Senior Manager - Data Architect.Group Strategy and Transformation

Global Influences:

•    Increase demand for secure, shareable, and AI-ready data architecture as organisations transition toward platform-based and insight-driven business models. Rapid adoption of modular and federated data architectures, enabling decentralised ownership while supporting enterprise-wide interoperability and governance
Industry Drivers:
•    Modern Data architectures must support monetisation, compliance and operational efficiency.
•    There is a growing expectation for data platforms to be cloud-native, scalable, and aligned to ethical AI standards.
•    Effective platforms must also be able to ingest and integrate external third-party data (e.g. demographics, mobility, environmental data) to enhance value and insight generation.

Organisational Mandate: 

MTN DataCo is responsible for building a harmonised, scalable data infrastructure that enables OpCos to monetise insights while remaining compliant with Group-wide security, cloud, and AI governance frameworks.  The Senior Manager: Data Architect plays a critical role in this mandate by:
•    Designing architectural components that support cross-OpCo interoperability, third-party data sourcing, and external system integration, 
•    Developing and maintaining core architectural artefacts, blueprints, and design patterns, 
•    Advising on platform design to ensure alignment with Group policies and external ecosystem readiness
•    And ensuring compliance with standards for data privacy, ethical AI, and secure data exchange.
This role is essential to enabling MTN’s evolution into an insight-led, data-monetising, and AI-native enterprise.
Organization Values: At MTN we believe that understanding our people’s needs and aspirations is key to creating experiences that delight you at work, every day. We are committed to fostering an environment where every member of our Y’ello Family is heard, understood, and empowered to live an inspired life. Our values keep us grounded and moving in the right direction. Most importantly, they keep us honest. It is not something we claim to be. It is in our DNA.
As an organisation, we consider it our mission to create an exciting and rewarding place to work, where our people can be themselves, thrive in positivity and ignite their full potential. A workplace that boosts creativity and innovation, improves productivity, and ultimately drives meaningful results. A workplace that is built on relationships and achieving a purpose that is bigger than us. This is what we want you to experience with us!
Our commitments go beyond an organisational promise. It is in our leadership and managerial ethos to meaningfully partner with our employees, customers, and stakeholders with a vision to realise our shared goals. 
Our values dubbed, LIVE Y’ello, are the cornerstone of our culture.
Lead with Care
Can-do with Integrity
Collaborate with Agility
Serve with Respect
Act with Inclusion

Architecture Artefact Development

•    Lead the design and evolution of enterprise-grade data architecture artefacts, including logical models, canonical data views, and solution blueprints that enable scalable and governed data ecosystems
•    Support development of technical diagrams, data flow documents, and component blueprints
•    Design and maintain technical architecture artefacts (e.g. data flows, component maps, logical/physical models) that support scalable, modular deployment of DataCo’s internal and external-facing solutions.
•    Ensure artefacts are packaged and reusable across consulting engagements, enabling delivery of mature DDO-aligned data platforms to customers.

•    Integration Pattern Enablement

•    Define and standardise integration patterns (e.g., API-led, event-driven, or batch orchestration) to enable interoperable data flows across cloud, on-premise, and partner systems
•    Document standard data integration patterns for OpCo use (batch, real-time, hybrid)
•    Define standardised integration patterns (batch, streaming, hybrid) to support cross-OpCo data interoperability, as well as integration with third-party data sources and client systems.
•    Ensure patterns are designed for consulting deployment readiness, enabling rapid PoC and production rollout in customer environments

2.    Governance and Security Mapping

•    Embed tagging, lineage, and access control documentation into artefacts
•    Embed data tagging, lineage tracking, access controls, and encryption requirements into architectural blueprints to ensure that client-facing solutions meet Group and regulatory standards.
•    Support the consulting team in delivering trusted, compliant architectures that align with MTN’s Responsible AI and data privacy frameworks

3.    PoV Data Architecture Support

•    Participate in early technical scoping sessions for PoVs to validate architecture fit
•    Participate in early-stage Proof-of-Value (PoV) discussions with clients and internal teams to validate architecture fit, scalability, and cloud/on-prem readiness.
•    Ensure PoVs are grounded in deployable design patterns that can evolve into production-grade solutions offered through the DDO consulting portfolio.

4.    Standards Compliance and Adoption Tracking

•    Define enterprise-wide data architecture standards covering modelling conventions, data contracts, integration protocols, and toolsets
•    Track adoption of Group-endorsed tooling and reference patterns across OpCos
•    Monitor and report on adoption of DataCo architecture standards, toolkits, and integration frameworks across Group and client implementations.
•    Provide feedback to refine architecture artefacts and DDO consulting templates based on real-world deployment experience.
5.    Technical Onboarding and Enablement

•    Develop onboarding guides and technical handover packs for engineers and analysts
•    Create onboarding guides, solution blueprints, and architecture playbooks to enable delivery teams, client engineering teams, and consulting partners.
•    Support scalable rollout of DDO-aligned data environments through clear documentation and handover best practices.
•    Act as a trusted advisor to OpCo architects and engineers, supporting them through early-stage implementations and architecture deep dives
•    Establish and nurture communities of practice to build cross-market architecture capability and alignment
•    Drive a culture of architecture-led delivery by embedding architecture literacy across the product and engineering ecosystem
 

Education:

•    Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or related technical field (mandatory)
•    Additional certifications in cloud architecture (e.g. Azure, GCP), data engineering, TOGAF, or enterprise architecture frameworks are highly advantageous.

Experience:

•    6+ years in data architecture, data engineering, or integration design roles with focus of building scalable, secure, and interoperable environments.
•    Proven experience designing and implementing architectures within cloud-native data ecosystems (e.g. Azure Data Lake, GCP BigQuery, hybrid platforms).
•    Familiarity with cloud data environments, clean rooms, and open data standards. (e.g. Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, OpenMetadata)
•    Experience supporting client-facing solution delivery or consulting engagements, particularly involving geospatial data, telco signals, or behavioral analytics.
•    Comfortable working across multinational environments and federated organisational models, with demonstrated ability to align technical designs to compliance, security, and data governance requirements.

Competencies:

•    Architecture Documentation – Produces clear, structured technical artefacts, including diagrams, flowcharts, and design blueprints, that support solution deployment and consulting reuse across MTN and client environments.
•    Technical Enablement – Supports adoption and onboarding for architecture components and creates reusable guides and onboarding materials that align with DataCo’s DDO and product implementation frameworks.
•    Compliance Awareness – Ensures architectural solutions consider privacy and access controls, including lineage and regulatory compliance while ensuring alignment with MTN’s Responsible AI and security standards.
•    Integration Knowledge – Understands APIs, ETL patterns, and system interoperability needs, and can address integration challenges across cloud, on-prem, and third-party systems, enabling seamless data flows across the DataCo ecosystems
•    Support Coordination – Collaborates effectively across product, delivery, security, cloud engineering, and analytics teams to ensure end-to-end architectural consistency and operational scalability
Key Deliverables:

Internal:

•     Maintain and update a suite of architecture templates, data flow diagrams, and integration reference models aligned to DataCo’s blueprint and scalable across OpCos.
•    PoV support with technical documentation and compliance checklists including the design validation notes to support POC’s and POV’s initiatives and internal solution reviews
•    Weekly adoption updates and tracking reports as per DataCo/Group-endorsed tools, standards, and reference architecture components across the group.

External:

•    Develop and distribute technical enablement packs and implementation guides to support DataCo rollout of architecture components, data pipelines, and governance tooling.
•    Provide clear, shareable reference architecture documents and integration standards to support third-party partners, cloud providers, and consulting collaborators involved in DataCo deployments.