Solutions Architect: Roles and Responsibilities

Your role will be to assess the expectations of customers and then put in place technical solutions that meet those expectations and criteria. It’s your job to figure out how to enhance current systems and achieve better integration across a business. The selected candidate will work with Operations and Business Development personnel to understand customer needs and lead the development of compelling solutions to those needs. They will bring these solutions forward through white papers, presentations, and proposal responses.

  • The work environment for a Principal Solution Architect is usually in an office setting, although travel may be required for business meetings or to visit clients.
  • A solution architect helps the development team understand the project’s vision and plays an important role all through the complete system development lifecycle.
  • A lead architect also mentors and coaches the team members, and monitors and reports on the architecture performance and quality.
  • While the practice can be managed in-house, there are companies that provide solution architecture consulting as a specific set of services.
  • So, this specialist should be able to clearly explain, understand everyone’s point of view, listen, advise, and influence.
  • For example, a computer systems analyst can work their way up to a solution architect.

Now these decisions cannot be taken by keeping business and technology in silos. Generally, businesses have operating systems, information context, and integration facilities. A solutions architect ensures that any new system that gets introduced fits into the current business environment.

Solutions architect skills

Solutions architects will also be in regular communication with IT specialists and enterprise architects to develop and implement complex technology and business solutions. The enterprise architect has the broadest view of the company’s current state of architecture and goals. It is this expert who is responsible for creating a strategic plan for implementing technical changes.

It guides those building large-scale IT systems as well as those building large, cyber-physical, engineered systems. Many large systems—satellites, vehicles, robotics, medical devices, and more—have both cyber-physical and large-scale IT elements. In practice, the Solution Architect role is typically filled by a small team rather than one individual. Both functional and non-functional requirements are written down in a project specification. When it comes to building from scratch, changing, or upgrading your software solution – the earlier, the better.

Analyze and evaluate complex business requirements for IT systems and develop solution components, technologies, and tools.

They will work directly with EAs, TAs, business architects, etc. to achieve future state architecture. Like solutions architecture, it is one of the many pillars of enterprise architecture. Solutions architects will work with the whole application landscape, but not exclusively. The main difference between a solutions architect and a software architect is their main focus. The solution architect’s focus is on developing and documenting solutions for specific architectural issues intended to enable a particular business outcome. There is no set career path to becoming a solutions architect, however many candidates enter the position from a background in software development.

solution architect role

You can impress your investors better if you hold complete knowledge of your product and issues to resolve. Enterprise Architects focus on building complex enterprise ecosystems and solving high-level strategic issues. To ensure that the future solution is built as efficiently as possible, architects study the current system architecture and work with the commercial and technical staff. The tech architecture strategy directly depends on the technology stack architects choose.

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For late-career solutions architects with 20 years or more of experience, the average reported salary is $135,000 per year. The average salary for a solutions architect is $119,000 per year, according to data from PayScale. Reported salaries range from $75,000 to $160,000 per year, and entry-level workers average around $76,000 per year.

solution architect role

It may seem improbable that one person can handle so many responsibilities and tasks and play a crucial role in business success, but this is a fact. A solutions architect will find the perfect way to bring together your business needs and tech solutions to achieve your wildest business goals. If you’re ready to embark on the exciting journey of technological transformation, give us a call. They must understand business requirements and develop technical solutions while keeping the project timeline on track. Also, sound project management skills help the Solutions Architect to deliver the project on time, on budget, and with high-quality results. This means that an infrastructure Architect maintains the production side rather than software development in the corporate ecosystem.

What Salary Can you Expect as a Technical Solutions Architect?

They will also propose detailed building blocks that provide the best possible fix and serve as the bridge between enterprise architects and technical architects. We’d recommend choosing the second option as solution architects and enterprise architects mostly focus on different goals. To become a Principal solution architect role Solution Architect, you need to have a deep understanding of both business and technology. You also need to be able to see how different technologies can be used to solve business problems. And finally, you need to be able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical teams.

Still, he/she is focused on the highest quality result and that everything is completed on time. Therefore, they have to decide which decisions are beneficial and which are useless in a particular situation. Business owners often think about effectiveness, productivity, cutting costs, optimization, etc, while software engineers worry more about specific engineering challenges.

What is a Solution Architect: Responsibilities and Role on a Project

A solution architect is a person who comes up with the best tech solutions to clients’ business issues. A solution architect should have strong relational skills, good at identifying areas of improvement, and be able to negotiate between the IT team and management. They should also have good relationships with IT vendors and providers interacting with the company to ensure seamless service.

A solution architect’s expertise in identifying potential risks, selecting appropriate technologies, and designing scalable and maintainable solutions is crucial for the success of any IT project. They work closely with stakeholders to understand their requirements, constraints, and goals, and translate them into a technical solution https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ that meets their needs. Without the guidance and expertise of a solution architect, projects may fail to meet their objectives, may not be scalable, secure, or maintainable, and may not provide the expected return on investment. Software architecture and systems integrated into it are numerous details that work together.

Find Out Which IT Architecture Role is For You with Side-by-Side Comparison

A Solutions Architect plays a vital role because these professionals are responsible for creating and guiding the technical vision and design of the business’s digital transformation strategy. 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. A solutions architect will also bridge the gap between business and development teams. Traditionally, small and mid-size businesses consider neither the practice of solution architecture nor the respective role justified.