Bespoke Applications, Azure & Digital Modernization

Role Purpose

Own end-to-end architecture and presales solutioning for bespoke application engagements, translating business needs into secure, scalable and delivery-ready solutions across modern user experiences, cloud-native platforms, integration and application modernization.

Role family

Business Consulting / Solution Architecture

Role level

Senior / Lead

Primary focus

Bespoke application architecture, presales and modernization

Technology focus

Azure, web, mobile, APIs, microservices and integration

Engagement scope

Customer discovery through solution handover to delivery

1. Role Summary

The Lead Solution Architect will provide technical and consulting leadership across complex bespoke application opportunities and transformation programs. The role combines customer-facing presales, application architecture, business and technical analysis, cloud-native engineering, estimation, migration planning and delivery governance. The successful candidate will shape pragmatic solutions that balance business outcomes, user experience, security, operability, cost, risk and delivery feasibility.

2. Key Accountabilities

• Lead customer discovery, architecture workshops and solution-definition activities from opportunity qualification through proposal, solution defense and transition to delivery.
• Own end-to-end solution architecture across user experience, application, API, integration, data, security, cloud platform, DevSecOps, observability and service-management layers.
• Translate business, system and technical requirements into clear architectures, implementation of roadmaps, estimates, assumptions, dependencies and delivery-ready artifacts.
• Define modernization and migration strategies for application portfolios using the 6R approach: Rehost, Deplatform, Refactor/Re-architect, Repurchase, Retain, and Retire.
• Assess legacy applications, technical debt, dependencies, non-functional requirements and cloud readiness; recommend rationalization and target-state options.
• Design scalable web, mobile and cloud-native solutions using appropriate front-end, back-end, integration and Azure services.
• Guide technical problem solving, implementation, migration, coding and development decisions, including design reviews and resolution of complex engineering risks.
• Create and defend technical proposals, solution narratives, cost/effort estimates, work breakdowns, delivery models and transition approaches for RFI/RFP/RFQ pursuits.
• Ensure architectural standards, reusable patterns, guardrails and engineering best practices are applied consistently to maintain quality across projects.
• Partner with sales, bid management, delivery, security, cloud, data, service and commercial teams to produce coherent and competitive solutions.
• Provide technical leadership during proof of concepts, mobilization and early delivery; ensure architecture intent is understood and traceable through implementation.
• Coach solution architects and engineering teams, encourage reuse, and contribute to reference architectures, accelerators, playbooks and knowledge assets.

3. Critical Bespoke Application Skills

Competency

Expected capability

Application architecture

Architecture styles, layered and modular design, domain-driven principles, microservices, event-driven patterns, APIs, integration and cloud-native design.

Technical problem solving, implementation and migration

Root-cause analysis, option assessment, engineering trade-offs, migration sequencing, cutover considerations, and implementation of governance.

User Interface and User Experience

Responsive web and mobile experience design, accessibility, usability, design systems, prototyping and alignment of experience requirements with technical architecture.

Cloud Native Platform

Azure application hosting, serverless and container patterns, identity, integration, data services, cloud native apps and hands on Microservices

Programming and frameworks

TypeScript, JavaScript, NativeScript, Angular, React, Flutter, Spring Boot and Node.js, with the ability to select technologies based on fit, maintainability and delivery context.

Business/System/Technical Analysis

Requirements for elicitation, process and capability analysis, functional decomposition, NFR definition, traceability, dependency analysis and solution option assessment.

Agile/Sprint/Scrum methodologies

Backlog shaping, architecture runway, sprint planning support, definition of ready/done, iterative delivery, technical spikes and architecture governance within Agile teams.

Design/Coding/Development

Hands-on credibility in solution design, coding practices, code reviews, testing strategy, CI/CD, secure development and engineering-quality controls.

Application rationalization and 6Rs

Portfolio assessment, disposition recommendations, modernization roadmaps, wave planning, business-case inputs and risk/dependency management.

End-to-end solution architecture

Integrated design across business, application, information, technology, security and operational viewpoints, with decisions documented and governed.

4. Architecture and Engineering Frameworks

• Architecture lifecycle: discover, assess, define principles, develop options, select target state, create roadmap, govern implementation and validate outcomes.
• Architecture artifacts: context and container views, component and deployment views, integration/API specifications, data flows, security architecture, NFR model, decision records, risks, assumptions and traceability.
• Application modernization: legacy assessment, technical-debt analysis, monolith decomposition, microservices suitability, cloud-native refactoring, containerization and phased migration.
• Cloud and engineering: Well-Architected considerations, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, DevSecOps, automated testing, observability, SRE-aligned operability and FinOps-aware decisions.
• Governance: architecture review boards, design assurance, standards compliance, exception management, technical-quality gates and handover acceptance criteria.
• Presales governance: qualification, solution strategy, effort estimation, cost inputs, RAID management, proposal quality reviews, solution defense and delivery acceptance.

5. Technology and Platform Exposure

Front end and mobile: Angular, React, Flutter, NativeScript, TypeScript, JavaScript, responsive design and accessibility.

Back end and APIs: Spring Boot, Node.js, REST/GraphQL APIs, microservices, event-driven services and API management.

Cloud and containers: Microsoft Azure, containers, Kubernetes, serverless services, platform services, hybrid integration and cloud governance.

Integration and Middleware: API gateways, messaging, event streaming, enterprise integration patterns and service-to-service security.

Engineering and delivery: Git-based engineering, CI/CD, automated testing, code quality, DevSecOps, Infrastructure as Code and environment strategy.

Operations: Monitoring, logging, tracing, alerting, resilience, backup/recovery, service readiness and support transition.

6. Presales and Consulting Responsibilities

• Facilitate executive, business and technical stakeholder workshops and convert ambiguous needs into a structured solution problem statement.
• Develop differentiated solution approaches that articulate business value, architecture rationale, feasibility, risks and measurable outcomes.
• Lead or contribute to RFI/RFP/RFQ responses, presentations, demonstrations, proof of concepts, solution defenses, and commercial clarification cycles.
• Produce estimates and assumptions with transparent sizing logic, resource profiles, dependencies, exclusions, and contingencies.
• Work effectively across presales and delivery to ensure proposed solutions are executable, supportable, and aligned with agreed scope and commercials.
• Identify opportunities to incorporate AI, automation, and reusable accelerators where they provide clear customer and delivery value.

7. Essential Soft Skills and Leadership Behaviours

Executive communication - Excellent written, oral, presentation, facilitation and executive stakeholder-management skills; able to simplify complex technical choices into business-relevant decisions.

Structured problem solving - Strong analytical, troubleshooting, estimation, decision-making and structured problem-solving capability, with clear articulation of trade-offs.

Quality orientation - disciplined production of proposals, architectures, estimates, assumptions, decisions and delivery-ready artifacts, with strong attention to completeness and consistency.

Collaboration and mobilization - A collaborative team player who can mobilize matrix teams, align diverse specialists, manage competing priorities and sustain momentum across cultures and time zones.

Customer orientation - Confident and credible in customer-facing situations; listens actively, challenges constructively and builds trust through clarity, ownership and follow-through.

Influence without authority - Able to create alignment across sales, architecture, engineering, delivery, security, operations and commercial stakeholders.

Adaptability and resilience - Comfortable operating in high-pressure, ambiguous and rapidly changing deal environments while maintaining professionalism and quality.

Leadership and coaching - Able to mentor architects and engineers, provide actionable feedback, promote standards and develop a culture of reuse and continuous improvement.

Commercial awareness - Understands how architecture choices affect cost, risk, schedule, serviceability, scalability, and competitive positioning.

Ownership and accountability - Takes end-to-end responsibility for commitments, escalates issues early and drives decisions to closure.

8. Experience and Qualifications

• Significant experience in application solution architecture, bespoke software engineering, technology consulting or an equivalent customer-facing role.
• Demonstrated experience designing and modernizing enterprise applications across web, mobile, API, integration and cloud platforms.
• Experience leading architecture and solutioning activities across presales and delivery lifecycles, including estimation and proposal development.
• Practical understanding of Azure solution patterns, security, resilience, integration, DevSecOps and operational readiness.
• Experience with Agile delivery and the ability to provide architecture leadership without constraining iterative engineering.
• Bachelor’s or master's degree in computer science, Engineering, Information Technology or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Relevant cloud, architecture, Agile, project-management or engineering certifications are desirable.

9. Indicative Success Measures

• Quality, completeness and delivery feasibility of proposed architectures and solution artifacts.
• Customer and internal stakeholder confidence during workshops, reviews and solution defenses.
• Accuracy and transparency of estimates, assumptions, dependencies and risks.
• Compliance with architecture standards, security controls and engineering-quality expectations.
• Effective transition from presales to delivery with minimal ambiguity or avoidable rework.
• Reuse of patterns, accelerators and knowledge assets across opportunities.
• Contribution to team capability, coaching and continuous improvement.

Ideal Candidate

A customer-oriented Lead Solution Architect who combines broad architectural thinking with hands-on engineering credibility. The candidate should be able to navigate from business problem to solution strategy, defend choices with senior stakeholders, and guide multidisciplinary teams toward a secure, scalable, supportable and commercially viable outcome.