The Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited is incorporated in Kenya under the Company Act and is also licensed to do the business of banking under the Banking Act. The Bank was initially registered under the Co-operative Societies Act at the point of founding in 1965. This status was retained up to and until June 27th 2008 when the Banks Special General Meeti...

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Governance

• Lead the development and continuous refinement of the enterprise architecture strategy aligned to long-term business priorities.
• Establish and maintain architecture principles, standards, reference models, and guardrails.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and vendors; provide evidence-based recommendations for innovation and investment.

Architecture Oversight & Standards (Non-Hands-On)

• Chair/lead the Architecture Review Board (ARB) and ensure rigorous design reviews, risk assessments, and exception management.
• Provide governance and guidance to solution teams; ensure traceability from business capabilities to solutions, with clear non-functional requirements (security, performance, resilience, availability, compliance).
• Approve solution architectures for conformance with enterprise standards; ensure coherent, secure, scalable designs across on-prem, hybrid, and cloud.

Business & Application Architecture

• Map and rationalise business capabilities, value streams, processes, and the application portfolio to eliminate redundancy and improve total cost of ownership.
• Drive portfolio optimisation and ensure solutions remain aligned to strategic priorities and target operating models.

Data & Integration Architecture

• Define and govern enterprise data architecture and integration patterns (API-led, ESB, microservices, event-driven, SOA).
• Collaborate on data governance—quality, lineage, metadata, privacy, and security—across platforms and domains.
• Oversee integration platforms and enterprise data repositories to enable secure, reliable, and real-time information flow.

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Influence, challenge, and guide senior leadership through clear, outcome-oriented communication—translating complex technical concepts for non-technical executives.
• Mentor solution architects, engineers, and cross-functional teams; cultivate a culture of architectural excellence and knowledge sharing.

Key EA Deliverables

• Current-State and Target-State Architecture Models
• Architecture Roadmaps (multi-year evolution of the technology landscape)
• Reference Architectures for core domains and recurring patterns
• Standards & Design Patterns and associated guardrails
• Capability Mapping aligned to business strategy and value streams
• Cloud & Hybrid Architecture frameworks (landing zones, governance, security)
• Data & Information Architecture Governance (quality, lineage, stewardship)

Qualifications, Skills & Attributes

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years’ experience in Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, or Technology Strategy with a track record delivering large-scale enterprise solutions.
• Breadth across business, application, data, and technology architecture domains; familiarity with integration and enterprise middleware.

Preferred / Modern Enterprise Architecture Competencies

• Certification: TOGAF or equivalent EA certification (highly desirable).
• Cloud Architecture Certifications: Azure, AWS, GCP, or Huawei Cloud.
• Enterprise Integration: APIs, ESB, microservices, SOA, event-driven architectures.
• Data Architecture & Governance: data modelling, metadata, lineage, quality.
• Cybersecurity Architecture: security-by-design principles and controls.
• DevOps / CI/CD Alignment: modern delivery practices and automation.
• Business Architecture: familiarity with BIZBOK and strategy-to-execution alignment (an advantage).
• Executive Stakeholder Engagement: ability to communicate with, influence, and challenge senior leaders to drive sound architectural decisions.
• Governance Experience: leading ARB/architecture governance forums and driving standards adoption.

• Lead the development and continuous refinement of the enterprise architecture strategy aligned to long-term business priorities.
• Establish and maintain architecture principles, standards, reference models, and guardrails.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and vendors; provide evidence-based recommendations for innovation and investment.
• Chair/lead the Architecture Review Board (ARB) and ensure rigorous design reviews, risk assessments, and exception management.
• Provide governance and guidance to solution teams; ensure traceability from business capabilities to solutions, with clear non-functional requirements (security, performance, resilience, availability, compliance).
• Approve solution architectures for conformance with enterprise standards; ensure coherent, secure, scalable designs across on-prem, hybrid, and cloud.
• Map and rationalise business capabilities, value streams, processes, and the application portfolio to eliminate redundancy and improve total cost of ownership.
• Drive portfolio optimisation and ensure solutions remain aligned to strategic priorities and target operating models.
• Define and govern enterprise data architecture and integration patterns (API-led, ESB, microservices, event-driven, SOA).
• Collaborate on data governance—quality, lineage, metadata, privacy, and security—across platforms and domains.
• Oversee integration platforms and enterprise data repositories to enable secure, reliable, and real-time information flow.
• Influence, challenge, and guide senior leadership through clear, outcome-oriented communication—translating complex technical concepts for non-technical executives.
• Mentor solution architects, engineers, and cross-functional teams; cultivate a culture of architectural excellence and knowledge sharing.

• TOGAF or equivalent EA certification
• Cloud Architecture Certifications: Azure, AWS, GCP, or Huawei Cloud
• Enterprise Integration: APIs, ESB, microservices, SOA, event-driven architectures
• Data Architecture & Governance: data modelling, metadata, lineage, quality
• Cybersecurity Architecture: security-by-design principles and controls
• DevOps / CI/CD Alignment: modern delivery practices and automation
• Business Architecture: familiarity with BIZBOK and strategy-to-execution alignment
• Executive Stakeholder Engagement: ability to communicate with, influence, and challenge senior leaders to drive sound architectural decisions
• Governance Experience: leading ARB/architecture governance forums and driving standards adoption

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years’ experience in Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, or Technology Strategy with a track record delivering large-scale enterprise solutions.
• Breadth across business, application, data, and technology architecture domains; familiarity with integration and enterprise middleware.