Senior Systems Architect

Senior (5+ years of experience)

We are hiring for Senior Systems Architect!

Inviting interested candidates to apply by reading the job description below and sending applications to https://career.qtsoftwareltd.comstarting October 15th, 2026.

JOB ADVERTISEMENT

Duty Station: Kigali – Rwanda

Deadline for applicants: 15th November 2026

Contract type: Fixed Term Renewable 

Submit CV, Cover letter, National ID and copy of Academic Degree to:https://career.qtsoftwareltd.com

About the Company

QT Global Software Ltd is a private company, engaged in web and mobile application development, information security consultancy, and network security services, providing secure solutions to esteemed clients. We collaborate with government agencies, companies, and organizations to create outstanding user experiences, secure solutions, and support and maintenance across the product/solution lifecycle.

At QT Global Software Ltd, we continuously transform our operations to ensure that we provide reliable and cost-effective client-oriented IT services. We achieve this by assembling the best resources in software development, IT infrastructure, and security, as well as the best project leads. We are proud of our past accomplishments and excited about our future prospects.

Our management philosophy and objectives revolve around two key principles:

• Firstly, we strive to become the preferred employer for the brightest and most talented minds in the region.
• Secondly, we prioritize the development, recognition, and rewarding of performance that we deem crucial to our long-term success and sustainability.

Company Values

All staff at QT Global Software Ltd are connected to a shared set of organizational values:

• Quality Customer Service
• Professional Business Conduct
• Client-Oriented and Secure Solutions

1.Position purpose

Reporting directly to the Enterprise architecture Lead as part of the central architecture function, the Senior Systems Architect coordinates the design and governance of end-to-end enterprise and project systems, ensuring that applications, integration services, data platforms, infrastructure, networks, identity and cybersecurity controls operate as a coherent, secure, reliable, interoperable and sustainable whole. The role translates business and non-functional requirements into implementable architectures and provides cross-project technical assurance from solution selection through deployment and evolution.

2. Scope and interfaces

The position serves architecture function across multiple technology projects and platforms, including new development, legacy modernization and third-party integrations. Collaborate with senior software developers and technical leads (application design), infrastructure and DevOps teams (hosting and operations), cybersecurity (controls and risk), data teams (information architecture), project managers and business analysts (scope and requirements), QA (quality attributes), vendors and relevant client technical representatives. 

3. Key responsibilities / Terms of Reference

A. Enterprise and end-to-end systems architecture

• Own solution-context and end-to-end system blueprints covering applications, interfaces, integration/middleware, data, compute, storage, networks, identity, security and operations.
• Define current-state, target-state and transition architectures; maintain architecture principles, reference patterns, technology standards and multi-project roadmaps.
• Lead technical discovery and assess functional and non-functional requirements, constraints, dependencies, capacity assumptions and technology options with stakeholders.
• Evaluate build-versus-buy, cloud versus on-premises/hybrid deployment, monolith versus service decomposition, and interoperability choices based on demonstrable requirements and total cost of ownership.

B. Integration, interoperability and data architecture

• Design integration approaches using APIs, messaging/event streaming, service gateways, integration platforms, batch pipelines and appropriate interface contracts.
• Specify authentication, authorization, API lifecycle, versioning, throttling, retries, idempotency, error handling, auditability and service-level expectations across systems.
• Partner with data specialists on data flows, data ownership, master/reference data, databases, data security, retention, quality, backup and recovery.
• Assess interoperability standards and third-party systems, avoiding unnecessary duplication of platforms and vendor lock-in where practicable.

C. Infrastructure, reliability and performance architecture

• Architect deployment topologies for data centers, private/public cloud and hybrid environments, including compute, container platforms, storage, networking, DNS, load balancing and connectivity.
• Define measurable capacity, latency, throughput, availability, resilience, scalability, recoverability and observability requirements; lead high-level sizing and validate through testing.
• Design high availability, failover, disaster recovery and backup strategies with agreed RTO/RPO targets and documented operational responsibilities.
• Work with infrastructure/DevOps teams on IaC, release architecture, configuration management, monitoring, logging, tracing and production readiness; do not assume ownership of routine operations.

D. Security, privacy and compliance by design

• Incorporate identity federation, IAM/RBAC, least privilege, network segmentation, encryption and secrets management into architecture decisions.
• Coordinate threat modeling, security architecture review, privacy/data classification and risk treatments with cybersecurity stakeholders.
• Map relevant legal, contractual and sector-specific security obligations to system controls; apply frameworks such as ISO 27001 and others where appropriate, without assuming every listed regulation applies.

E. Architecture governance and delivery assurance

• Chair or contribute to architecture review forums; maintain Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), exceptions, design-review findings and remediation actions.
• Review HLDs, integration specifications, deployment models, SDDs and major technology changes for interoperability, feasibility, security and operational readiness.
• Support solution estimations, technical proposals, vendor evaluations, procurement specifications, proofs of concept and acceptance of third-party solutions.
• Escalate architecture risks, incompatible product choices, technology duplication, unsupported assumptions and material deviations early; present decision options to management.

F. Leadership and knowledge transfer

• Mentor software developers, engineers, technical leads and infrastructure specialists on system thinking, trade-offs and architecture documentation.
• Facilitate cross-functional design workshops, knowledge transfer and architecture handovers to delivery and operations teams.
• Advise leadership on emerging technologies such as AI/ML platforms, analytics, event-driven systems and cloud-native design where justified by business value.

4. Expected deliverables

• Architecture principles, standards and reusable reference architectures.
• As-is/to-be architecture diagrams and phased system modernization roadmaps.
• Project high-level design packages: context/container/deployment views, interfaces and trust boundaries.
• Architecture Decision Records, review checklists, technical risk/dependency registers and approved exceptions.
• Integration architecture, interface inventory and non-functional requirements with measurable acceptance criteria.
• Capacity and resilience plans (including HA/DR, backup, RTO/RPO) and production-readiness recommendations.
• Technology/vendor evaluation reports, proof-of-concept findings and technical inputs to procurement/proposals.
• Architecture reviews, design assurance reports and knowledge-transfer materials.

5. Required qualifications and experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems or related discipline; a relevant Master’s degree is an advantage.
• At least 10 years of progressive professional experience in software, systems or infrastructure engineering, including at least 3 years leading end-to-end systems/solution architecture for complex enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing, delivering or modernizing multi-system solutions involving applications, APIs, integration, data, infrastructure and cybersecurity controls.
• Proven capability to explain architecture decisions, evaluate alternatives, document trade-offs and guide cross-functional engineering teams.
• Practical experience in Linux/server platforms, networking fundamentals, cloud or on-premises infrastructure, containers/orchestration, distributed services and databases.
• Solid understanding of IAM, security-by-design, availability, recovery, monitoring, performance testing and reliability engineering.
• Experience preparing clear architecture diagrams (e.g. deployment/network/data-flow diagrams) and structured architecture documentation.

6. Technical competencies

• Architecture frameworks and modeling.
• Integration: REST APIs, API gateways, asynchronous messaging, Kafka/RabbitMQ or equivalents, event-driven and service-oriented patterns.
• Platforms: Docker, Kubernetes or equivalent orchestration; virtual machines, load balancers, storage and network design.
• Data: relational and NoSQL systems (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, MongoDB), caching, replication, backup and data integration.
• Automation/operations: CI/CD, IaC (e.g., Terraform, Ansible), logging, metrics, tracing, incident and change management concepts.
• Security: IAM/SSO, OAuth 2.0/OIDC, TLS, mTLS, HSMs, Keys management systems (KMS), PKI, digital certificates, zero trust architecture, encryption algorithms/standards, secrets management, network zoning, threat modeling and risk assessment.

7. Desirable qualifications

• Experience with public-sector or regulated enterprise information systems and complex stakeholder/vendor environments.
• Certification such as cloud solutions architecture, Kubernetes, ITIL or information security (beneficial but not a substitute for demonstrated experience).
• Experience with high-scale distributed systems, platform migrations and multi-site disaster recovery.
• Strong expertise in designing highly secure systems, including cryptographic algorithms and encryption standards (AES, RSA, ECC), data encryption at rest and in transit, secure communication protocols (TLS/ mTLS), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), digital certificates, key management systems (KMS/HSM), Identity and Access Management (IAM), OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, Zero Trust Architecture, secrets management.

8. Core behavioral competencies

Systems thinking; strategic judgment; practical problem solving; strong technical writing and communication; constructive challenge; collaboration; stakeholder facilitation; mentoring; ownership of decisions and risk transparency.

N.B: Only shortlisted will be contacted.