Solutions and Business Architecture Area Chapter Lead

Reporting to the HOD - Data AI Systems & Architecture, the Solution & Business Architecture Area Chapter Lead is responsible for providing strategic leadership and governance for the Solution Architecture and Business Analysis disciplines across the enterprise. The role develops and grows architecture and business analysis capabilities, establishes standards, methodologies, and best practices, and ensures the consistent delivery of high-quality business and solution designs that align with Enterprise Architecture principles, business strategy, and technology roadmaps. Reporting to the Head of Data, AI Systems & Architecture, the Chapter Area Lead provides leadership to the Engineering Managers responsible for Consumer Business, Enterprise & Public Sector, Financial Services, Technology, and Business Analysis. The role ensures consistent architecture practices across all business units while driving capability maturity, innovation, talent development, architecture governance, and continuous improvement. The Area Chapter Lead acts as the custodian of the Safaricom Business Architecture, System and Application roadmaps and the organization's solution architecture and business analysis practices, enabling delivery teams to build scalable, secure, reusable, and business-aligned digital capabilities.

Responsibilities

Health and Safety

Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work.

All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions

Practice Leadership

Define and own the Solution Architecture and Business Analysis strategy, operating model, and capability roadmap.

Establish a unified Architecture and Business Analysis practice across the organization.

Drive continuous improvement and maturity of both disciplines.

Foster a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, collaboration, and customer-centric design.

Promote reuse of architecture patterns, business capabilities, APIs, and design assets.

People Leadership Lead and develop the Engineering Managers responsible for:

Consumer Business Solution Architecture

Enterprise & Public Sector Solution Architecture

Financial Services Solution Architecture

Technology Solution Architecture

Business Analysis

Responsibilities include:

Coaching and mentoring Engineering Managers.

Performance management.

Succession planning.

Capability development.

Workforce planning.

Recruitment of senior architecture talent.

Career progression.

Learning and certification programmes.

Architecture & Business Analysis Governance Own governance across all architecture and business analysis activities by:

Establishing architecture principles and standards.

Defining business analysis methodologies.

Governing architecture review boards.

Governing business requirements quality.

Defining documentation standards.

Ensuring compliance with Enterprise Architecture standards.

Ensuring alignment with security, data, AI, integration, and cloud strategies.

Managing architecture and business analysis exceptions.

Business & Technology Roadmaps Provide oversight of Business Unit technology evolution by ensuring:

Application roadmaps remain current.

Technology modernization roadmaps are maintained.

Legacy technology retirement plans exist.

Capability roadmaps align to enterprise strategy.

Business capability maps remain current.

Technology investment decisions align with enterprise priorities.

Capability Development Develop and continuously improve:

Architecture frameworks

Business capability models

Reference architectures

Solution patterns

Business analysis templates

Design standards

Reusable architecture assets

AI-assisted architecture practices

AI-assisted business analysis practices

Drive adoption across all delivery teams.

Quality Assurance Provide quality oversight of:

Business Requirements Documents

Solution Design Documents

Integration Designs

Non-functional Requirements

Architecture Decision Records

Solution Reviews

Architecture compliance assessments

Ensure consistent quality before governance approval.

Enterprise Collaboration Partner closely with:

Enterprise Architecture

Product Management

Digital Engineering

Data & AI Engineering

Cyber Security

Infrastructure

Operations

Delivery Management

Vendor Partners to ensure end-to-end solution alignment.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement Champion:

AI-assisted architecture

AI-assisted requirements engineering

Architecture automation

Architecture repositories

Digital twins

Architecture knowledge management

Reusable solution accelerators

Cloud, API, AI-first design

Event-driven architecture

Cloud-native architecture

Business capability modelling

Continuous architecture

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business Information Systems, or a related discipline.

Master’s degree in Technology, Business Administration (MBA), Enterprise Architecture, or a related field is highly desirable.

8+ years’ experience in Solution Architecture, Business Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, or Business Analysis.

5+ years leading architecture or business analysis practices, chapters, or centres of excellence.

Proven experience leading senior technical leaders and multidisciplinary architecture teams.

Demonstrated success delivering enterprise-wide digital transformation programmes.

Strong experience in Enterprise Architecture governance, application portfolio management, business capability modelling, cloud-native architectures, API-led integration, and technology modernization.

Experience establishing architecture and business analysis standards, governance frameworks, and capability development programmes within large, complex enterprise environments.

Professional Certifications

TOGAF® Certified

TM Forum Open Digital Architecture (ODA) certification

Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) or equivalent

Cloud certifications (AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud)

SAFe Agilist, Scrum, or other Agile certification

ITIL Foundation or equivalent

Functional & Technical Skills:

Leadership

Strategic Leadership

Practice Leadership

People Development

Coaching & Mentoring

Stakeholder Management

Organizational Design

Change Leadership

Change Leadership

Business

Business Architecture

Business Capability Modelling

Business Process Modelling

Customer Journey Mapping

Product Operating Model

Digital Transformation

Portfolio Management

Architecture

Enterprise Architecture

Solution Architecture

Application Architecture

Integration Architecture

Cloud Architecture

Security Architecture

Data Architecture

AI Architecture

API Architecture

Event-Driven Architecture

Microservices

Domain-Driven Design

Technical

Cloud Platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Kubernetes

API Management

DevSecOps

CI/CD

Architecture Modelling (ArchiMate, UML, BPMN, C4)

Integration Platforms

AI Engineering

Data Platforms

Enterprise Integration Patterns

Governance

TOGAF

TM Forum ODA

Architecture Review Boards

Technology Standards

Design Governance

Business Analysis Frameworks

Risk Management

Behaviors & 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

Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.

Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.

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

Designs for scalability and reuse; anticipates future data needs; aligns architecture with organizational goals.

Vendor and technology neutral –driven primarily by long-term business outcomes rather than personal preferences

Regularly brings forward improvements; pilots emerging tools and evaluates fit.