World Vision is an international Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation working in almost 100 countries world-wide to create lasting change in the lives of children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice.
Role Overview
The Architecture Practice Lead is responsible for leading, developing, and supporting architects across the practice, including Solution, Lead, and Enterprise Architects. The role focuses on building a cohesive, high-performing practice with clear roles and ways of working, driving capability development, and managing architecture capacity to balance demand across the portfolio. Unlike a traditional Principal Architect, this role focuses on the enablement, professional development, and operational health of the architecture team rather than being the primary technical decision-maker.
Key Responsibilities
Practice Leadership & Capability Development
- Lead, develop, and support architects across the practice (Solution, Lead, and Enterprise Architects).
- Build a cohesive, high-performing architecture practice with clear roles, expectations, and ways of working.
- Drive capability development, mentoring, and skills uplift aligned to organizational needs.
- Plan and manage architecture practice capacity to balance demand, priorities, and available resources across the portfolio.
- Foster a culture of professionalism, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Operational Enablement & Technical Debt
- Enable consistent identification, documentation, and visibility of architectural risks and technical debt.
- Support the Principal Architect in maintaining visibility of the technical debt baseline and agreed remediation actions.
- Embed architecture engagement into governance, service lifecycle, and planning processes.
- Coordinate inputs and follow-through across architects, delivery teams, and governance forums.
Integration, Governance & Reporting
- Integrate the architecture practice into portfolio, demand, and governance forums.
- Ensure architecture engagement is predictable, timely, and clearly understood across the organization.
- Enable effective use and adoption of architecture tools, repositories, and artefacts.
- Ensure architecture information remains accessible, accurate, and relevant for stakeholders.
- Provide visibility of architecture practice health, capacity, and effectiveness to senior stakeholders.
Professional Behaviors & Capabilities
- Enabling Leadership: Enables architects to perform at their best; removes barriers for consistent outcomes.
- Communication: Ensures transparency in processes, responsibilities, and performance.
- Coordination: Aligns architecture activities with delivery, governance, and planning rhythms.
- Respect for Technical Authority: Protects the technical authority of senior architects and does not override technical judgment.
- Professional Integrity: Acts with fairness and accountability.
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- Architecture Practice: Strong understanding of enterprise architecture practices (solution, domain, and enterprise levels) and embedding architecture into governance lifecycles.
- Stakeholder Leadership: Experience engaging senior business and technology leaders and translating architectural work into business value.
- People Leadership: Experience coaching, developing, and performance-managing senior technical professionals.
- Operational Experience: Proven ability to coordinate work across multiple teams and improve the operational maturity of technical practices.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should apply via the World Vision Workday portal. Use the following link to access the application page:
Apply for Architecture Practice Lead - World Vision Kenya
