Solution Architect: Roles, Responsibilities, Skills, Qualifications

A technical solution architect’s roles and responsibilities, their qualifications, and the situations when their assistance is required, aren’t limited by thе description presented in this piece. These professionals are undoubtedly helpful when amending and handling a multilevel enterprise structure and making strategic technological decisions. Contact Andersen for a solution architecture consulting in case you need more insights and a price calculation. Solution architecture itself encompasses business, system, information, security, application and technology architecture. Some examples of solutions architecture include developing cloud infrastructure for efficiency, implementing microservices for ecommerce, or adopting security measures for data, systems, and networks. While the scope of the job can vary depending on a business’ specific needs, there are certain responsibilities, skills, and qualifications that solutions architects will need to meet to get the job.

solution architect responsibilities

Use this Solution Architect job description to advertise your vacancies and find qualified candidates. Some of these are specific architect responsibilities that are discussed further in this article. Solution Architеcts must stay currеnt with thе latеst industry trеnds and еmеrging tеchnologiеs to makе informеd dеcisions and kееp solutions compеtitivе. Solution Architеcts must grasp thе broadеr businеss contеxt and align tеchnical solutions with an organisation’s stratеgic goals and objеctivеs. When it comes to building from scratch, changing, or upgrading your software solution – the earlier, the better.

Training and Certifications for the Solutions Architect role

At the same time, they can create prototypes to identify tech limitations or delve into product design. Solution architecture is focused on details and solution technologies to address a specific business problem. They are mediators between enterprise architecture (global business perspective) and software architecture (dealing with tech issues).

solution architect responsibilities

Looking for a way to build your skills and expertise as a solutions architect and add to your existing resume? Consider a course in software architecture to better familiarize yourself with the most common solution architectures. Or consider a specialization such as IBM’s for DevOps, Cloud, and Agile Foundations to learn some of the most popular concepts and methodologies for managing the development process. From there, the solutions architect creates an overall strategic technical vision—not unlike an architect designing a blueprint for a building. Solution Architects are highly valuable assets in any enterprise, but their significance becomes more distinct in large-sized companies that require a robust solution architecture framework. In a challenging technology environment, Solution Architects are some of the best allies to have on your team to align business requirements with technology solutions.

Technical Architect role description

Our architects are masters of their craft, working with international clients from the logistics, healthcare, EdTech, MarTech, legal, IoT, and other industries. Your company needs a thorough solution architect job description to find and hire the right person for the job. Solution architect job candidates should gain a clear understanding of the role, and know whether their qualifications make them a good potential employee. Craft brief lists of qualifications, objectives, and responsibilities using bullet points. Be sure the final draft aligns with your company’s expectations and is engaging and easy to read and digest.

  • Suppose, let us take an example – You are developing a medicine delivery app; the solutions architect will make sure the app should be HIPPA compliant.
  • We will be your co-pilots and guides throughout the entire process, offering our advice, support, and guidance on any questions you may have.
  • In other words, solution architects create a bridge between planning at the enterprise level and developing specific software products that will help a company make these plans a reality.
  • Plus, solutions architects ought to constantly keep in mind the overall corporate strategy and goals the organization aims to achieve.
  • Thеy bridgе thе gap bеtwееn businеss nееds and tеchnology, еnsuring systеms mееt objеctivеs.
  • A solution architect is a professional responsible for designing, planning, and implementing solutions within an organization.

Therefore, these solutions architect responsibilities include the technical architecture design and choosing appropriate tools and technologies. They typically have a strong custom software development, system design, and project management background and may also have specialized knowledge in a particular industry or technology domain. We hope now you have got an idea of – What is a solutions architect and can move further with the process. Of course, you don’t need to design and implement a solution architecture on all software development projects. For instance, if you want to create a simple one-page website, a coding team and a project manager will be able to do this without additional guidance from a solution architect’s side. Any project must meet the functional requirements and some non-functional requirements related to the characteristics of the system.

How do companies benefit from leveraging the expertise of a Solution Architect?

Cleveroad is a professional software development company that helps startups, SMBs, and enterprises deliver custom digital solutions that improve their performance and customer experience. If many teams are involved in the process, you may need an IT solution architect who’ll manage solution architect roles and responsibilities software architects to produce a quality outcome. Solution architects position appeared in сompanies that create software on an industrial scale. They needed someone who could communicate with their clients while the contract is being prepared (solution architecture as a service).

solution architect responsibilities

Solution architects also ensure that such a solution will remain relevant in terms of the business value it should deliver. This article will provide solutions architect job description, how their role is different from other similar positions, and what kind of projects require input from these specialists. We highly recommend you turn to a trusted outsourcing vendor with years of experience hiring software development professionals. In addition, you can channel all your energy into your business needs, and your vendor will take care of the recruitment process and will offer you the best specialists to choose from.

What is a solutions architect?

There’s no way to answer these questions without linking technology and business perspectives, which is squarely in a solution architect’s wheelhouse. Other tools and processes exist the ones that the SA will have to master are based on what the organization has chosen. The architect then works out the tech vision of the product, explains what solution they need (website, desktop app, mobile apps, or all together). Next, an IT solutions architect helps to assemble a development team — define how many developers they need, as well as where each of them should start. Besides picking the technologies, IT solution architects define the development stages the team will go through and help with calculating the product’s cost. As the solution architect knows the architecture components, they know what people — front end, back end, iOS, Android developers — they need to involve.

The above solution architect’s responsibilities list can be supplemented with further duties depending on your objectives, team composition, and other factors. The average annual base pay for a solutions architect in the US is $197,854, although it ranges from about $99,000 to $172,000, according to Glassdoor [1]. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), employment opportunities for computer network architects are expected to grow 4 percent from 2021 to 2031 [2]. As companies expand their information technology networks, the demand for solutions architects will likely increase.

Hexagonal, Clean and Onion Architectures

This involves understanding the business goals and objectives and identifying the unique technology needs that must be addressed. This understanding allows them to design superior product solutions that meet these needs while ensuring that the architecture is optimized for performance, scalability, and maintainability. Additionally, a good product manager can identify areas of the architecture that may not be as effective and suggest improvements, identify risks and address them before they become issues. They should also pursue certifications in specific technical skills like AWS, Azure, Scrum, and DevOps. An infrastructure architect is much like a technical architect but focuses on a corporate on-premises server or cloud systems of an organization.

Solutions architects’ role is comparable to a managerial one since these experts have to attend to a plethora of various errands. This sphere encompasses a whole variety of production endeavors – from food and drink to machines and pharmaceuticals. Solution architects are involved in streamlining the products’ lifecycles and supporting seamless manufacturing operations by providing constant availability of relevant software. Solutions architects must also develop detailed use case diagrams for visualizing system components and user stories and projecting their interactions.

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The enterprise architect has the broadest view of the company’s current state and goals, creating a strategic plan for implementing technical changes. Having a large-scale project may demand hiring a Solution architect as he will help with the management of software architects and the teams involved to emerge with a best-quality outcome. They are well-versed with such constraints and bring the best ways to deal with them.

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A standout feature of GreenLake for VCF is its ability to accelerate time to value for VMware Cloud Foundation. This pre-deployment of essential components reduces the time and effort required for implementation, enabling organizations to start utilizing the VCF solution faster. The faster time to value allows businesses to swiftly respond to market demands, gain a competitive edge, and achieve their digital transformation objectives promptly. Solutions architects early in their career report earning an average salary of $94,000 per year.

When Do We Need A Solutions Architect?

The initial high-level design will need to be monitored to confirm that it is consistent and compared with the solution’s overall design. For example, if we talk about integration with existing solutions, then a new project must be created using particular technologies to comply with the corporate system. Business owners often think about effectiveness, productivity, cutting costs, optimization, etc, while software engineers worry more about specific engineering challenges.