Solution Architect - Manchester, United Kingdom - Foundry

Description

Solution Architect

Web, App, Commerce Platforms for our Global QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) Client

Reports to: Foundry Client Delivery Partner

Foundry: Foundry ) is a Digital and Data Transformation Agency dedicated to driving results for our clients and partners. We cover Business & Technology Strategy, Project Acceleration, Digital Experience Delivery and MarTech & Data Transformation. At Foundry, our global team is made up of experienced business leaders, product experts, experience designers, technology delivery leads, and data transformation engineers.

Our Client Team: For this exciting "long-term" client opportunity, Foundry has assembled a highly technical and delivery focused team to work with one of the world's largest QSR (Quick Serve Restaurant) companies. You will work as part of our client's (Global Engineering) team where every day will be an opportunity to accelerate delivery and push the boundaries of their technical platform (Web/App/Commerce) along with a range of integrations and supporting systems.

You will be part of a global technical delivery and operations team enabling business across multiple markets around the world. We don't settle for second best in both the people we invite to join our team or the work we all do together. We always challenge ourselves to deliver better, faster, and smarter. While our client is a very large global company, our teams are smaller groups of highly skilled technical leads, architects, business analysts, system specialists and engineers.

Role/Location/Time-Zone:

• Role Type: Initial 30 day trial (part of a six-month rolling contract)
• Job Title: Solution Architect (Global Engineering Team)
• Location: Virtual - via Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools
• Time Zone: Candidate needs to be flexible; the actual working hours can vary (teams are spread out in many global locations). Main time-zone will be "CET" (GMT + 1) with frequent sessions in other time-zones around the world (IST, CT/USA for example).
• Language: English (Fluent – written and spoken)
• Travel: While this is a fully remote role, there may be some in-person discovery, alignment, and planning meetings. We expect these to be held in USA, Europe and potentially in India (average of 2 or 3 times per year).

Key Areas of Responsibility:

We are looking for an experienced, hands-on, proactive Solution Architect to join our dynamic team. As a Solution Architect, you will play a key role in designing and implementing technically optimized, scalable, and secure solutions for our client ́s Global Web, Mobile Applications, Commerce Platform, along with integration into MarTech tools, APIs and third-party solutions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams including functional leads (across global engineering) developers, designers, product owners to deliver solutions that meet business and technical objectives.

• Solution Design: Architect end-to-end solutions ensuring they are scalable, secure, and aligned with business requirements.
• Integration: Design and implement integrations with third-party platforms, APIs, and external systems.
• Technology Evaluation: Evaluate and recommend technologies, frameworks, and tools that align with project goals and company objectives.
• Technical Leadership: Provide technical guidance and mentorship to development teams, ensuring adherence to architectural standards and best practices.
• Collaboration: Collaborate with product owners, business analysts, technical leads, and stakeholders to understand business requirements and translate them into technical solutions (in alignment with technical, business and/or functional specs).
• Documentation: Create and maintain technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, design documents, and technical specifications.
• Performance Optimization: Identify and address performance bottlenecks and optimization opportunities in the solution architecture.
• Risk Management: Identify and mitigate technical risks ensuring the stability and reliability of each solution.
• Continuous Improvement: Stay up to date with industry trends, best practices, and emerging technologies, and drive continuous improvement in development processes and methodologies.
• Where required, participate in Agile/Scrum processes: including sprint planning, backlog grooming, and daily stand-ups.

Key Requirements

• Applicant must have a degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Information Systems and Technology.
• Minimum of 10 years of working experience in IT (specifically Web, App and software engineering).
• Minimum five years of experience working as a Solution Architect.
• Experience in solutioning across iOS, Android, Web, MarTech, APIs, Commerce platforms.
• Must have experience with AWS, GitLab CI/CD, and analytics tools like Firebase or Google Tag Manager.
• Experience with React and React Native (Web/Apps).
• Proven experience in defining and implementing API strategies within a large-scale/Global organization.
• Experience with Martech/marketing data technologies and ability to integrate technologies into solutions and strategies.
• Experience in technical resource planning and level-of-effort estimation to support project scoping, pricing, and planning.
• Work independently, be self-motivated, and be engaged.
• Communicate effectively, both technically and generally.
• Show strong analytical problem solving and decision-making skills.
• A past experience as coder (developer) preferred.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work effectively in a globally distributed team.
• Driven to "hunt" for information and take the initiative.
• Has worked with remote (global) and distributed teams.
• Has worked with offshore and near-shore teams.

Technology Experience

• AWS Cloud
• Gitlab CICD (bash)
• Analytics – Firebase, Google Tag Manager, Fullstory, Braze, mParticle, Branch, etc.
• Contentful CMS for webpages, templates, etc.
• Google APIs for localization
• Akamai WAF
• Prerender SEO

Backend Technology

• Back-end Commerce Platform (Cognizant)
• Contentful CMS (for some menu attributes - menu images, nutrition, allergen info etc.)
• POS systems (NCR -AU, Safire – India, others vary by market)
• Payment Gateways (Bill Desk, Brain Tree, Other vary by market)
• Aggregators (Zomato, Swiggy, DoorDash, Uber, others vary by market)
• Post Order Tracking/ Delivery Partners
• Kiosks
• Fortanix (Key Management System) for data encryption

Additional Info/Tech Overview (Current Environment):

• Web: React + UI API Gateway (Node Plus Express).
• Mobile Apps: React Native + UI API Gateway (Node Plus Express).
• Web and Mobile app connected to Backend via APIs and has integrations with Contentful.
• Order Management and Commerce Planform: Bespoke.
• Analytics - Firebase, Google Tag Manager, Fullstory, Braze, mParticle, Branch etc.
• Google APIs for localization, Akamai WAF, Prerender SEO.
• Development Tools: Gitlab (code repository), JIRA, SonarQube.
• Test Automation Tools: Browser Stack Automate, App Automate, Selenium/ Appium based automation framework, TestFlight.
• Hosting & Environments: AWS & Akamai.