IoT Product Architect

Vodafone · Johannesburg

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Role Purpose/Business Unit:

The Product Architect: Smart Utilities exists to convert strategic market opportunities, recurring customer requirements and internal technology capabilities into technically credible, repeatable and supportable Smart Utilities capability packages for Vodacom’s IoT business.

The role is a technical specialist position anchored in Smart Utilities and Connected Infrastructure. It sits within the IoT line of business and supports pre-sales, business development and major bid activity by shaping reusable capability constructs, technical patterns, solution assets and domain guidance that can be applied consistently across opportunities.

Unlike a customer-facing Solution Architect role, this position does not own customer-specific end-state solution design. Instead, it provides the Smart Utilities product and domain architecture perspective that guides, supports and strengthens opportunity teams, especially in complex pursuits, large RFPs and strategic customer engagements. The role ensures that Vodacom’s Smart Utilities capabilities are technically coherent, market-relevant, supportable and clearly articulated for use in customer pursuits and proposition development.

Your responsibilities will include:

Smart Utilities Product Architecture and Technical Leadership: 

• Lead the technical definition and maintenance of reusable Smart Utilities capability architectures that align market needs with Vodacom products, technologies and partner inputs. This includes developing and maintaining:
  • Product-aligned architecture views
  • Domain blueprints
  • Technical capability packages
  • Integration models and interface principles
  • Standard implementation patterns
  • Technical standards guidance
  • Capability reference artefacts
  • Cross-domain architecture inputs
• The role acts as the Smart Utilities technical anchor, ensuring that capability packages remain scalable, supportable, relevant and aligned to available enabling technologies.

Capability Packaging and Offer Enablement:

• Drive the packaging of Smart Utilities technologies, partner capabilities and internal enablers into coherent, reusable capability offerings for use in the market. This includes defining and refining technical capability packages across:
  • Smart Metering
  • Digital Water Management
  • Non-Revenue Water enablement
  • Utility Revenue Protection and Assurance
  • Infrastructure Telemetry
  • Situational Awareness Centres
  • Smart Buildings
  • Energy Management
  • Utility Analytics
• The role develops the technical intellectual property, standard patterns, use-case structures, capability descriptions and reusable assets needed to support proposition shaping, opportunity development and bid responses.

Opportunity Support and Technical Bid Enablement: 

• Support strategic opportunities, complex pursuits and major RFPs by providing authoritative technical inputs that improve solution quality and bid competitiveness. This includes:
  • Opportunity qualification support
  • Technical feasibility input
  • Technical risk identification
  • Gap identification
  • Build versus partner input
  • Technical response development
  • Scope clarification
  • Assumptions and dependency articulation
  • Partner contribution support
• The role supports bid conversion by strengthening the technical quality and credibility of Vodacom’s response, while remaining primarily a technical contributor rather than a commercial owner.

Large Bid, Tender and Proposay Contribution: 

• Lead or support the Smart Utilities technical workstream within complex tenders, bids, RFIs, RFQs and RFP responses. Responsibilities include:
  • Developing technical response inputs
  • Drafting methodology and technical approach sections
  • Preparing technical scope content
  • Producing architecture views and diagrams
  • Supporting compliance and technical clarification inputs
  • Coordinating Smart Utilities partner inputs
  • Shaping technically credible customer-facing narratives
• The role ensures that Vodacom submissions are technically robust, well-structured and defensible in evaluation and governance processes.

Partner and Ecosystem Technical Coordination:

• Support the development and use of specialist partner ecosystems required to deliver complete Smart Utilities capabilities. Responsibilities include:
  • Identifying technical capability gaps
  • Assessing partner fit from a technical perspective
  • Coordinating technical workstream contributions
  • Clarifying solution-component responsibilities
  • Supporting integration understanding across parties
  • Helping shape technically coherent consortium contributions
• The role helps ensure that Vodacom can assemble a technically credible ecosystem for each opportunity without losing solution integrity.

Pre-Sales and Business Development Support: 

• Act as a technical enabler for pre-sales and business development activities within the IoT line of business. Activities include:

• • Supporting opportunity shaping
  • Participating in discovery engagements
  • Providing technical presentations and demonstrations
  • Supporting customer workshops
  • Assisting with qualification of strategic pursuits
  • Equipping sales and pre-sales teams with domain-specific technical content
• The role strengthens the technical depth of customer engagement while enabling the business to pursue Smart Utilities opportunities with confidence.

Proposition Support and Technical Credibility:

• Provide technical inputs into propositions and ensure that Smart Utilities narratives remain technically sound, supportable and aligned to real capability. This includes:
  • Supporting proposition development with technical inputs
  • Validating technical credibility of value propositions
  • Contributing to use-case framing and capability articulation
  • Supporting proposition managers with technical evidence and structure
  • Helping shape customer-facing narratives from a technical standpoint
• The role supports proposition shaping, but does not own proposition management or commercial positioning.

Technical Assurance and Governance Support:

• Provide subject matter expertise into technical governance and assurance processes. This includes:
• • Preparing responses to technical governance queries
  • Clarifying architecture assumptions and constraints
  • Supporting design validation discussions
  • Explaining Smart Utilities technical positions to governance authorities
  • Assisting with technical risk and dependency interpretation
• The role is not the formal governance authority, but is expected to be the Smart Utilities technical expert that supports governance forums with accurate, defensible and domain-specific guidance.

Knowledge Development and Reusable Asset Creation:

• Create and maintain reusable technical assets that improve consistency and efficiency across opportunities. Examples include:
  • Capability statements
  • Technical playbooks
  • Standard response modules
  • Technical templates
  • Architecture diagrams
  • One-page solution summaries
  • Technical FAQ documents
  • Knowledge repositories
  • Partner capability summaries
• The role acts as a force multiplier by converting specialist Smart Utilities knowledge into reusable institutional assets.

Innovation and Digital Enablement:

• Identify opportunities to improve the throughput, quality and consistency of Smart Utilities technical support through digital tools, automation and AI. Activities include exploration of:
  • AI-assisted technical response support
  • Smart Utilities knowledge repositories
  • Automated requirement interpretation
  • Technical content accelerators
  • Reusable domain-pattern libraries
• The role actively improves the technical enablement function to reduce dependency on fragmented expertise and improve responsiveness in complex pursuits

Collaboration Model

Collaboration with Solution Architect

• The Product Architect: Smart Utilities works with Solution Architects who sit elsewhere in the business and own customer-specific solution design. The Product Architect:
  • Provides Smart Utilities domain expertise
  • Supplies reusable capability patterns and supported technical approaches
  • Guides and supports customer-specific design where required
  • Clarifies product, domain and partner capabilities
  • Helps solution teams interpret requirements and constraints in the Smart Utilities context
  • Strengthens the technical quality of complex pursuits and large RFPs
• The Solution Architect:
• • Owns the customer-specific end-to-end solution design
  • Integrates multiple domains into an opportunity-specific architecture
  • Takes responsibility for the final solution structure in a live customer pursuit
• In practice, the Product Architect contributes domain depth and capability guidance, while the Solution Architect owns the opportunity-specific solution.

Collaboration with Product Managers

• The role interacts with Product Managers who own formal product management responsibilities in adjacent or enabling domains. The Product Architect:

• • Packages domain capabilities into usable Smart Utilities constructs
  • Identifies technical gaps and dependency requirements
  • Feeds recurring market needs and field patterns into product teams
  • Supports interpretation of how product capabilities can be applied in the utilities context

• Product Managers: Own product lifecycle decisions, roadmap priorities, commercial constructs and formal product governance within their portfolios.
• The relationship is collaborative: Product Managers own products, while the Product Architect applies and interprets those capabilities in the Smart Utilities domain.

Collaboration with Proposition Managers

• The role works with Proposition Managers to ensure that market-facing propositions are technically credible and well-supported. The Product Architect:
• • Provides technical inputs into proposition development
  • Validates technical credibility
  • Supports use-case structuring and capability articulation
  • Assists with technical narrative shaping
  • Ensures the proposition is grounded in real and supportable capability
• The Proposition Manager: Owns the commercial story, value proposition, market framing and go-to-market positioning
• Together, the roles ensure that Vodacom’s Smart Utilities propositions are both compelling and technically defensible.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• Relevant Diploma/  3 year degree would advantageous
• CISCO CCNA or equivalent
• CompTia N+
• TOGAF 10 advantageous

• A technically strong Smart Utilities domain specialist who can package complex capabilities into reusable, credible and market-relevant technical constructs. The incumbent should be able to:
  • Operate as a recognised subject matter expert in Smart Utilities and Connected Infrastructure.
  • Support complex pursuits without taking over customer-specific solution ownership.
  • Convert recurring opportunity needs into reusable technical assets.
  • Work effectively across pre-sales, bids, proposition development and partner ecosystems.
  • Explain complex technical concepts clearly to commercial, governance and customer stakeholders.

Experience and Capability Requirements

• Strong experience in Smart Utilities, IoT, telecoms, digital infrastructure, managed services or adjacent technology environments.
• Technical understanding of smart metering, utility data flows, connectivity, platforms, hosting, integration and security considerations.
• Experience supporting complex bids, pre-sales engagements, strategic pursuits and technical proposal development.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams including solution architects, product managers, proposition managers and partners.
• Strong documentation, structuring and technical storytelling capability.
• Utility, municipal or infrastructure-sector experience is advantageous.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies

Closing date for Applications: 04 November 2026. 

The base location for this role is Midrand, Vodacom Campus. 
 

The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.

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