engineering teams and develop architecture capability through reviews, coaching and knowledge sharing. 

Qualifications Required

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Computer Engineering or another relevant technical discipline.
• At least 3 years performing solution architecture, technical architecture, technical design or senior engineering leadership responsibilities 
• Minimum 8 years of experience with strong hands-on software engineering/application development experience.

• Technical certifications in areas such as TOGAF or architecture certification, Java with Spring, Kubernetes CKAD/CKA, cloud architecture, WSO2, API management, DevOps, security architecture, DevOps / DevSecOps will be an added advantage.
• Strong understanding of Open Telemetry, metrics, logs, distributed tracing, Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger/Sentry or equivalent, together with SLI/SLO concepts, operational monitoring and production troubleshooting. 
• Strong working knowledge of Kubernetes, Docker/container technologies, Linux, Cloud/on-premises architecture, Git/GitLab, CI/CD, Jenkins/GitLab CI or equivalent, Artifact repositories, Infrastructure as Code, Configuration and secrets management, Deployment strategies, DevSecOps, Platform engineering
• Strong understanding of Relational databases (preferably Oracle/PostgreSQL or equivalent), SQL, NoSQL, NewSQL concepts, Database transactions, Audit history, Data modelling, Data consistency, Database integration, Caching technologies such as Redis, Data migration, ACID transactions, Distributed data, Data modelling, CDC, Messaging event/data, Data lifecycle & data integrity
• Strong working understanding of: IAM, OAuth2, OpenID Connect, JWT, Authentication, authorization, RBAC/ABAC, zero trust, API security, TLS/mTLS, Encryption, Secrets and keys management, Secure coding principles, Vulnerability management, Secure SDLC, threat modelling, Security architecture, Audit logging, Vulnerability management and regulatory/security controls

CRDB Commitment

CRDB Bank is dedicated to upholding Sustainability and ESG practices and encourage applicants who share this commitment. The Bank also promotes an inclusive workplace, hence applications from women and individual with disabilities are encouraged.

It is important to note that CRDB Bank does not charge any fees for the application or recruitment process, and any requests for payment should be disregarded as they do not represent the bank’s practices.

Only Shortlisted Candidates will be Contacted.

Deadline

2026-11-22

Employment Terms

PERMANENT