The title has changed more than almost any other in architecture. Here is what each integration role does, what to look for in a CV, and where organisations get them wrong when they hire.
Integration Architect has changed more than almost any other title in the last 10 years. Then, you could spot one by the technologies alone: BizTalk, TIBCO, IBM MQ, WebSphere Message Broker. Today the same job might be described as API, event driven, iPaaS or digital, and the people doing it are just as likely to call themselves Solution Architects.
Also seen as: Head of Integration, Integration Strategy Lead
An Enterprise Integration Architect decides how the whole organisation connects its systems, data and business processes. They set the integration strategy, principles, patterns and standards. They also design the operating model behind them: who builds integrations, who owns them, and how they are reused rather than rebuilt every time a project needs one.
Look for integration strategies and roadmaps, reference architectures and pattern libraries, and API or event strategies presented to technology leadership and funded. You should also see something that looks like an integration centre of excellence, or the governance that replaced one. Their breadth covers applications, data and process, not just one integration platform.
Many strong platform specialists carry this title. If every example in the CV is the rollout of a single product, you are looking at an expert in that product, not someone who has set integration direction for an organisation.
Also seen as: Solution Integration Architect, EAI Architect, Middleware Architect
The Integration Architect works at project and programme level. They design how systems talk to each other within a solution, choosing the right pattern for each job: API, messaging, events, file transfer or batch. They also design for what happens when a message goes missing.
Look for integration designs across several systems, and interface specifications and data mappings. You should see a mix of patterns and a clear view on when each one is appropriate. Error handling, retry, idempotency and monitoring are the words that separate the architects from the developers.
The older CVs still show BizTalk, TIBCO, IBM MQ and App Connect (formerly Integration Bus). That experience is valuable, but it matters whether they have moved with the market. A .NET background with integration used to mean a BizTalk Architect. Today it should mean Azure Integration Services: Logic Apps, Service Bus, Event Grid and API Management. If it does not, ask why.
Also seen as: API Platform Architect, API Solution Designer
The API Architect designs how an organisation exposes its capabilities through APIs, internally and to partners or customers. That covers API first design, standards, versioning, security and the API management platform that sits in front of it all.
Look for API management platforms such as Apigee, MuleSoft Anypoint, Azure API Management, Kong or AWS API Gateway. You should also see REST and OpenAPI standards, OAuth 2.0 and API security, developer portals, and API product thinking. In financial services, Open Banking experience is a strong signal.
Building APIs and architecting an API estate are different jobs. Plenty of developers have built dozens of APIs without ever deciding how the organisation should govern, secure or version them. Ask them how they stopped the fiftieth API from looking completely different to the first.
Also seen as: Event Architect, MACH Architect, Streaming Platform Architect
The Event Driven Architect designs systems that react to events as they happen, rather than asking each other for updates. They are increasingly common wherever real time matters: payments, logistics, retail stock, customer notifications.
Look for Apache Kafka or Confluent, Azure Event Hubs, Amazon Kinesis or Solace. You should also see event modelling, schema registries, event sourcing and CQRS, and the operational side of running a streaming platform at scale.
Kafka appears on a great many CVs because someone once connected to a topic. The real test is whether they designed the events themselves: what they contain, who owns them, and what happens when the schema changes.
Also seen as: MuleSoft Architect, Boomi Architect, Workato Architect
The iPaaS Architect is a specialist in one integration platform, usually MuleSoft, Boomi, Workato or SnapLogic. They design and govern everything built on it, and they know it inside out.
Expect deep, consistent experience in one platform, usually with its certifications, running through most of the CV. MuleSoft specialists will often talk about API led connectivity and system, process and experience layers.
These are product specialists, in the same way that an SAP or Salesforce Architect is. They will often call themselves Integration Architects or Solution Architects. When the platform is the dominant skill throughout the CV, that is what they are, and they should be recruited as such.
Also seen as: Digital Architect, Composable Architect, Customer Experience Architect
We include the Digital Solution Architect here because the work now sits very close to integration. They design customer facing digital channels, and on a modern headless or composable estate, much of that design is about stitching together separate services for content, commerce, search, identity and payments through APIs.
Look for headless CMS platforms such as Contentful or Adobe Experience Manager, commerce platforms such as commercetools or Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and MACH or composable architecture. You should also see front end frameworks, experience APIs, and customer journeys that run across web, mobile and in-store.
The crossover works in both directions. A good Digital Solution Architect is often a very capable API Architect in all but name, and a good Integration Architect can move into digital. The difference is where they start. The Digital Solution Architect starts with the customer experience and works backwards, while the Integration Architect starts with the systems and works forwards. Hire the one whose starting point matches your problem.
If you are hiring for an integration 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
