Solution Architect, Cargo Management Systems

Our client is a globally recognized organization headquartered in Southeast Asia, specializing in aviation support services, air cargo handling, ground operations, and institutional food solutions. The company provides a wide range of services, including passenger assistance, ramp and baggage handling, aviation security, aircraft cleaning, and laundry operations for the aviation sector.

Beyond aviation services, the organization operates large-scale central kitchens and food production facilities, catering to airlines, corporate clients, and institutions across diverse cuisines and service formats. With a strong presence across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa, the company supports global travel, trade, and logistics through an extensive international network, further strengthened by strategic acquisitions in recent years.

Responsibilities

Target State Architecture and Convergence

• Define and maintain the target state architecture for cargo management systems across the global network, covering platform selection, consolidation, integration, and retirement
• Produce a roadmap that sequences how regional systems (Cargospot, COSYS+, ePic) move toward an agreed target, with clear architectural rationale for each decision
• Document and govern architecture decisions to ensure transparency, consistency, and auditability
• Maintain a current-state map of the platform estate, including capability overlap, integration debt, and footprint reduction opportunities

Integration, Connectivity, and Data Architecture

• Define integration standards and patterns for cargo systems, including airline connectivity (ONE Record, Cargo-XML, EDI), messaging, and API design
• Set the data architecture for the cargo estate so that operational, customer, and commercial data flows are consistent and reusable across stations
• Establish interoperability requirements between cargo management systems and adjacent platforms
• Govern the technical aspects of customer-specific connectivity so that customer requests are met without fragmenting the core platform

Change Order Validation and Cost Governance

• Review and validate every material change order raised against the cargo management systems are justified by the actual scope of work
• Assess the technical complexity of each change order independently to challenge vendor proposals where required
• Challenge inflated, padded, or over-scoped change orders, and provide documented technical rationale of its decisions
• Distinguish change orders that reflect genuine new scope from those that should fall within existing contractual obligations or standard product, protecting the network from avoidable cost
• Maintain a defensible record of change-order assessments so that platform spend is traceable and auditable, and patterns of vendor over-scoping are visible to leadership

Standards, Governance, and Technical Authority

• Own the architectural standards that regional implementations are held against, and run the technical review of material platform changes
• Provide architectural input into product governance
• Ensure vendor solution designs align with target architecture or introduce avoidable lock-in
• Partner with cybersecurity and enterprise architecture functions to ensure cargo platform architecture meets security, audit, and regulatory requirements

Delivery Partnership and Advisory

• Act as the senior technical advisor to the Digital Product Management function, translating strategic direction into an executable systems blueprint
• Support platform evaluations and proofs of concept with rigorous technical assessment
• Provide architectural guidance to regional technology teams during implementation, migration, and cutover
• Communicate architecture clearly and plainly to non-technical leadership; state platform status honestly as live, in build, in pilot, or proposed

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related discipline required; postgraduate qualification preferred
• Recognised enterprise architecture certification valued: TOGAF 9.2 or equivalent
• Cargo Systems Domain (required): Deep, hands-on knowledge of cargo management systems and the cargo handling business is essential and non-negotiable for this role; ideally across more than one of Cargospot, COSYS+, or ePic, with a clear understanding of how these systems are used at station level in export, import, and special-handling flows.
• This knowledge is the basis on which the role validates change orders and holds the architectural line
• Change Order and Cost Assessment: Demonstrated ability to assess vendor change orders on cost, man-hour estimate, and technical complexity, and to challenge estimates that are not justified by the work; able to translate a technical scope into a defensible commercial judgement
• Solution and Systems Architecture: 10 or more years in technology delivery with a minimum 5 years in a solution or systems architecture role for enterprise operational platforms
• Integration and Connectivity: Strong practical experience with integration architecture, API design, and airline connectivity standards (ONE Record, Cargo-XML, EDI, IATA messaging)
• Platform Convergence: Demonstrated experience consolidating or rationalising a multi-system estate, including migration sequencing and footprint reduction
• Vendor Engagement: Proven experience evaluating and challenging platform vendors on architecture, integration, and total cost
• Cross-Regional Delivery: Experience operating across APAC, EMEA, and Americas with the cultural fluency to navigate regional system ownership and variation
• Sector Experience: Aviation, cargo, logistics, or other 24/7/365 operational environment strongly preferred