Engagement Overview

• Contract: External consultant
• Duration: 12 months
• Commitment: 4 days per week
• Start: As soon as possible
• Location: Lisbon preferred, with hybrid or flexible arrangements considered for the right candidate
• Working language: Fluent English, written and spoken

About the Opportunity We are looking for an experienced Integration Architect to support an international organization in modernizing a complex enterprise application landscape.

The engagement focuses on reducing dependencies between systems and enabling more modular, reusable integrations through APIs and events. You will work closely with business-facing technology teams, platform specialists and senior stakeholders to turn architectural principles into practical delivery improvements.

This is a delivery-oriented advisory role, combining architecture, technical facilitation and capability building. The priority is measurable progress through manageable changes rather than a large-scale redesign.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess the integration landscape: Identify existing interfaces, dependencies and technical debt across APIs, messaging, file exchanges and enterprise applications.
• Shape modernization roadmaps: Help teams prioritize integration improvements based on business impact, delivery risk and implementation effort.
• Define domain and service boundaries: Apply domain-driven design principles to clarify responsibilities, interface ownership and dependencies between systems.
• Guide incremental delivery: Support teams in replacing tightly coupled interfaces with maintainable API-based and event-driven alternatives.
• Establish practical standards: Define conventions for interface design, naming, versioning, documentation and lifecycle management.
• Strengthen architectural quality: Review integration designs for security, resilience, scalability and operational supportability.
• Track transformation progress: Establish meaningful indicators covering interface reuse, dependency reduction, legacy retirement and onboarding of new consumers.
• Facilitate collaboration: Connect application and platform teams, resolve architectural dependencies and support timely decisions.
• Transfer knowledge: Coach teams through workshops, design reviews and collaborative architecture sessions.

Expected Deliverables

• An integration inventory and assessment of key dependencies
• A prioritized modernization roadmap with agreed delivery milestones
• Architecture guidance and reusable integration patterns
• Progress reporting supported by a focused set of indicators
• A concise integration standards and governance playbook
• Knowledge-transfer materials and an end-of-engagement handover

Essential Experience and Skills

• Strong experience in enterprise integration architecture within complex application environments
• Practical knowledge of domain-driven design, API-led integration and event-driven architecture
• Experience modernizing SAP-connected landscapes and managing dependencies between legacy and modern applications
• Ability to select appropriate synchronous, asynchronous, messaging and batch integration patterns
• Familiarity with incremental migration approaches such as Strangler Fig, anti-corruption layers, change data capture and transactional outbox
• Hands-on experience with enterprise integration platforms, API gateways or event brokers
• API and event contract design, versioning, backward compatibility and lifecycle management
• Understanding of integration security, including authentication, authorization and secure data exchange
• Ability to address resilience and operational concerns such as retries, idempotency, error handling, monitoring and traceability
• Strong workshop facilitation, technical documentation and stakeholder communication skills
• Proven ability to influence delivery across teams without relying on direct managerial authority
• Fluent English, written and spoken

Additional Experience Valued

• Experience with technologies such as MuleSoft, SAP Integration Suite, Kong or Solace. Expertise across all platforms is not required
• API and event specification standards such as OpenAPI and AsyncAPI
• Automated interface testing, contract testing and delivery pipelines
• Cloud or hybrid integration environments
• Architecture modelling and clear documentation of technical decisions
• Previous consulting experience in international, multi-team organizations

Working Approach You will collaborate regularly with application teams and integration specialists, contribute to architecture and delivery reviews and provide concise progress updates to senior stakeholders.

Success will be measured through delivered improvements, clearer ownership and stronger internal capabilities