Sports Recruitment International

Solutions Architect

Salary: Excellent Package » Ref: AT4995 » Location: Gibraltar

• Staff Costs
• External Consultancy
• Hardware & Software

• Work with the key business personnel to identify solutions that will provide the best return possible for  Online.  This is likely the single most important part of this role
• Work with the Business Analysts to stay aware of business needs and concerns at all times.
• Work with the IS Supplier and Procurement Manager to maintain relations with vendors management and keep them informed and involved in future IS strategies.
• To influence supplier strategy to ensure the best fit for  Online’s requirements.
• Monitor service delivery from the suppliers, taking appropriate actions through the IS Procurement and Supplier Management function to ensure that service level does not adversely affect business by dropping below agreed service levels.
• IS Service Planning, Delivery and Compliance.
• Provide direction and manage the Technical Architects with the design and specification of the technical infrastructure components needed to deliver non-functional requirements.
• Implement applicable security principles across  Online.
• Maintain currency in latest security trends.
• Be constantly aware of the status of technology risk and delivering regular security reports to management.

• Ensure all IS systems meet processing, storage and network capacity requirements, as well as network provisioning, to meet the evolving business need in a cost effective and timely manner;
• Be responsible for the range and structure of technologies required to deliver the full suite of IS services. This includes business systems as well as the supporting infrastructure components; and
• Work with the Head of Delivery and Architect (Tel-Aviv) to set up an ongoing audit for core IS services
• Ensure Technology Landscape is fit for purpose and value for money

• Establish business architecture, business architecture principles and enterprise architecture requirements with key board members and business and IS leaders
• Develop and maintain an architecture framework, and corresponding guidance and standards to ensure compatibility and interoperability between new and existing systems;
• Address key stakeholder concerns and ensure the integrity of the chosen architecture (including business systems) reconciling the tradeoffs between the various architectural principles (for example, levels of security vs performance); and
• Develop, own and police compliance to the Enterprise and Technical Architectures (including applications, data, hardware and networks)

• With support from the Director of IT, develop the  architecture framework and the infrastructure and security strategy.
• Work with the Security Manager to determine applicable security principles and procedures across IS, and work with the Director of IT to balance trade-offs between security and other non-functional requirements (for example performance and availability).
• Quality assurance and ownership of the overall integrity of the security architectures.
• Assist in the due diligence process for new acquisitions, new suppliers and new products

• Provide risk assessment advice;
• Work with the Quality Assurance Manager & the Security Manager, document and implement standards, policies (including quality) and procedures for all relevant IS services and ensuring they are actively used by all IS staff and remain current.
• Ensuring that IS processes are documented, consistent across IS and continuously improved.
• Ensure that the company’s disaster recovery requirements are reflected and catered for through the design and specification of systems.
• Ensure that ongoing audit of procedures is set up and put into place.
• Minimise business risk by improving system availability, stability and security.
• Work with the Director of IT to ensure that the necessary disaster recovery arrangements are in place for divisional and corporate business systems providing continuity of service in the event of a disaster.

• Understand the budgeting and cost elements of the architecture framework and the detailed breakdown of components.
• Develop a forecast as required to ensure future requirements are catered for.

• Recruit and retain staff that are appropriately skilled and experienced, and have the correct cultural fit for IS and  Online;
• Develop a team culture that embraces change;
• Ensure that teams / individuals all have clear understanding of roles and responsibilities as well as an understanding of the wider business priorities and how their activities fit into the wider business goals;
• Ensure that resources are managed to ensure optimal utilisation;
• Ensure that appropriate succession planning is undertaken and executed
• Develop capacity and capability model to support demand planning and resource allocation each year

• Establish board level reporting structure to report on-going progress of enterprise architecture delivery.
• Communicate and enforce applicable security principles and procedures across .
• Create and disseminate security best practices.

• Ensure that the Head of Delivery is involved in all planning and implementing of business system enhancements / implementations.
• Ensure business systems are rolled out to business locations with minimal disruption.
• Ensure that all business systems are documented in a consistent manner and are kept current.

• Ensure business systems meet the stated technical architecture requirements (e.g. performance, stability, capacity, human factors, throughput, etc) in collaboration with the Head of Delivery when defining projects.
• Provide quality assurance and ownership of the overall integrity of the business systems roadmap.
• Ensure that all standards, policies (including liaising with Quality Assurance & Security Manager) and procedures for all relevant business systems are documented and implemented; ensuring they are actively used by all IS staff and remain current.

• Experience in a similar role, specifically Internet based businesses from Betting and Gaming, Retail, Banking and/or IT Consultancy.  Ideally within a highly regulated industry.
• Represent company interests in key industry groups (Gambling Commission, PCIDSS) and strategic suppliers (BT, ORBIS, Microsoft) to shape policy, understand IS trends and define company responses.
• Establish long-term technology roadmaps and business cases that support the business’s investment plans and performance targets.
• Establish long-term application roadmaps and business cases that support the business’s investment plans and performance targets.
• Manage a team of Architects covering the full enterprise architecture stack (Process, organisation, application, infrastructure and data layers).
• Establish architectural governance and oversight of IS delivery and services to ensure a balance of near-term pragmatism with long-term direction.
• Manage the intellectual property of the IS department and drive innovation in the use of technology to support business needs.
• Experience of operating at director level and able to present at Board level, translating technology into terms relating to business drivers and financial performance. 
• Expert knowledge of server and networking hardware and operating systems.
• Expert knowledge in security techniques, including emerging trends.
• Expert knowledge in system audit, reviews.
• Actively identifies and uses key learning points from daily activities to increase effectiveness.
• Ability to communicate at all levels especially with key stakeholders to ensure their requirements are understood and prioritised.
• Anticipates problems and identifies long term implications of decisions and actions.
• A thorough understanding of IT system environments i.e. operating systems, networking, applications and databases.

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