What are the responsibilities and job description for the IT Solutions Architect (Retail) position at Search Services?
SUMMARY:
A Fortune 500 company is seeking a IT Solutions Architect for their Houston location, experienced in Retail and customer data management (CDM).
DESCRIPTION:
This role is responsible for leading the identification and recommendation of solutions, upgrades, replacements, or decommissioning strategies that balance business objectives with technology productivity, usability, and total cost of ownership. A key focus will be on customer data management (CDM) and retail data systems, ensuring that solutions are aligned with business goals and enterprise architecture standards.
The position involves developing and executing strategies to minimize reactive work, working closely with both business and technical subject matter experts to create comprehensive, end-to-end solutions. These solutions must adhere to the guidelines set by the Enterprise Architecture team and deliver tangible value to the organization. The candidate will be expected to model solutions from conceptual, logical, and physical perspectives, covering all relevant aspects of the solution, such as context, data domains, logical and physical design, and deployment models.
The individual will facilitate the refinement of requirements, particularly focusing on service-level expectations. They will collaborate across IT teams to ensure alignment with the proposed architecture, integrating feedback to ensure the final solution is optimized for both business and technical needs. Participation in design reviews is also key, ensuring that all architectural decisions are traceable to the solution’s original design.
In addition, this role will contribute to the creation and maintenance of enterprise guidelines, standards, and principles, ensuring that best practices are continuously updated as new solutions and precedents emerge. The candidate must be proactive in engaging with business stakeholders, ensuring their immediate and future requirements are fully understood and addressed.
A deep understanding of Academy’s policies, procedures, and safety rules will be required, and flexibility to take on additional duties as needed is important.
REQUIREMENTS:
The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field. They should have over 10 years of experience in IT management or solutions architecture, with at least 2-3 years of experience in retail. Expertise in data integration patterns and tools, as well as experience designing solutions in cloud and hybrid cloud environments, is essential.
A strong understanding of network and security integration and data flow is necessary, along with expertise in both on-premises and cloud environments. The ideal candidate will be familiar with vendor management tools and their integration with enterprise architecture (EA) tools. Knowledge of IT architectural frameworks, such as TOGAF and Zachman, is also required.
In addition, familiarity with retail supply chain processes, including merchandising, will be highly valued, with experience in implementing enterprise-class supply chain management systems being preferred. Strong experience in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and microservices design, as well as familiarity with retail COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) enterprise applications, will be beneficial.
Key skills include the ability to bridge the gap between waterfall and agile methodologies, strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, and the ability to work effectively with individuals at all levels of the organization. The candidate should be able to build consensus around proposed solutions and demonstrate strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently and in a team environment.
Experience in optimization techniques such as stochastic modeling, optimization algorithms, and holistic planning is preferred. The ability to work with business leadership to understand and set requirements is important, and proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and SharePoint, is expected.
A Fortune 500 company is seeking a IT Solutions Architect for their Houston location, experienced in Retail and customer data management (CDM).
DESCRIPTION:
This role is responsible for leading the identification and recommendation of solutions, upgrades, replacements, or decommissioning strategies that balance business objectives with technology productivity, usability, and total cost of ownership. A key focus will be on customer data management (CDM) and retail data systems, ensuring that solutions are aligned with business goals and enterprise architecture standards.
The position involves developing and executing strategies to minimize reactive work, working closely with both business and technical subject matter experts to create comprehensive, end-to-end solutions. These solutions must adhere to the guidelines set by the Enterprise Architecture team and deliver tangible value to the organization. The candidate will be expected to model solutions from conceptual, logical, and physical perspectives, covering all relevant aspects of the solution, such as context, data domains, logical and physical design, and deployment models.
The individual will facilitate the refinement of requirements, particularly focusing on service-level expectations. They will collaborate across IT teams to ensure alignment with the proposed architecture, integrating feedback to ensure the final solution is optimized for both business and technical needs. Participation in design reviews is also key, ensuring that all architectural decisions are traceable to the solution’s original design.
In addition, this role will contribute to the creation and maintenance of enterprise guidelines, standards, and principles, ensuring that best practices are continuously updated as new solutions and precedents emerge. The candidate must be proactive in engaging with business stakeholders, ensuring their immediate and future requirements are fully understood and addressed.
A deep understanding of Academy’s policies, procedures, and safety rules will be required, and flexibility to take on additional duties as needed is important.
REQUIREMENTS:
The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, or a related field. They should have over 10 years of experience in IT management or solutions architecture, with at least 2-3 years of experience in retail. Expertise in data integration patterns and tools, as well as experience designing solutions in cloud and hybrid cloud environments, is essential.
A strong understanding of network and security integration and data flow is necessary, along with expertise in both on-premises and cloud environments. The ideal candidate will be familiar with vendor management tools and their integration with enterprise architecture (EA) tools. Knowledge of IT architectural frameworks, such as TOGAF and Zachman, is also required.
In addition, familiarity with retail supply chain processes, including merchandising, will be highly valued, with experience in implementing enterprise-class supply chain management systems being preferred. Strong experience in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and microservices design, as well as familiarity with retail COTS (Commercial Off-the-Shelf) enterprise applications, will be beneficial.
Key skills include the ability to bridge the gap between waterfall and agile methodologies, strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills, and the ability to work effectively with individuals at all levels of the organization. The candidate should be able to build consensus around proposed solutions and demonstrate strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently and in a team environment.
Experience in optimization techniques such as stochastic modeling, optimization algorithms, and holistic planning is preferred. The ability to work with business leadership to understand and set requirements is important, and proficiency with Microsoft Office tools, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and SharePoint, is expected.
