Director Solution Architecture (m/f/d) - Consumer Order Management (Teamwear)

Purpose & Overall Relevance for the Organization:

The design and communication of high-level structures to enable and guide the design and development of integrated solutions that meet current and future business needs. In addition to technology components, solution architecture encompasses changes to service, process, organization, and operating models. The provision of comprehensive guidance on the development of, and modifications to, solution components to ensure that they take account of relevant architectures, strategies, policies, standards and practices (including security) and that existing and planned solution components remain compatible.

Key Responsibilities:

Specialist advice

• Actively maintains recognised expert level knowledge in one or more identifiable specialisms.
• Provides definitive and expert advice in their specialist area(s).
• Oversees the provision of specialist advice by others, consolidates expertise from multiple sources, including third party experts, to provide coherent advice to further organisational objectives.
• Supports and promotes the development and sharing of specialist knowledge within the organisation.

Research

• Builds on and refines appropriate outline ideas for the evaluation, development, demonstration and implementation of research.
• Contributes to research goals and funding proposals. Collects and analyses qualitative and quantitative data as required.
• Creates research reports to communicate research methodology, findings and conclusions.
• Presents papers at conferences, contribute significant sections of material of publication quality, and presents reports to clients.
• Contributes to research plans and identifies appropriate opportunities for publication and dissemination of research findings.
• Makes an active contribution to research communities.

Emerging technology monitoring

• Monitors the external environment to gather intelligence on emerging technologies.
• Assesses and documents the impacts, threats and opportunities to the organisation.
• Creates reports and technology roadmaps and shares knowledge and insights with others.

Solution architecture

• Leads the development of solution architectures in specific business, infrastructure or functional areas. Ensures that appropriate tools and methods are available, understood and employed in architecture development.
• Within a change programme, leads the preparation of technical plans and, in liaison with business assurance and project staff, ensures that appropriate technical resources are made available.
• Provides advice on technical aspects of solution development and integration (including requests for changes, deviations from specifications, etc.) and ensures that relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices (including security) are applied correctly.

Business analysis

• Investigates operational requirements, problems, and opportunities, seeking effective business solutions through improvements in automated and non-automated components of new or changed processes.
• Assists in the analysis of stakeholder objectives, and the underlying issues arising from investigations into business requirements and problems and identifies options for consideration.
• Works with stakeholders, to identify potential benefits and available options for consideration, and in defining acceptance tests.
• Contributes to selection of the business analysis methods, tools and techniques for projects; selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.

Requirements definition and management

• Plans and drives scoping, requirements definition and prioritisation activities for large, complex initiatives.
• Selects, adopts and adapts appropriate requirements definition and management methods, tools and techniques selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.
• Obtains input from, and formal agreement to, requirements from a diverse range of stakeholders. Negotiates with stakeholders to manage competing priorities and conflicts.
• Establishes requirements baselines.
• Ensures changes to requirements are investigated and managed.
• Contributes to the development of organisational methods and standards.

Systems design

• Adopts and adapts appropriate systems design methods, tools and techniques selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches, and ensures they are applied effectively.
• Designs large or complex systems. Undertakes impact analysis on major design options and trade-off.
• Makes recommendations and assesses and manages associated risks.
• Reviews others’ systems designs to ensure selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources, and integration of multiple systems and technology.
• Ensures that the system design balances functional and non-functional requirements.
• Contributes to development of systems design policies and standards and selection of architecture components.

Software design

• Selects, adopts and adapts appropriate software design methods, tools and techniques; selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.
• Specifies and designs large or complex software components.
• Undertakes impact analysis on major design options, makes recommendations and assesses and manages associated risks.
• Specifies prototypes/simulations to enable informed decision making. Evaluates the quality of others’ systems designs to ensure adherence to standards and identifies corrective action, if needed.
• Ensures that the system design balances functional, quality, security and systems management requirements.
• Contributes to development of organisational software design and architecture policies and standards.

Programming/software development

• Designs, codes, verifies, tests, documents, amends and refactors complex programs/scripts and integration software services.
• Contributes to selection of the software development approach for projects, selecting appropriately from predictive (plan-driven) approaches or adaptive (iterative/agile) approaches.
• Applies agreed standards and tools, to achieve well-engineered outcomes.
• Participates in reviews of own work and leads reviews of colleagues’ work.

Data modelling and design

• Sets standards for data modelling and design tools and techniques, advises on their application, and ensures compliance.
• Manages the investigation of corporate data requirements, and co-ordinates the application of data analysis, design and modelling techniques, based upon a detailed understanding of the corporate information requirements, in order to establish, modify or maintain data structures and their associated components (entity descriptions, relationship descriptions, attribute definitions).
• Manages the iteration, review and maintenance of data requirements and data models.

Systems integration and build

• Identifies, evaluates and manages the adoption of appropriate tools, techniques and processes (including automation and continuous integration) to create a robust integration framework.
• Leads integration work in line with the agreed system and service design.
• Monitors and reports on the results of each integration and build.
• Designs and builds integration components and interfaces.
• Contributes to the overall design of the service and the definition of criteria for product and component selection.
• Contributes to development of systems integration policies, standards and tools.

Relationship management

• Identifies the communications and relationship needs of stakeholder groups.
• Translates communications/stakeholder engagement strategies into specific activities and deliverables.
• Facilitates open communication and discussion between stakeholders, acting as a single point of contact by developing, maintaining and working to stakeholder engagement strategies and plans.
• Provides informed feedback to assess and promote understanding.
• Facilitates business decision-making processes. Captures and disseminates technical and business information.

If required:People Management / Resource Management:

• Supports resource planning and may have full responsibility in recruiting process.
• Implements resource plans, including conducting recruitment interviews.
• Facilitates selection, assessment and on-boarding processes, and internal resource allocation.
• Contributes to transitioning of resources, complying with relevant statutory or external regulations and codes of good practice.
• Ensures appropriate leadership skills are present at every level through creating a motivational and supportive work environment in which employees are coached, trained and provided with career opportunities through development
• Allocates the different work to the respective employees considering experience, complexity, workload and organizational efficiency
• Continuously monitors and evaluates team workload and organizational efficiency with the support of IT systems, data and analysis and team feedback and makes appropriate changes to meet business needs.

• Provides team members/direct reports with clear direction and targets that are aligned with business needs and GIT objectives

Key Relationships:

• Global IT
• Respective business function (GOPS, Finance, HR, Brand Marketing, Wholesale/Retail)
• HR Management
• Controlling

Requisite Education and Experience / Minimum Qualifications:

• Four-year college or university degree with focus on Business Administration or IT or related areas, or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Proficient spoken and written command of English
• At least 10 -year experience in IT
• 7 years of experience in relevant area
• 5 years of experience in team management including professional
• International Experience - ideally working abroad and mobile in leadership roles for multiple years and has functional/market experience in projects with a local/global perspective
• Participated in a global project execution/ significant contribution to local/functional project