What Does a Solutions Architect Do? Roles and Responsibilities

Or someone who would overlook the architecture from start to finish. Both functional and non-functional requirements are written down in a project specification. In the case of enterprise software projects, these overruns may lead to huge https://globalcloudteam.com/ financial losses. While pre-planning occurs at the Solution Train level, the Solution Architect participates in the PI planning events with the constituent ARTs, as needed. The architect has a vital role in implementing these practices.

solutions architect vs product manager

Infrastructure SA gathers the business requirements and develops an infrastructure strategy that aligns with the business goals. Project managers watch over software development process — monitor tasks, ensure the team meets deadlines, and report to clients. Evolve architecture to support new business priorities – The architectural work does not stop after the initial version of the solution has been developed and released. New business capabilities will be planned, requiring architectural enablement to continue to be built into the solution progressively.

Should You Be a Product Manager or a Software Engineer?

On the lower end, the starting salary for all three types hovers around $82,000 a year. However, an average income of around $111,000 seems to be the norm. It is far better to come up with new ideas and concepts outside of your company that might help you to be able to create additional revenue streams so that you may eventually quit your job and work for yourself and your clients. Corporate world will always be full of backstabbers and no matter what you do, it seems like you can’t get ahead, because the truth is, you don’t have that personality that gets you ahead. So many people use your skills and talents for themselves to get themselves ahead.

  • In order to meet the requirements of both the organization and user, technical architects work closely with solution architects who create a link between the strategic concept and its technical execution.
  • Remember that you as the product manager are responsible for every part of your product, including the technical aspects.
  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
  • Agile product owners and product managers should work with a solution architect or product architect.
  • Strong knowledge of UNIX, Application architecture, web infrastructure, networks, databases and security concepts.
  • It is a combination of talents that makes a successful enterprise architect.
  • As the connecting piece between enterprise and technical architecture, they constantly move between different business layers.

Looking for a strong entrepreneurial attitude who can ideate, collaborate & innovate with startups, traditional vendors as well as internal Engineering teams. This individual will be a self-starter who can lead market research, identify next gen use cases, develop solutions & requirements around security products for Enterprise, SMB & public sector. The candidate should be able to work in an agile environment across stakeholder organizations (includingProductManagement, Operations, back office systems, Customers, Sales and partner’s ). The role requires cross-functional communication to executive management and decision making in order to drive Security services objectives. While the enterprise architect focuses on the enterprise-level design of the IT landscape, solution architects are in charge of finding and introducing solutions to specific business problems. They also manage all activities that lead to the successful implementation of a new application.

Side Jobs

Get trained by a leading Enterprise Architecture Consulting organization. Instruction delivered by practicing enterprise architects who are industry thought leaders. Agile product owners and product managers should work with a solution architect or product architect. The solution is really the product, so these two professionals will need to collaborate often.

solutions architect vs product manager

The total cash compensation may get paid differently by industry, location, and other factors. Six or more years of relevant work experience such asSoftware engineering or architecture. Technical architects manage all activities leading to the successful implementation of a new application. They are specialists in their field and must be able to first visualize new technical concepts and then implement them into an existing system. It’s not technically considered criminal or corrupt, as these types of things happen in this environment, and many do get away with it, and it’s not seen as anything at all. There are just some people, who happen to be in a type of management position, who steal an idea, and are able run with it.

Senior Associate vs. Senior Analyst: What Are the Differences?

Additionally, the Solution Architect may be involved with Shared Services responsible for other concerns, such as deployment, system reliability engineering, user experience design, data management, compliance, etc. Evolve solution architecture – With Agile, large solutions are not designed one time, top-down. Instead, the high-level architectural evolves in the context, reality, and constraints of what the trains can deliver. This involves close interactions between the Solution Architect, the System Architects, and the Suppliers within the Solution Train.

solutions architect vs product manager

A solution architect assesses a business’s overall business requirements and identifying how IT can meet those requirements using software, hardware, or infrastructure. The importance of aligning information technology strategy with overall business goals has grown, and a solution architect can help determine, developing, and improving technical solutions that support business objectives. A solution architect also acts as a link between IT and business operations, ensuring that everyone is on the same page while developing and executing technical solutions for business issues. In order to successfully design and implement viable solutions, the process causes constant input, modifications, and problem-solving.

Product Manager to Customer: “What Do You Really Want?”

Skill in using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems. Position does not have direct reports but is expected to assist in guiding and mentoring less experienced staff. For example, here’s the tech stack we used while working on Blockbuster, a video streaming platform. The Solution Architect’s responsibilities can be categorized into the following responsibility areas, as shown in Figure 2.

Before embarking on product deployment, the role of a solution architect is to analyze your company’s IT landscape to map business expectations with current IT capabilities. This will allow them to determine whether newly developed software will fit the existing enterprise environment. To carry out this task, a technology solution architect has to understand how all the processes, operating systems, and application architectures pull together.

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It also requires a breadth of knowledge in the technical and business inner workings of the company. You could see if the product/architect folks would let you tag along to some of these discussions as career development and so you can get a deeper understanding of what you’re working on. It sounds like you dislike working in larger organizations where you feel more like a cog and would rather work in a much smaller organization solution architect roles and responsibilities where you have multiple roles. You’ll need to think about if those smaller companies/startups can match your financial and lifestyle needs (I assume you spend time with your kids and aren’t going to “no-life” a job). I came from an organization numbering in thousands of people to one where the entire size of the company is like 500 and about 100 engineers, totally fits what I want, much less BigCompany bullshit.

solutions architect vs product manager