Solutions Architect

Company Description

Al Meera Consumer Goods Company (QSC) is Qatar's largest retail chain, established in 2005 under the directives of H.H. the Father Emir. The company operates 43 branches across Qatar, offering a wide range of products, including groceries, fresh food, electronics, and household items. Al Meera is publicly traded on the Qatar Stock Exchange and is partially owned by Qatar Holding Company. Renowned for its innovative approach, the company collaborates with international consultancy firms to ensure its retail outlets meet global standards in design, operations, and customer experience.

Role Description

This is a full-time, on-site Solutions Architect role located in Doha, Qatar. The Solutions Architect will design and implement innovative technology solutions, ensuring alignment with business objectives. Responsibilities include creating architectural designs, collaborating with cross-functional teams, driving software development and integration efforts, and optimizing business processes to enhance operational efficiency and scalability. The role requires a hands-on approach to problem-solving and delivering high-quality technology solutions tailored to business needs.

Key Responsibilities

· Conduct research, comparisons, and evaluations of digital solutions relevant to the retail industry.

· Explore and propose solution options, with clear recommendations aligned to business requirements and enterprise architecture strategy.

· Translate business needs into end-to-end system and technical designs.

· Facilitate workshops and discussions with both business and technical stakeholders to gather requirements and present clear architectural solutions.

· Design and define system architecture including applications, data flow, integration, infrastructure, and security components.

· Develop and document integration methodologies and APIs, supporting ecosystem connectivity and scalability.

· Lead collaborative planning and implementation of data handling and system integration processes.

· Incorporate DevOps best practices into solution designs, enabling automation, monitoring, and infrastructure as code.

· Guide development teams on CI/CD pipeline design and configuration for streamlined build, test, and deployment cycles.

· Manage vendor evaluation and selection through structured RFPs/RFQs for IT implementations.

· Estimate the scope, effort, cost, and timeline of architecture activities, ensuring proper alignment with project plans.

· Provide architectural oversight throughout the software development lifecycle, ensuring alignment to best practices and compliance requirements.

· Ensure architecture documentation is maintained and accessible for technical teams and stakeholders.

Qualifications

· 7+ years of experience in solution architecture, systems design, or software development, using general-purpose programming languages (e.g., C#, Java, Python, Go, etc.).

· Experience designing and implementing Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and microservices-based architectures.

· Deep understanding of integration patterns and modern API-driven approaches.

· Hands-on experience with both on-premise infrastructure and major cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP).

· Strong knowledge of DevOps methodologies, including CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform, ARM templates), automated testing, and release automation.

· Familiarity with tools like Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, GitLab CI, or similar.

· Proven ability to design secure systems, with knowledge of public key infrastructure, certificate-based authentication, and multifactor authentication.

· Demonstrated experience estimating project efforts and leading solution design efforts in cross-functional teams.

· Proficiency in architecture modeling tools and techniques (UML, ArchiMate, etc.).

· Experience with container-based technologies and orchestration platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes).

· Experience in agile/scrum environments.

· Strong understanding of enterprise architecture frameworks, such as TOGAF (certification is a plus).

· Retail industry-specific experience is a plus.

Soft Skills

· Strong analytical and conceptual thinking with innovative problem-solving capabilities.

· Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of interfacing with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

· Effective collaboration in cross-functional teams, with the ability to influence decisions and drive architectural alignment.

· Strategic mindset with attention to detail and a strong sense of ownership.