Who is Smart? What is its daily activity?

Smart is a company shared by thousands of people, organized as a cooperative. It enables them to practice their profession in very diverse fields, benefiting from a range of tools and services funded by the collective: management of declarations (invoicing, accounting, VAT), personalized support, legal assistance, training, and even access to coworking spaces. Smart enables the combination of the social protection linked to salaried employment with an autonomous entrepreneurial dynamic.

Smart supports 20,000 people every year and has 8 offices in Belgium.

Detailed presentation of Smart: https://smartbe.be/fr/a-propos/

Context

We are looking for an experienced Hands-on Application & Solution Architect to support the teams and the interim CIO in defining the company’s IT strategy and architecture.

This role requires an architect with a strong software development background, capable of working closely with development teams in order to define a pragmatic and truly implementable architecture.

The current application landscape consists mainly of legacy systems developed in-house, largely based on Microsoft technologies, which requires an architect comfortable with complex existing environments and capable of defining realistic modernization trajectories.

This is not a purely conceptual architecture role: the consultant will work closely with tech leads and developers to define concrete architecture patterns, technology choices, and development practices.

The objective of the assignment is to document the existing architecture and define a modern, scalable target architecture, in collaboration with technical and business teams.

The assignment is part of a strategic IT reflection aimed at modernizing the application landscape, structuring architecture practices, and defining future technology directions.

Assignment

The assignment will last 4 months, part-time (60%).

It will cover two main objectives:

• Understand and document the existing architecture (AS-IS)
• Define a target architecture (TO-BE) aligned with the IT strategy

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the interim CIO, the development and product teams manager, the infrastructure team manager, the tech leads, and the system administrators.

The architect will need to bridge the gap between architecture and software engineering to ensure that the target architecture can be concretely implemented by the existing development teams.

The assignment will mainly cover application architecture, but will also include contributions on:

• infrastructure architecture choices
• cloud vs on-premise options
• security principles
• data / BI / analytics architecture

Responsibilities

Mapping the existing architecture

• analyze the current application architecture
• document existing applications and their interactions
• map the databases and data flows
• identify critical dependencies between systems
• document the existing technology stack
• analyze the current infrastructure architecture (hosting, environments, technical dependencies)
• identify technical risks and technical debt

Defining the target architecture

• define the target application architecture
• define the interactions between different systems
• propose an integration architecture (API, events, etc.)
• define the principles of application architecture

In collaboration with the technical teams, the consultant will also contribute to:

• defining the main directions of the infrastructure architecture
• analyzing cloud vs on-premise options
• proposing a coherent architecture between applications, infrastructure, and data
• integrating a vision on identity and access management in the application landscape

Formalizing the technology stack

In collaboration with the technical teams:

• validate the target technologies for development
• define/validate good software architecture practices
• define/validate integration principles
• define/validate technical standards

Development architecture

The consultant will need to contribute to structuring the future development architecture:

• application architecture patterns
• service structuring
• modular approach
• development standards
• CI/CD practices and automation

Integration of AI in the development process

The assignment will also include reflection on:

• the use of AI tools in the development cycle
• the impact of AI on development practices
• opportunities for integrating AI into products and services

Data / BI / Analytics

The consultant will also contribute to the reflection on:

• data architecture
• BI / analytics platforms
• opportunities related to data and AI

Profile sought

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in software development and application architecture
• Significant experience as a developer or tech lead before moving into an architect role
• Experience in environments with in-house application development
• Experience in modernizing legacy systems

Experience in designing or evolving internal business systems is a significant asset, especially in areas such as:

• finance and accounting
• invoicing systems or transactional management
• HR / payroll / personnel administration management
• internal business applications or ERP systems

Experience in transactional and regulated environments is particularly relevant.

Technical skills

• excellent understanding of modern application architectures
• solid experience in software development and complex systems architecture
• ability to define a concrete technical architecture with development teams

A good command of the Microsoft ecosystem is essential, including:

• .NET / C#
• JavaScript / TypeScript
• SQL Server
• GitHub
• On premise, Domain centric environment: Domain controller and Active Directory
• Azure or Microsoft cloud technologies
• frameworks and development tools in the Microsoft ecosystem

The consultant should also have a good understanding of:

• service-oriented architectures and APIs
• front-end development technologies
• cloud architectures
• data / BI / analytics architectures
• application and infrastructure security challenges

Transversal skills

• ability to quickly understand business processes
• ability to work closely with technical teams
• ability to structure and document an architecture
• excellent analysis and synthesis skills
• ability to explain technical subjects to management in layman’s terms

Positioning in the organization

The consultant:

• works under the responsibility of the interim CIO
• collaborates closely with the development, product, and infrastructure teams
• interacts with the business teams when necessary