Enterprise / Solution Architecture Lead - Africa

Job Summary

Position Summary The Enterprise / Solution Architecture Lead is a Senior Manager-level role responsible for ensuring that all major KPMG T&I engagements are correctly designed, technically sound, and structured for repeatable, scalable delivery - before contracts are signed. This role is the primary pre-signing protection mechanism for KPMG T&I, preventing the costly rework, overruns, and client escalations that arise from poor upfront solution design. The Architecture Lead owns the solution design process for cloud, platform, and enterprise technology mandates across the portfolio, working in close collaboration with delivery teams, alliance partners, and client technical stakeholders

Job Details

Key roles and responsibilities:

(a)Pre-Signing Solution Design and Quality (55%)

• Lead the architecture and solution design process for all major T&I pursuits - ensuring solutions are technically viable, commercially structured, and deliverable before KPMG signs the contract.
• Produce high-quality solution architecture documents, technical proposals, and delivery blueprints for cloud, platform, and enterprise technology engagements.
• Participate in all major client technical workshops, solution presentations, and architecture review sessions during the pursuit phase.
• Review and sign off on all technical scopes of work, ensuring they align with KPMG's delivery capability, alliance architectures, and market rate assumptions.
• Challenge and interrogate solution designs proposed by delivery teams or clients - preventing over-engineering, bespoke design, or architectures that KPMG cannot support at scale.

(b) Delivery Architecture Support (30%)

• Provide architecture oversight and technical governance during delivery - attending key design reviews, sprint reviews, and technical steering committees on major engagements.
• Serve as the escalation authority for technical architecture decisions during delivery, resolving disputes between client and KPMG delivery teams.
• Maintain architecture standards and reference frameworks for KPMG T&I's core technology platforms (Azure, AWS, SAP S/4HANA, ServiceNow, Oracle Cloud).
• Work with Block E (Enablement) to codify solution architecture patterns, reference architectures, and reusable design assets.
• Conduct formal architecture reviews (pre- and post-delivery) to identify systemic design risks and improve future solution quality.

(c) Alliance and Capability Development (15%)

• Maintain active relationships with alliance partner solution architects (Microsoft, ServiceNow, SAP, Oracle) to stay current on reference architectures and certifications.
• Contribute to KPMG T&I's technical community of practice - running architecture reviews, knowledge-sharing sessions, and internal capability uplift.
• Support the hiring and technical assessment of architecture talent for the T&I team.
• Contribute to thought leadership and external market positioning on enterprise architecture topics.

Requirements

Academic/ Professional qualifications and Experience:

• Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent technical discipline.
• Cloud architecture certification required: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305), AWS Solutions Architect Professional, or Google Professional Cloud Architect.
• TOGAF or equivalent enterprise architecture certification preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of technology experience, with at least 5 years in enterprise or solution architecture roles within a consulting or systems integration context.
• Proven experience designing and reviewing architectures for large-scale cloud migration, platform modernisation, or digital transformation programmes.
• Familiarity with African market delivery constraints and infrastructure environments.

Technical competencies & Personal attributes:

• Demonstrate and articulate KPMG values as well as proven capability in:
• Technical authority: deep architecture expertise across at least two major cloud or enterprise platforms.
• Design discipline: able to define clear, structured, deliverable solution architectures under time pressure.
• Commercial awareness: understands the cost implications of architectural decisions and can balance technical idealism with commercial pragmatism.
• Stakeholder engagement: comfortable leading technical workshops with client architects, CTOs, and IT leadership.
• Quality mindset: naturally challenges designs that introduce unnecessary complexity, bespoke development, or delivery risk.
• Collaboration: works effectively with delivery teams, alliance partner architects, and client technical teams.
• Market Intelligence: Demonstrate commercial awareness with sound knowledge of matters affecting the market.
• Business development entrepreneurial mind-set and ability to identify opportunities and develop high quality proposals.
• Personal effectiveness - Excellent report-writing and presentation skills.
• People management - Leadership & management skills.
• Performance management - Be a performance manager to the team in line with performance management guidelines.
• Risk management-lead in ensuring full compliance with KPMG quality & risk management requirements
• Capacity building - Takes a lead in building capability of team to future proof workforce and full utilization of existing workforce.

Benefits

We offer:

• An exciting opportunity to work with a Big 4 firm on cutting edge clients across Africa.
• Continuous learning and development.
• Exposure to multi-disciplinary client service teams.
• Unrivalled space to grow and be innovative.
• Opportunity for international travel.

About Company

KPMG Professional Services

https://home.kpmg.com/ng

KPMG Professional Services and KPMG Advisory Services are the KPMG member firm in Nigeria. The partners and people have been operating in Nigeria since 1978, providing multidisciplinary professional services to both local and international organisations within the Nigerian business community. Our vision is to build and sustain our reputation as the best firm to work with by ensuring our people, clients and communities achieve their full potential. At KPMG, we are committed to working with our clients to cut through complexities of the business world; finding solutions and adding value. Our combination of international and local market knowledge and perspective give us an edge in the professional services industry in Nigeria. This combination enables the Nigerian practice to add real value by developing strategies that give the firms clients a distinct edge over their competitors. As one of the leading providers of professional services, KPMG knows that the success and growth of the firm also depends on the success and growth of the Nigerian economy. Hence, it champions progressive change and makes the future happen for its clients, people and the community, thereby enabling Nigeria success. The firm is involved in the formulation of economic policies for Nigeria through the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. The firm has a full complement of 59 partners and over 1,500 trained and dedicated professional staff; with deep industry skills and competencies in audit, tax and advisory services. KPMG has worked for clients in the public and private sec tor in Nigeria and in several other countries, helping to transform business performance and operations.