Lead Solutions Architect

SUMMARY:
Psybergate is an IT company that builds bespoke software solutions and provides highly skilled resources to its clients.
We are looking for a Lead Solutions Architect (Contract) to join our financial services client based in Centurion.

POSITION INFO:

What you will be doing:

• Drive the end-to-end solution architecture for a large-scale insurance modernisation programme.
• Define solution blueprints aligned to the enterprise target architecture.
• Ensure clear, domain-aligned service boundaries across policy, claims, billing, party, and product domains.
• Drive separation between orchestration layers, decisioning, domain services, and experience layers.
• Prevent architectural drift and platform sprawl across the ecosystem.
• Design API-first integration patterns across legacy and modern platforms.
• Establish and govern event-driven architecture patterns.
• Ensure solution coherence across multiple platforms and workstreams.
• Define orchestration standards across claims and operational processes.
• Ensure business rules are externalised via decision engines and not embedded in workflow logic.
• Enable straight-through processing while supporting intelligent human intervention.
• Define scalable, resilient, and secure cloud-native deployment patterns.
• Partner with platform engineering teams on CI/CD pipelines, observability, and DevOps maturity.
• Embed non-functional requirements (performance, availability, security) from inception.
• Ensure solutions meet agreed performance, availability, and security standards.
• Ensure operational and event data is captured to support analytics and reporting.
• Enable real-time streaming to enterprise data platforms.
• Support SLA monitoring, fraud detection, leakage analytics, and regulatory auditability.
• Provide architectural leadership across multiple vendors and delivery partners.
• Conduct solution design reviews and enforce architecture standards.
• Challenge vendor-led designs that compromise long-term maintainability.
• Reduce vendor lock-in risk.
• Support the operating model shift toward product-centric delivery.
• Guide cross-functional delivery squads in solution design.
• Ensure the architecture runway supports iterative and incremental delivery.
• Act as an escalation point for complex architectural trade-offs.

What we are looking for:

• 12+ years’ experience in enterprise solution architecture.
• Proven experience delivering large-scale insurance or financial services transformation programmes.
• Strong track record modernising legacy ecosystems in brownfield enterprise environments.
• Deep experience with:
  
  • API-led and event-driven architectures
  • BPM and workflow platforms
  • Decision engines and rules management
  • Cloud-native and microservices architectures
  • Enterprise integration patterns
• Experience working on board-visible or executive-level transformation programmes.
• Demonstrated experience applying modernisation strategies such as:
  
  • Modular decomposition
  • Strangler patterns
  • Anti-corruption layers
  • Transitional architectures
  • Incremental migration strategies
• Strong engineering credibility with the ability to balance pragmatism and architectural discipline.
• Excellent stakeholder and executive-level communication skills.