Director of IT Architecture and Quality Engineering

Description

The Director, IT Architecture and Quality Engineering leads the IT Architecture and Quality Engineering transversal function, acting as the Design Authority for the entire IT organisation. The role is accountable for the holistic IT architecture, including shadow IT; aligns architecture across domains; and leads One IT Quality Engineering practices for internal and external teams. It promotes reusable, platform-based solutions and reduces unnecessary customisation while enabling teams to deliver scalable, consistent, and efficient solutions across all IT domains.

Responsibilities

• Take responsibility for the holistic IT architecture, including shadow IT, ensuring a coherent, evolvable, and consistent architectural landscape across all domains.
• Establish architecture guardrails and decision frameworks that guide teams in making autonomous decisions, with focused reviews for high-risk or cross-domain changes.
• Coordinate and align architecture across domains, ensuring interoperability and consistency while allowing domain teams appropriate flexibility.
• Lead One IT Quality Engineering practices, promoting automation, reliability, and observability across internal and external systems.
• Plan and implement the architectural strategy, including the vision, objectives, and technology development directions.
• Create and maintain IT solution architecture aligned with long-term business and technology visions.
• Identify business potential and collaborate with business partners to create innovative architectural solutions.
• Manage IT-area architecture and provide substantive oversight of architectural consistency across projects and technology changes.
• Analyse and optimise technology solutions, including technical-debt reduction and efficiency improvements.
• Define and continuously improve architecture-management practices, including project reviews and technology assessments, ensuring consistency while enabling efficient delivery.
• Collaborate with IT units in infrastructure, security, and data to ensure integrated and consistent solutions.
• Define and evolve pragmatic architecture standards and guardrails, enabling teams to reuse platform building blocks and deliver consistently.
• Build and lead an architecture guild, fostering collaboration, pragmatic standards, and knowledge sharing across engineering teams.

Requirements

• Proven director-level leadership and management track record in enterprise architecture or a related discipline.
• Experience managing organisational change and driving digital transformation initiatives.
• Deep understanding of enterprise architecture practices, with proven experience designing and evolving large-scale distributed systems and exposure to telecom environments and/or modern composable, API-first architecture approaches, such as TM Forum and MACH Architecture.
• Extensive experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and hybrid/multi-cloud strategies.
• Strong understanding of microservices architectures, API management, and modern integration patterns.
• Expertise in cybersecurity architecture, data architecture, and infrastructure design.
• Knowledge of both legacy-system modernisation and modern application-development approaches.
• Familiarity with AI/ML, containerisation, DevOps practices, and emerging technology trends.
• Ability to think strategically, manage cross-functional initiatives, and communicate effectively at executive level.
• Fluent English and Polish.

Optional

• Familiarity with enterprise architecture frameworks or certifications, applied pragmatically in real-world environments.
• Experience establishing or evolving a Design Authority or similar architecture-governance model that balances consistency with team autonomy.
• Familiarity with telecommunications-specific architecture patterns and OSS/BSS landscapes.

Benefits

• Senior leadership role in a major IT transformation programme.
• Direct reporting line to the CIO, with visibility and influence at the highest organisational levels.
• Collaborative, ambitious IT leadership team committed to building a world-class IT organisation.
• Competitive compensation package commensurate with the seniority and scope of the role.