Tech Recruiting: Understanding Different Types of Architects

In technology recruitment, Architect is a very crucial role. We recruiters are often asked to hire them, therefore, it would be important for us to understand the basic role of and underlying differences among different kinds of Architects.

To start with, let us define architecture first. As per TOGAF framework (a very prominent and popular framework within Architect community), architecture is a “structure of components, their interrelationships, and the principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution over time”. Thus, an architect is someone who designs different components of a coherent system and decides how these components will interact with each other in order to perform a given functionality. Let us, now, discuss this discipline in its various sub-parts.

Architect defines the architecture. Broadly the architects are divided into the technical and business architects. The business architect are focused on the economical change of the market and devise a set of business process for enterprise or systems adaption and to attain enterprise or system’s mission and vision. Business Architects further can be divided in two major categories – Domain Architects (those who are expert in a given business domain such as Banking, Manufacturing and Telecommunication etc.) and Process Architects (those who bring extensive experience in any specific business process such as Sales, Production, Customer Services etc.). We will not talk about these roles as this is beyond the objective and scope of present article.

The technical architects are broadly divided into System, Domain, Solution, Applied, and Enterprise Architects. Let us first examine Domain Architects (we will give a miss to Applied Architects as we rarely encounter them in an IT setup), later we will explain Application, System, Solution, and Enterprise Architects’ role in more detail.

Domain architects include IT Process, IT Infrastructure, Information, Integration, Security, and Data Architects. Infrastructure architecture is further divided in Network, Server, and Web Run Time architecture. Technical Domain Architect are those experts who specialize in a specific domain or area of technology. For instance, IT Infrastructure Architect specializes in Network, Server etc. whereas Data Architect brings expert experience in data related areas such as Data Processing Softwares, Databases and Data Storage Systems.

IT Process Architect is focused on defining, redesigning, and optimizing activities in an IT process or group of processes. These people work with Business Architects to look at how processes need to change to deliver business goals, with Solution Architects to ensure performance, maintainability, and scalability, and with Enterprise Architects to identify IT capability, limitations, and support changes. An Information Architect is an individual who works to make information attractive and accessible to an audience. This type of role can include elements of technical writing or written format creation, as well as graphic design and Web development. Generally, information architecture means developing a better presentation for given data through attention to a digital landscape.

Integration architecture is a software architecture that facilitates the integration of multiple IT components. These days, software integration is a usual process in most organizations because of the abundance modular software components and several small computer devices. Most organizations use variety of software tools for certain business procedures, and system integration is used to develop a cohesive technological view for the organization. Software integration demands broad skills and knowledge of multiple types of computer appliances, and integration architects are the experts who know how to compile several software products and meet complex business necessities. Understanding each complexity of database software, reporting software as well as graphical software tools and build an enterprise strategy that can be adopted throughout the enterprise are some the basic responsibilities of these designing professionals. Using tools like APIs, middleware and other resources, engineers cobble together workable architectures that successfully integrate their many parts. When applied to business, this is often called enterprise application integration, and is done to support key business goals.

A Security Architect is responsible for designing, building, testing and implementing security systems within an organisation’s IT network. A Security Architect is expected to have a thorough understanding of complex IT systems and stay up to date with the latest security standards, systems and authentication protocols, as well as best practice security products. A security architect’s first duty when beginning a new job is to gain a thorough understanding of the company’s systems. They must learn who has access and where the weak points of the systems are. They then must recommend ways to improve and update the security of the company’s computers. They must be able to recommend ways to improve a system’s security through both hardware and software. The next duty of a security architect is to set user policies and protocols, monitor them, and enforce them. They must also set up countermeasures that protect the system when an unauthorized user attempts to gain access to the system.

A Data Architect is an individual who is responsible for designing, creating, deploying and managing an organization’s data architecture. Data architects define how the data will be stored, consumed, integrated and managed by different data entities and IT systems, as well as any applications using or processing that data in some way. A data architect primarily ensures that an organization follows a formal data standard and that its

data assets are in line with the defined data architecture and/or with the goals of the business. Typically, a data architect maintains the metadata registry, oversees data management, optimizes databases and/or all data sources and more. Data architects are usually skilled at logical data modeling, physical data modeling, data policies development, data strategy, data warehousing, data querying languages and identifying and selecting a system that is best for addressing data storage, retrieval and management.

An IT Infrastructure Architects design and implement information systems that support an enterprise infrastructure. They provide the necessary technical infrastructure for the development of new infrastructure technologies and system requirements. These professionals must possess a demonstrable knowledge of system administration and software development. They must be able to work in coordination with the enterprise and attend to their computing needs and requirements. The Infrastructure Architect will work with the complex systems infrastructure and will make the necessary modifications. The professional will look into the technical requirements of the overall management. It is their responsibility to look into the implementation and transition of both operational service and center. The architect will take care of complete detail analysis of infrastructure design and security standards. The architect will document all the work using required standards, methods, and tools that include internal tools as well. They execute test plans and also verify proper operation of completed system implementations. The professional will collect performance data to monitor systems. They monitor both resource usage and failures rates of installed systems and provide feedback.

Software or Application architecture refers to the design of a software application by breaking software into its various software components and defining the component interfaces and methods of communication whereas Systems architecture describes more broadly how systems are designed, which may have components that include multiple software applications, network devices, hardware, and even other machinery. Like System architects, Solution Architect is responsible for designing a high level solution (including both software and hardware components) to solve a given business problem.

These three roles might sound confusing but they are not same. Let us understand them in more detail. A system is made of different components including software, hardware and internal and external environment in which it operates, therefore, a System Architect will be someone who has general knowledge of all components of a system – hardware, software and business environment – whereas a Software or Application Architect will be confined to software component of the system. System Architects job includes hardware-software tradeoffs as well as the selection of computing and communication equipment, all of which are completely beyond the realm of software architecture. System architectures hold the key to success or failure of a system every bit as much as the software architecture does for the software. Likewise, a solution is an answer to any given problem; therefore, whereas a System Architect focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of the system, a Solution Architect’s job is to bring a robust solution to address the business problem. Here, the emphasis is on solving the problem, the solution; he is not very concerned with whether it is done with an efficient system or less efficient system.

As per Gartner’s definition, “Enterprise architecture (EA) is a discipline for proactively and holistically leading enterprise responses to disruptive forces by identifying and analyzing the execution of change toward desired business vision and outcomes. EA delivers value by presenting business and IT leaders with signature-ready recommendations for adjusting policies and projects to achieve target business outcomes that capitalize on relevant business disruptions. EA is used to steer decision making toward the evolution of the future state architecture.” In large organisations, with their own systems supporting external processes, there is a role of Enterprise Architect. This person looks globally on systems within a company and helps to design business processes. Then, he selects the best software to support those processes or determines the development of dedicated solution. This role requires some technical knowledge, but the most important thing here is the ability to understand business needs of the organization. Therefore, it is a role that requires the ability to quickly grasp concepts, provide a broad (and not necessarily as deep as other roles require) understanding of many topics, the ability to communicate effectively with many audiences (including senior leadership), and is not limited to a technology perspective. Domain architects (application, solution, data, infrastructure, business) have a narrower and deeper focus than Enterprise Architects.