Senior Solutions Architect (Digital Platforms)

M-PESA Africa is looking for a Senior Solutions Architect to design, govern, and evolve the architecture of our digital platforms and digital payment channels across our markets. Operating at the intersection of the M-PESA Super App, mini-app ecosystem, QR/hosted payment pages/NFC channels, and partner integrations, you will set the architectural standards and strategic direction for how digital experiences and digital payment acceptance are built, scaled, and secured across M-PESA's platforms.

This is a senior individual contributor role with broad influence across engineering, product, compliance, and group-level stakeholders. You will be expected to lead with vision, mentor others, and translate complex digital platform challenges into scalable architectural solutions.

Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities

• Super App & Digital Platform Architecture
• Own the end-to-end architecture of the M-PESA Super App, including its mini-app platform, SDK, and marketplace ecosystem, across all six markets.

• Own the design, versioning, and lifecycle governance of M-PESA's SDKs (mini-app SDK, payment SDKs, and partner/developer-facing SDKs), ensuring consistency, backward compatibility, and developer experience across platforms.

• Define and govern the technical standards for mini-app onboarding, integration, security review, and lifecycle management.

• Architect the Super App's core and service layer to support scalable, secure, and performant digital experience delivery.

• Drive the transition to modern digital platform architectures: composable UI patterns, micro-frontends, headless/BFF (backend-for-frontend) design, and cloud-native deployment aligned to M-PESA's infrastructure strategy.

• Digital Platform Governance & Standards
• Establish and champion architecture governance frameworks, design review standards, and reference architectures for digital and mobile platforms across all six markets.

• Define UX-to-architecture standards, mini-app certification criteria, and release governance, ensuring traceability from partner/developer submission through to production release.

• Partner with Compliance, Legal, Risk, and Market teams to ensure digital platform architectures meet local regulatory obligations, data protection, and app store/marketplace requirements.

• Digital Payment Channels
• Own the architecture of M-PESA's digital payment channels, including QR payments, hosted payment pages, and NFC/Tap-to-Pay, ensuring consistent design standards across the Super App and other consumer touchpoints.

• Define channel-level security, tokenisation, and merchant integration standards for QR, hosted payment page, and NFC acceptance flows.

• Architect the technical roadmap for emerging and converging payment channels, ensuring interoperability with core wallet, switching, and settlement systems.

• Integration & Ecosystem Architecture
• Architect integration patterns between the Super App, core M-PESA systems, third-party mini-app developers, and partner platforms.

• Collaborate with API gateway and platform engineering teams to define event-driven, API-first exchange patterns aligned with the integration layer strategy.

• Design and govern the mini-app SDK, developer portal, and sandbox/testing environments to support a scalable third-party developer ecosystem.

• Own the SDK release process: versioning strategy, deprecation policy, and documentation standards; for internal engineering teams and external partner/merchant developers.

• Performance, Security & Resilience Enablement
• Design digital platform architectures that ensure app performance, offline resilience, and graceful degradation across varied network conditions and device profiles.

• Define security architecture for the Super App and mini-app ecosystem, including sandboxing, permission models, and secure inter-mini-app communication.

• Partner with the Risk and Security teams to embed fraud prevention and abuse detection into the mini-app onboarding and runtime experience.

• Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement
• Serve as the senior digital platforms architecture voice in Architecture Review Boards, design forums, and group-level governance bodies.

• Mentor and coach mid-level and junior architects across markets, building digital platform architecture capability within the team.

• Produce executive-ready architecture artefacts, including C4/Mermaid diagrams, ADRs, and digital platform strategy presentations for CTO/CIO audiences.

• Lead vendor evaluations for mini-app platforms, mobile development frameworks, and digital experience technologies.

Qualifications
Skills & Competencies

• Key Technical Competencies
• Strong understanding of Super App and mini-app architecture patterns, including hybrid/WebView runtimes, mini-app SDKs, and marketplace/platform governance models.

• Extensive experience with mobile and web application architecture, including native, hybrid, and cross-platform frameworks, and cloud platforms on AWS and/or Azure.

• Working knowledge of native iOS and Android platform constraints (app lifecycle, distribution/app store requirements, platform-specific security models), sufficient to guide architectural decisions across both ecosystems.

• Proven experience designing, versioning, and maintaining SDKs for external developers or partners, including API contract design, backward compatibility, and developer documentation.

• Proficiency in integration patterns including REST/GraphQL APIs, event streaming (Apache Kafka), and backend-for-frontend (BFF) design for consumer-facing platforms.

• Strong knowledge of digital platform architecture patterns including micro-frontends, composable UI, headless architecture, and offline-first/resilient mobile design.

• Experience with digital platform security architecture including app sandboxing, permission models, secure SDK design, mTLS, and OAuth2/OpenID Connect.

• Working knowledge of digital payment channel architecture, including QR code standards (EMVCo/static/dynamic), hosted payment page design, and NFC/HCE-based Tap-to-Pay acceptance.

• Knowledge of platform documentation and governance practices including ADRs, C4 modelling, developer portal design, and architecture review board processes.

• Key Behavioral Competencies
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex digital platform concepts.

• Analytical, structured thinker with strong problem-solving ability.

• Collaborative and influential across multi-market teams.

• Self-driven, accountable, and delivery focused.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related field.

• 8+ years of experience in solutions/platform architecture, mobile or digital engineering, or closely related technical disciplines, with at least 3 years in a senior or lead capacity.

• Proven track record designing enterprise-scale digital or Super App platforms in financial services, fintech, or telecommunications.

• Demonstrated ownership of a super app / mini-app platform architecture, including SDK design and third-party mini-app governance, at scale.

• Track record owning SDK strategy for external developers or partners, versioning, backward compatibility, and deprecation at enterprise scale.

• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and mobile/web application architecture.

• Proficiency in integration patterns: event streaming, API gateway design, and BFF/composable architecture.

• Strong understanding of app platform security and governance frameworks (OWASP MASVS, app store/marketplace policies, or equivalent).

• Experience with high-availability architecture and performance optimisation for high-traffic consumer-facing platforms.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in mobile money, payment systems, or digital financial services platforms in emerging markets.

• Familiarity with mini-app engine technologies (e.g., WeChat Mini Programs, Alipay GMP, or equivalent hybrid mini-app runtimes).

• Exposure to AI/ML-driven personalisation, in-app recommendation engines, or conversational/agentic interfaces.

• Experience operating across multi-country regulatory environments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Professional certifications: TOGAF, AWS/Azure Solutions Architect, or equivalent.

• Familiarity with developer ecosystem programmes, including partner onboarding, certification, and marketplace monetisation models.

360 Competencies

• Strategic Systems Thinking: Balances long-term architectural vision with pragmatic, incremental delivery across complex multi-market digital platform environments.

• Technical Leadership: Guides and elevates the work of engineering teams; sets quality bars and architectural standards without micromanaging.

• Communication & Influence: Presents complex digital platform concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, including CTO/CIO-level stakeholders.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Engages effectively across product, engineering, compliance, and market teams across multiple geographies.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Uses evidence, metrics, and architectural trade-off analysis to drive decisions and build conviction.

• Adaptability: Comfortable with ambiguity and evolving requirements in a fast-moving African fintech landscape.