SaaS has changed what an Application Architect is though the fundamentals of what good looks like have not changed.
Application Architecture, like every architecture domain, has evolved dramatically in that time. Historically, it was the first architecture role after technical team leader in enterprise technologies such as Java and .NET. SaaS changed that, and the vast majority of Application Architects are now focused on specific applications.
You will sometimes see requests for an Enterprise Salesforce Architect or an Enterprise SAP Architect. They are never true Enterprise Architects. Their focus is a single application, in which they are experts, but they cannot touch aspects such as the infrastructure or the core data models, because the vendor manages those. The role has far more in common with Solution Architecture than Enterprise Architecture, which only adds to the confusion felt by people trying to recruit in this space.
Also seen as: Domain Architect, Applications Portfolio Architect
An Application Architect owns the design of the applications within a business domain, such as Finance, Customer, HR or Supply Chain. They decide which applications the domain needs, how they fit together, and when something should be bought, built, replaced or retired.
Look for application landscapes and roadmaps for a domain, and application rationalisation and decommissioning. You should see buy versus build decisions and a clear understanding of the business processes the applications support. The experience usually sits in one or two domains for a long time, which is a strength, not a weakness.
A domain focus is easy to mistake for a narrow one. A good Application Architect who has spent ten years in Finance knows the processes, the data and the regulation, and that depth is exactly what the domain needs. The mistake is to hire them to cover everything, when their value is in the one area they know inside out.
Also seen as: SaaS Architect, ERP Architect, CRM Architect, Enterprise Applications Architect
The Business Applications Architect designs estates built mainly from SaaS: ERP, CRM, HR and finance platforms that the organisation configures rather than builds. The job is less about writing software and more about deciding which platform does what, where the data lives, and how to stop the estate turning into a collection of expensive subscriptions that do not talk to each other.
Look for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, Oracle Cloud or SAP S/4HANA, ideally more than one. You should see platform selection, configuration versus customisation decisions, licensing and vendor management, and integration between the platforms.
The difference between this role and the Product Specialist is breadth. If the CV shows several platforms and decisions between them, you have a Business Applications Architect. If it shows one platform throughout, you have a specialist in that platform.
Also seen as: SAP Architect, Salesforce Architect, Dynamics Architect, ServiceNow Architect, Microsoft 365 Architect
The Product Specialist Architect knows one product suite in real depth. They design everything built on it, understand its limits better than the vendor’s sales team, and know which customisations will cause pain at the next upgrade.
Expect one very dominant skill set that runs through the whole CV, usually with the vendor’s own certifications. For SAP, that means S/4HANA and the modules; for Salesforce, the Certified Technical Architect is the one that matters.
They will often call themselves Solution Architects, and you need to see past the job title to what they really are. Anyone with Solution Architect as their title whose CV is SAP from start to finish is an SAP Architect, and we reclassify them as such. This matters most when you want a general Solution Architect, because their skill set is too narrow for that role, however senior they are.
Also seen as: Technology Architect, .NET Architect, Software Architect
The Technical Architect designs the software itself, at the logical and physical level, usually in one technology stack. They are often still happy to write code, and they get involved in quite low level design work. You find them mainly in technology companies, software vendors, banks, and organisations whose architecture practice is still maturing.
Look for one core stack in depth, such as Java and Spring or .NET and C#. You should also see software design patterns, microservices, non-functional requirements, and hands on development alongside the design work.
Technical Architects are very specific to their core stack, and the job title should say so. Someone with 15 years of Java should be a Java Technical Architect. Also watch out for Infrastructure Architects who carry Technical Architect as their job title. We always reclassify them.
Also seen as: Platform Engineering Architect, Developer Platform Architect
The Platform Architect designs the internal platform that development teams build and run their software on: the environments, pipelines, tooling and standards that let teams ship without reinventing everything each time. This is where many of the old Technical Architects have gone, in particular the LAMP and .NET development leads rather than infrastructure specialists. It makes sense, because they understand what developers need.
Look for internal developer platforms such as Backstage, Kubernetes, CI/CD with GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps, and DevOps and developer experience practices. You should also see golden paths and the standards that go with them. Most will have a clear development background behind it.
Because the tooling overlaps, Platform Architects are easily confused with Cloud Infrastructure Architects and DevOps Engineers. The Platform Architect builds for developers. The Cloud Infrastructure Architect builds the foundations underneath, and the DevOps Engineer runs the pipelines. Ask who their customer was. The answer should be the development teams.
If you are hiring for an application architecture role and are not sure which of these you actually need, please get in touch. It is surprisingly common for the job description to describe one of these roles while the job title asks for another.
Ben Clark
bclark@konvergent.co.uk
