Senior Solution Architect - Permanent

SENIOR SOLUTION ARCHITECT – ICT TRAFFIC

Project Context

We are looking for a Senior Solution Architect to work on a project within the railway infrastructure sector in Belgium.

The project focuses on a solution used to plan train traffic and railway infrastructure works across the Belgian railway network.

The solution is used by operational teams responsible for train and works planning, signalling and traffic control. It is a business-critical application environment that requires high availability, reliability and continuous operational support.

The objective of the assignment is to design, document and govern the architecture of the solution, ensuring that it meets business and technical requirements while remaining aligned with the organisation's architecture standards and long-term objectives.

The role is both technical and architectural. The architect must be able to understand the existing technical environment, read and assess existing code, and discuss technical decisions with engineering teams.

The Solution Architect will work independently from development teams and will not be part of a development team.

Project Scope

The assignment covers a train and infrastructure works planning solution, including its related components and interfaces.

The main objectives are to:

• Assess and document the existing technical environment.

• Establish a technical architecture roadmap.

• Evaluate the current solution and identify potential improvements or necessary rework.

• Support the evolution of existing legacy applications.

• Ensure consistency with a separate platform modernisation programme.

• Ensure compliance with cybersecurity standards.

• Define the target architecture and the steps required to reach it.

Main Responsibilities

Architecture Design and Requirements

• Identify stakeholders, their needs, objectives and expectations.

• Analyse and challenge functional and non-functional requirements.

• Define the solution scope, constraints, assumptions and dependencies.

• Design the target architecture based on business and technical requirements.

• Cover the different architecture dimensions: business, data, applications, integration, technology, security and operations.

• Define interfaces, data flows, component responsibilities and deployment principles.

• Identify reusable components and apply existing standards where relevant.

Architecture Decisions and Roadmap

• Develop and compare different architectural scenarios.

• Assess the benefits, costs, risks, impacts and technical trade-offs of each option.

• Identify gaps between the existing architecture and the target architecture.

• Define intermediate steps and realistic implementation or migration plans.

• Assess technical dependencies, feasibility and technical debt.

• Estimate implementation costs to support decision-making.

• Document important architectural decisions and their rationale through Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).

Architecture Governance and Compliance

• Ensure that the solution complies with architecture principles, standards and reference architectures.

• Prepare and participate in architecture reviews.

• Present architectural decisions and integrate feedback from governance bodies.

• Identify and document deviations, exceptions and associated risks.

• Perform architecture compliance reviews during implementation and before production deployment.

• Update architecture documentation when the implemented solution differs from the initial design.

Technical Implementation Support

• Guide teams involved in detailed design, development, integration, testing, cybersecurity and operations.

• Explain architectural decisions and ensure that they can be implemented by engineering teams.

• Ensure that operational requirements are considered from the design stage, including availability, monitoring, backup, recovery, support and lifecycle management.

• Contribute to Proofs of Concept (PoCs) when necessary.

• Participate in refinement sessions with the Product Owner and analysts.

• Validate the technical aspects of sprint entry criteria.

• Perform targeted code reviews, focusing on service boundaries, interface contracts, transaction management and error handling.

• Organise knowledge transfer and ensure that technical documentation remains up to date.

Architecture Modelling and Documentation

A key part of the assignment is maintaining the architecture repository using ArchiMate.

The architect will:

• Create and maintain architecture models using ArchiMate.

• Work with an architecture modelling tool such as Sparx Enterprise Architect.

• Define and maintain modelling standards and conventions.

• Create different architecture views for different stakeholders from one consistent model.

• Ensure that architecture models reflect the approved solution, identified deviations and target architecture.

• Maintain traceability between architecture models, requirements and architectural decisions.

Technical Environment

The existing solution operates in a mixed environment combining legacy technologies and modern microservices.

AreaTechnologiesInfrastructureOpenShift, AIXDatabaseOracle, RedisBack-endJava 8, Java 17–21Front-endAngular 15, Angular 18, SwingSecrets ManagementHashiCorp VaultMessaging / QueueingIBM MQEvent StreamingKafkaLoggingElasticArchitecture ModellingArchiMate, Sparx Enterprise Architect

Experience with every technology listed is not the main requirement. The ability to understand and assess different technologies is more important.

The main technical challenge is the coexistence of legacy applications and microservices, together with different integration mechanisms such as IBM MQ and Kafka.