Platform & Architecture Lead

Job description

Job Title: Platform + Architecture Lead
Location: Cape Town, SA
Department: Product
Reports to: Product Engineering Director
Employment Type: Full-Time

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional Platform & Architecture Lead to drive the development of our next-generation legal technology platform.

This is a pivotal role that will help shape the technical foundation for our entire product portfolio, driving innovation while ensuring scalability, reliability, and maintainability across our stack.

As Platform & Architecture Lead, you will be responsible for designing and implementing a modern, API-first platform that enables rapid product development while maintaining the highest standards of security and compliance required in the legal technology sector.

You will champion architectural excellence, foster a culture of innovation, and ensure our technology choices align with both current needs and future ambitions.

This role requires a unique blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and collaborative leadership.

You will work closely with product teams, engineering leads, and stakeholders across the organisation to create a unified platform vision that accelerates delivery while reducing technical debt and operational complexity.

Key Responsibilities

Evolutionary Product Architectures

• Design and implement architectures that support continuous product evolution , enabling teams to adapt quickly to changing market needs and customer requirements
• Champion modular, composable architectures that allow products to evolve independently while sharing common capabilities
• Develop clear migration strategies for transitioning legacy systems to modern architectures without disrupting business operations
• Ensure architectural decisions consider long-term product roadmaps and emerging technology trends, particularly in AI and machine learning

Product Portfolio Platform

• Design and oversee the development of a comprehensive suite of reusable APIs that serve as the foundation for multiple legal technology products
• Lead the transition to a microservices-based architecture , defining service boundaries, communication patterns, and governance models
• Establish and promote inner source practices , creating a collaborative development environment where teams contribute to and benefit from shared components
• Implement cloud-native architectural patterns including event-driven architectures and domain-driven design where appropriate

Developer Platform

• Define and implement golden paths that guide developers towards best practices while maintaining flexibility for innovation
• Build and maintain a self-service developer platform that enables teams to provision resources, deploy applications, and manage services autonomously
• Embed security and operational excellence into the development lifecycle through automated tooling, policies, and practices
• Focus on creating an exceptional developer experience through comprehensive documentation, intuitive tooling, and rapid feedback loops

Technology Assessment & Radars

• Lead efforts to research and evaluate emerging technologies , frameworks, and architectural patterns that could benefit our platform
• Establish a systematic approach to technology experimentation, including proof-of-concepts, pilots, and controlled rollouts
• Maintain a technology radar that communicates our technology choices, experiments, and strategic direction to the entire organization
• Spearhead the exploration and integration of AI capabilities into our development workflows and platform architecture

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with product and engineering leads to ensure architectural decisions support product strategies and delivery timelines
• Deeply understand current and future product requirements, translating them into architectural capabilities and platform features
• Establish and maintain architectural principles, standards, and guidelines that ensure consistency while enabling team autonomy

Required Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in transforming complex, legacy architectures into modern, scalable platforms
• Deep expertise in designing and implementing API platforms, including API gateways, versioning strategies, and developer portals
• Extensive experience with DevOps practices, platform engineering, and building developer-centric infrastructure
• Hands-on experience integrating AI capabilities into production systems
• Expert-level knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and cloud-native architectures
• Strong understanding of security best practices and compliance requirements, particularly in regulated industries

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Ability to balance immediate needs with long-term vision, making pragmatic decisions that move the organization forward
• Exceptional communication skills, able to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
• Proven track record of building strong relationships across organizational boundaries
• Passionate about exploring new technologies while maintaining a pragmatic approach to adoption

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in software architecture and platform development
• 3+ years in a senior architectural leadership role
• Proven track record of building effective product and platform architectures for leading organisations
• Strong collaboration and influencing skills across functions and seniority levels.
  
  
• Exceptional written, visual, and verbal communication skills; strong executive presence.
  
  
• Analytical mindset with a bias for data-driven decision-making and iterative improvement.
  
  

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience in legal tech or adjacent domains (e.g., legal research, CLM, eDiscovery, legal ops).
  
  

Why Join Morae?

This is your opportunity to shape the future of legal tech at a critical moment in the industry.

If you're passionate about storytelling, strategy, and enabling teams through technology and insight—especially in the era of GenAI—we’d love to hear from you.

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Required Skill Profession

It & Technology