Senior Data/AI Technical Architect

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa, Cape Town, Draper on Main, Durban, South Africa, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Remote Type: Hybrid Working

Time Type: Full time

Job Description

Make an impact with NTT DATA
Join a company that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible. We are renowned for our technical excellence and leading innovations, and for making a difference to our clients and society. Our workplace embraces diversity and inclusion – it’s a place where you can grow, belong and thrive.

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior AI and Data Cloud Architect to partner with enterprise sales, consulting, and delivery teams in designing, positioning, and governing AI, Data, and Cloud solutions for clients across South Africa and the Middle East & Africa. This role serves as the senior technical leader for AI and Data architecture engagements, providing strategic guidance, pre-sales leadership, solution architecture, and technical governance across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

The successful candidate will act as a trusted advisor to clients and internal stakeholders, translating business objectives into enterprise-grade AI, analytics, data platform, and cloud-native architectures. The role combines deep technical expertise with strong commercial acumen to support solution development, business growth, cloud transformation programs, AI adoption initiatives, and large-scale data modernization engagements.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead pre-sales solutioning activities for AI, Data, Analytics, and Cloud opportunities, including client workshops, discovery sessions, solution shaping, proposals, RFP/RFI responses, and executive presentations
• Develop end-to-end AI and Data platform architectures leveraging Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud services
• Design scalable, secure, resilient, and cost-optimized cloud-native solutions supporting AI, Generative AI, Machine Learning, Advanced Analytics, Data Engineering, and Data Governance use cases.
• Define target-state architectures covering data platforms, AI platforms, cloud infrastructure, networking, security, identity, observability, automation, governance, and operational excellence.
• Architect modern data platforms including data lakes, lakehouses, data warehouses, streaming platforms, and real-time analytics solutions.
• Design and govern enterprise AI solutions including Machine Learning Operations (MLOps), Generative AI architectures, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, AI governance, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Provide architectural leadership for cloud migration, data modernization, application modernization, containerization, and platform transformation initiatives.
• Promote Infrastructure as Code (IaC), platform engineering, DevOps, DataOps, and MLOps best practices using Terraform and cloud-native automation capabilities.
• Collaborate with engineering, security, data, AI, and application teams to implement cloud-native architectures and automation strategies.
• Drive cloud security, compliance, governance, FinOps, and responsible AI best practices across client engagements.
• Perform architecture reviews and provide technical oversight throughout solution delivery.
• Act as a trusted advisor to executive, business, and technical stakeholders, translating complex technical concepts into business value.
• Mentor architects, consultants, and engineers while contributing to AI, Data, and Cloud capability development and thought leadership.
• Stay current with emerging AI technologies, hyperscaler innovations, cloud-native platforms, and industry trends.

Required Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Data Science, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in enterprise architecture, cloud architecture, data platforms, analytics, or digital transformation.
• Minimum 5 years of experience designing cloud-native solutions on Azure, AWS, and/or Google Cloud.
• Proven experience supporting pre-sales, solution consulting, business development, and complex sales pursuits.
• Deep expertise in enterprise data architectures, analytics platforms, AI/ML solutions, and cloud-native technologies.

Strong knowledge of cloud services including:

• Azure: Azure AI Services, Azure OpenAI, Fabric, Synapse, Databricks, Data Factory, AKS, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB.
• AWS: SageMaker, Bedrock, Redshift, Glue, EMR, EKS, Lambda, DynamoDB.
• Google Cloud: Vertex AI, BigQuery, Dataflow, Dataproc, GKE, Cloud Run, Cloud Storage.
• Strong experience with Kubernetes, containers, microservices, serverless platforms, and cloud-native application patterns.
• Hands-on expertise with Infrastructure as Code using Terraform and cloud automation frameworks.
• Experience implementing data governance, data quality, security, privacy, and compliance frameworks.
• Strong understanding of DevOps, DataOps, MLOps, CI/CD pipelines, Git, and platform engineering practices.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, solution presentation, and architecture documentation skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure AI Engineer Associate, AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect, or equivalent certifications.
• Experience with Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, and AI governance frameworks.
• Experience with Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, Confluent Kafka, or other modern data platform technologies.
• Experience with observability and monitoring platforms such as Datadog, Grafana, Prometheus, OpenSearch, Splunk, or Dynatrace.
• Experience with cloud financial management (FinOps), cost optimization, and cloud governance frameworks.
• Background in software engineering or development using Python, Java, .NET, JavaScript, or related technologies.
• Experience leading large-scale enterprise transformation, AI adoption, and data modernization programs.
• Experience supporting executive-level client engagements, solution workshops, and strategic technology advisory services.

Workplace type:

About NTT DATA
NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise-scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 50 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start-up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Equal Opportunity Employer
NTT DATA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer with a global culture that embraces diversity. We are committed to providing an environment free of unfair discrimination and harassment. We do not discriminate based on age, race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, pregnancy, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected category. Join our growing global team and accelerate your career with us. Apply today.

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