IT Systems Architect Principal

Why BT International?

At BT International, our purpose is to keep the world connected. As part of BT, we build on almost 180 years of innovation and expertise to deliver secure connectivity and digital services to some of the world’s leading multinational businesses and organisations. Our customers trust us to safeguard their data, drive their digital transformation and keep their businesses running.

With colleagues on the ground across the world and supporting customers wherever they need to operate, BT International offers a truly global experience. Whether it’s about providing cloud connectivity, helping organisations collaborate, or enabling innovation in cybersecurity and digital services, you’ll be part of a team that shapes how businesses succeed in a world that is being transformed by AI.

If you have the drive and ambition to make an impact on a global stage, BT International is where it happens.

Why this job matters

The IT Systems Architect Principal is central to BT International's ability to deliver products at velocity while maintaining operational excellence. This role owns the platform transformation and vendor rationalization strategy that directly impacts product team autonomy, cost efficiency and speed to market. This architect ensures every architectural decision drives product velocity and long-term value. This position leads vendor rationalization, establishes composable platform patterns and collaborates with senior stakeholders. By aligning platform architecture with business imperatives and group strategy, the role ensures BT International remains competitive, agile and customer-focused in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

What you’ll be doing – your accountabilities

1. Define and lead the architectural strategy for IT systems and BSS modernization across BT International, establishing the target state architecture that guides system rationalization, vendor consolidation and platform transformation initiatives
2. Own the application portfolio rationalization roadmap, making strategic keep/modernize/retire decisions based on technical fitness, business value and architectural alignment while managing stakeholder expectations
3. Establish API-first integration architecture that decouples BSS systems from each other and from product applications, creating clear service boundaries that enable independent team delivery and reduce system dependencies
4. Lead vendor rationalization strategy across SaaS platforms, on-premise systems and cloud-based solutions, reducing vendor dependencies through strategic build vs buy decisions and phasing out unnecessary third-party systems in favor of composable in-house capabilities
5. Champion modern architecture patterns including microservices, event-driven integration and API gateways that enable incremental transformation without big-bang rewrites
6. Collaborate with Data and AI architects to ensure IT systems generate high-quality data with proper lineage and governance, enabling analytics and AI capabilities across the platform
7. Drive architectural governance through design reviews and architecture conformance processes, ensuring solutions align with platform standards while empowering team autonomy and decision-making
8. Participate in technical spike work and proof-of-concepts to validate architectural decisions, evaluate integration approaches and prove out modernization strategies before committing to full implementation
9. Provide technical thought leadership on emerging platform architecture trends including composable architecture, API management and platform engineering, translating these into roadmaps that align with BT International's platform strategy
10. Mentor architects and engineers, fostering architectural thinking and technical leadership capability across both the architecture and product engineering organizations

The skills you’ll need to succeed

Strategic Architecture Leadership – Proven ability to define and communicate architectural vision for complex enterprise landscapes, with track record driving large-scale modernization programs in regulated industries

BSS Domain Expertise – Deep understanding of telco BSS systems including billing, order management, product catalog, CPQ and customer lifecycle management, with knowledge of how these capabilities support business operations

Platform Integration Architecture – Extensive experience designing API-first integration architectures, event-driven patterns and service abstraction layers that enable loose coupling in complex system landscapes

Vendor and Stakeholder Management – Strong ability to work with enterprise software vendors as strategic partners, negotiate technical implementations and manage complex stakeholder relationships across business and technology teams

Modernization Patterns – Expert knowledge of incremental modernization approaches that minimize risk while enabling continuous delivery

Technical Depth – Hands-on background in systems integration and architecture with coding capability in at least one language, enabling credibility with engineering teams and hands-on spike work when needed

Platform Engineering Mindset – Understanding of platform-as-a-product principles, developer experience design and how to build self-service capabilities that enable team autonomy at scale

Telco Transformation Context – Experience navigating organizational and technical challenges of telco modernization including regulatory requirements, billing accuracy, revenue assurance and operational continuity

Leadership and Influence – Ability to lead through influence rather than authority, build consensus across organizational boundaries and develop technical leadership capability in others

Experience you’d be expected to have

• Strong engineering background with hands-on experience in software development or systems engineering, demonstrating technical credibility through active contribution to architecture implementations, POCs and technical spikes
• Extensive experience leading IT systems and BSS architecture in telecommunications or complex B2B environments, with demonstrated success modernizing legacy landscapes across multiple system domains
• Proven track record defining and executing architectural strategies that enabled large-scale system rationalization, vendor consolidation and platform transformation while maintaining business continuity
• Significant experience establishing API-first integration architectures in complex enterprise environments, including work with API management platforms, event streaming and microservices patterns
• Strong background working with major enterprise platforms (Salesforce, ServiceNow, Microsoft) and telco-specific BSS vendors, including negotiating technical approaches and influencing vendor roadmaps
• Experience building and leading architecture teams, with track record developing technical leadership capability and establishing architectural practices that scale across product engineering organizations
• Demonstrated success working in product operating models and agile contexts, with understanding of how architecture enables rather than constrains product team autonomy and delivery velocity
• Background in telco operations and BSS domains with deep understanding of the technical and organizational challenges in transforming mission-critical systems that directly impact revenue

Leadership accountabilities

•    Owning outcomes: I take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation
•    Delivering for the customer: I execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business.
•    Growth mindset: I experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation

Key decisions

This role is accountable for all decisions within the remit of this job description reporting directly into the CTIO.

Being trusted: Our code

Compliance with all BT Group policies is mandatory and applies to all BT Group employees. Policies can be accessed via the Policy Portal and should be adhered to in-line with Standards of Behaviour Policy and Procedure and the Being trusted: our code.

What we offer

Compensation and benefits:
•    Attractive salary
•    Cafeteria package  - HUF 600,000/ year
•    Performance-based bonus 
•    Comprehensive private health care package for all the employees, which can be extended to family members
•    Nursery support for mothers returning from maternity
•    Extended paternity leave: 10+10 day fully paid days
•    Commuting allowance
•    Home office allowance 
•    Employee discount opportunities 
•    Highly affordable mobile packages for the family as well

Work atmosphere and community:
•    New high-class offices both in Budapest and Debrecen
•    Wide-range of company and community programmes (including support for different sport activities)

Flexibility:
•    Family-friendly culture
•    Smart working approach (hybrid working model, 3 together, 2 wherever)

Our leadership standards

Looking in:
Leading inclusively and Safely
I inspire and build trust through self-awareness, honesty and integrity.
Owning outcomes
I take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation.

Looking out:
Delivering for the customer
I execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business.
Commercially savvy
I demonstrate strong commercial focus, bringing an external perspective to decision-making.

Looking to the future:
Growth mindset
I experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation.
Building for the future
I build diverse future-ready teams where all individuals can be at their best.