Solution Architect (Cloud & Digital Engineering)

At a glance

Role purpose

The Senior Manager - Solution Architect will serve as a senior architecture and delivery leader within EY Technology Consulting South Africa. The role is accountable for shaping coherent, scalable and secure solution architectures and ensuring those architectures can be translated into executable delivery plans across complex client engagements.

The role combines architecture authority, delivery execution oversight, senior stakeholder engagement, resource leadership, commercial awareness and innovation. It requires someone who can move confidently between strategy discussions, solution design forums, delivery governance, pursuit shaping and team development.

The successful candidate will help EY clients modernise technology estates, adopt cloud securely, deliver digital platforms, improve integration and resilience, and identify practical opportunities to use AI and automation responsibly in regulated Financial Services environments.

Key responsibilities

1. Architecture and solution leadership

Serve as overall solution architecture lead for large, complex client engagements across cloud platforms, digital applications, integration, data, security, AI-enabled capabilities and platform modernisation.

Translate business outcomes, operating model objectives and transformation intent into coherent solution architectures, roadmaps and delivery plans.

Act as technical design authority, governing architecture decisions across EY teams, client teams, vendors and global delivery teams.

Guide Financial Services clients through cloud adoption, core modernisation and platform transformation, with a primary focus on Azure-led ecosystems and strong awareness of AWS where relevant.

Maintain alignment to EY architecture standards, security expectations, risk management requirements, resilience expectations and quality governance.

Ensure architectural decisions are practical, commercially grounded and capable of being delivered through phased, governed implementation.

2. Delivery execution and complex programme oversight

Oversee end-to-end delivery execution for complex cloud, digital engineering, integration and platform transformation engagements, ensuring solution design is translated into executable plans, measurable outcomes and governed delivery.

Lead integrated delivery planning across workstreams, including delivery sequencing, milestone planning, dependencies, resource assumptions, architecture runway and quality assurance checkpoints.

Establish and operate delivery governance, including RAID management, dependency tracking, decision forums, escalation routes, design assurance and executive-level reporting.

Work with programme leaders, engagement teams and client sponsors to unblock delivery teams, manage trade-offs and maintain delivery pace without compromising architectural integrity, security, resilience or quality.

Support scope management, delivery model design, resourcing assumptions, estimates to complete, commercial inputs and delivery risk assessment across active engagements and pursuits.

Anticipate execution risks early and ensure issues, dependencies and decisions are escalated through the appropriate governance forums.

3. Senior stakeholder, client and resource engagement

Build and manage senior stakeholder relationships across CIO, CTO, CDO, COO, business executives, programme sponsors, enterprise architecture, information security, risk, compliance, vendors and delivery partners.

Act as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders, communicating technology trade-offs, delivery options, risk implications and commercial considerations clearly and confidently.

Engage effectively with EY Partners, Directors, engagement teams, Talent, commercial teams, risk and quality teams, and global delivery leadership.

Align EY, client, vendor and global delivery resources around priorities, roles, decision rights, delivery expectations, quality standards and escalation paths.

Influence senior decisions where architectural choices involve material cost, risk, security, operating model, resource or delivery implications.

Manage ambiguity and conflict constructively, securing alignment across business, technology, risk and delivery stakeholders.

4. Team leadership and capability development

Lead multidisciplinary teams across EY, client, vendor and global delivery resources, providing direction, delivery discipline, role clarity and performance expectations.

Coach and mentor solution architects, technical leads, engineers and delivery teams, strengthening EY architecture and digital engineering capability in South Africa.

Develop team capability through practical feedback, knowledge sharing, reusable delivery assets, communities of practice and structured capability-building interventions.

Support resource mobilisation and planning across workstreams, helping ensure the right mix of architecture, engineering, security, data, integration and delivery skills are in place.

Create an environment where teams can innovate safely, challenge constructively, learn continuously and deliver high-quality outcomes in complex client settings.

5. Commercial, pursuit and practice growth

Lead architecture input into major pursuits, including solution vision, delivery approach, delivery model, estimates, commercial assumptions and architecture risk assessment.

Contribute to EY pipeline growth by shaping credible, differentiated and deliverable solutions for priority Financial Services opportunities.

Bring commercial discipline to architecture and delivery decisions, balancing scope, value, cost, quality, risk and timeline considerations.

Develop reusable architecture assets, delivery playbooks, patterns, accelerators and points of view that improve future pursuit conversion and delivery quality.

Support EY practice leadership in building a stronger local Cloud & Digital Engineering architecture and delivery capability.

6. AI, innovation and responsible engineering

Identify practical opportunities to use AI, automation, cloud-native engineering, DevSecOps, observability and data-driven delivery insight to improve client outcomes.

Be comfortable working with AI-enabled tools and emerging technologies to improve solution design, engineering productivity, testing, quality assurance, knowledge management and delivery transparency.

Apply responsible AI, data privacy, security, risk and governance considerations when evaluating AI-enabled solutions or AI-assisted delivery practices.

Encourage innovation across teams while ensuring experimentation is aligned to client value, regulatory expectations, security requirements and delivery realities.

Translate emerging technology ideas into pragmatic, scalable and governed solutions that can be adopted in complex Financial Services environments.

Key deliverables: first 6-12 months

Skills and attributes for success

Technical skills

Enterprise and solution architecture across multi-technology transformation programmes.

Cloud architecture expertise, with Azure preferred and AWS experience advantageous.

Cloud landing zones, application modernisation, API and integration architecture, identity and access management, DevSecOps, observability, resilience and reliability patterns.

Working knowledge of data platforms, security architecture, infrastructure, digital channels and enterprise integration in regulated environments.

Practical understanding of AI-enabled transformation, AI-assisted engineering, automation, responsible AI and modern digital engineering practices.

Strong understanding of Financial Services regulatory, resilience, operational risk, data privacy and security requirements.

Ability to translate architectural decisions into implementation plans, delivery sequencing, resource requirements and commercial assumptions.

Leadership, delivery and stakeholder skills

Executive presence and trusted-advisor credibility with CIO, CTO, CDO, COO and senior business stakeholders.

Ability to lead architecture and delivery governance across multidisciplinary, matrixed and geographically distributed teams.

Proven ability to oversee complex delivery across multiple workstreams, technologies, vendors and geographies while maintaining quality, pace, risk control and commercial discipline.

Strong senior stakeholder management capability, including the ability to influence, negotiate, manage conflict, secure decisions and communicate trade-offs across executive, commercial, technical and delivery audiences.

Strong people leadership capability, including team mobilisation, coaching, mentoring, performance feedback, resource planning and capability development.

Strong commercial acumen, including pursuit shaping, estimation, delivery model input, scope management and estimates to complete.

Confident communication of complex technology, risk and delivery trade-offs to business and technical audiences.

Pragmatic decision-making under ambiguity, balancing delivery pace, innovation, risk, quality, security and client outcomes.

Curiosity and innovation mindset, with the ability to use emerging technology and AI responsibly to improve client value and team effectiveness.

Minimum requirements

12+ years of experience in technology consulting or complex enterprise technology environments.

Proven experience as a Solution Architect or Enterprise Architect on large-scale transformation programmes.

Proven experience overseeing delivery execution on large-scale cloud, digital, integration or platform transformation programmes.

Demonstrable cloud architecture experience, preferably in Azure-led environments.

Experience operating as a senior client-facing architecture lead with executive stakeholder engagement.

Financial Services experience across banking, insurance, wealth or regulated platform environments.

Track record of governing architectural quality, delivery risks, dependencies and escalations across multiple workstreams and delivery teams.

Experience leading multidisciplinary teams, including architects, engineers, delivery leads, client resources, vendors and offshore or global delivery teams.

Experience contributing to engagement management, including delivery planning, resource planning, estimates to complete, commercial assumptions and quality assurance.

Comfortable working with AI-enabled tools and emerging technologies, with the judgement to apply them responsibly in regulated environments.

Preferred requirements

Architecture certification such as TOGAF or equivalent practical architecture governance experience.

Azure architecture certifications; AWS architecture certification would be advantageous.

Experience in core banking, platform modernisation, CRM, workflow, digital channel or integration-heavy programmes.

Prior consulting experience, preferably in a Big Four, systems integrator or major advisory environment.

Knowledge of the South African Financial Services technology and regulatory landscape.

Experience building reusable architecture patterns, delivery accelerators, communities of practice or capability development programmes.

Experience with AI-assisted software delivery, automation, intelligent workflows, data platforms or responsible AI governance would be advantageous.

Experience working with global delivery, offshore engineering teams or distributed agile delivery models.

Key stakeholders

External stakeholders

CIO, CTO, CDO, COO and senior business executives.

Programme sponsors, business product owners, enterprise architecture, information security, risk, compliance and operations leaders.

Technology vendors, systems integrators, cloud providers and delivery partners.

Internal stakeholders

EY Technology Consulting Partners and Directors.

Engagement teams, commercial and pursuit teams, risk and quality teams, Talent and local practice leadership.

EY global delivery teams, offshore delivery resources, solution architects, technical leads, engineers and communities of practice.

Key challenges

Aligning business ambition, legacy platform constraints, regulatory obligations and cloud transformation priorities into a coherent architecture and executable roadmap.

Maintaining architectural integrity while supporting agile delivery, commercial commitments, client timeline pressures and evolving scope.

Governing distributed delivery teams across multiple technologies, vendors, resource pools and delivery locations.

Managing complex delivery risks, dependencies, quality gates, resource constraints and escalations across multiple workstreams.

Influencing senior stakeholders where architectural decisions involve material cost, risk, security, resilience, operating model or delivery trade-offs.

Applying AI and innovation pragmatically in regulated environments, ensuring new ideas are governed, secure, responsible and aligned to measurable client value.

Strategic importance

Critical to EY Technology Consulting South Africa growth in Financial Services cloud and digital transformation.

Strengthens EY credibility as a trusted architecture, delivery and innovation advisor for complex, multi-technology programmes.

Improves delivery quality, risk management, architectural integrity and client confidence on large-scale transformation engagements.

Builds local architecture capability, delivery leadership, reusable assets and coaching capacity to support future pipeline conversion.

Supports responsible AI adoption, modern engineering practices and innovation across EY client engagements and internal capability development.

Employment equity and transformation

This role should be aligned with EY South Africa employment equity and transformation commitments. The search and selection process should support the development of diverse, high-performing technology consulting teams while maintaining the senior technical, delivery and stakeholder leadership requirements of the role.

What we look for

We are looking for a senior architecture and delivery leader who is credible with executives, practical with delivery teams, commercially aware in complex pursuits and passionate about developing people. The ideal candidate will be confident shaping enterprise-scale cloud and digital transformation, disciplined in execution, curious about AI and emerging technology, and committed to delivering secure, resilient and high-quality outcomes for Financial Services clients.