BSS & OSS Architect (E) - MI

Axian Telecom, Dubai

About the job opportunity
The BSS & OSS Architect at Axian Telecom is responsible for designing and evolving the Business Support Systems (BSS) and Operations Support Systems (OSS) that underpin the company’s telecom services. Reporting to the IT Business Partner Director, Business Support, this role ensures seamless integration between billing, CRM, product catalog, and operational platforms such as network management, service provisioning, and fault/performance management. By providing architectural guidance and technical oversight, the BSS & OSS Architect plays a crucial role in accelerating service rollout, enhancing operational efficiency, and optimizing the customer experience across Axian Telecom’s pan-African markets.

Mission:
The mission of the BSS & OSS Architect is to align Axian Telecom’s billing, revenue assurance, and network operations objectives with robust, scalable architectures, ensuring that core systems (BSS/OSS) work in harmony to deliver high-quality services. Through standardization, innovation, and close collaboration with business and technical teams, this role drives operational excellence, cost savings, and superior customer satisfaction.
Essential duties and responsibilities include:
Architecture & Design
Requirements Gathering:

Collaborate with stakeholders in billing, CRM, revenue assurance, and network operations to capture detailed system requirements and performance objectives.
End-to-End Solutions: Develop comprehensive BSS/OSS architectures covering application, data, security, and integration layers, ensuring interoperability and conformance to enterprise standards.
Integration & Alignment: Work with other architects (API & Digital Infra, CEX & S&D) to coordinate data flows between BSS/OSS and consumer-facing platforms, while adhering to Axian Telecom’s overarching architectural blueprint.
BSS & OSS Modernization
Legacy Transformation: Assess existing systems and propose modernization strategies (e.g., migration to cloud, microservices-based modules) that enhance scalability, reduce cost, and improve user experience.
Product & Service Launches: Provide architectural guidance for new service offerings, ensuring quick time-to-market and robust integrations with billing, provisioning, and network management systems.
Performance & Reliability: Conduct capacity planning, enforce best practices in database management and system monitoring, and coordinate with ITSM/PMO teams to mitigate risks and minimize downtime.
Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
Cross-Functional Coordination: Partner with commercial, finance, and operations teams to ensure BSS/OSS solutions meet both internal operational needs and external customer demands.
Vendor & Partner Management: Evaluate technology vendors and service integrators, define integration requirements, and oversee contract compliance for BSS/OSS solutions.
Governance & Standards: Participate in architecture review boards, ensuring proposed changes align with security policies, data protection regulations, and Axian Telecom’s enterprise guidelines.
Innovation & Continuous Improvement
Emerging Technologies: Stay current on trends like cloud-native BSS/OSS, AI-driven network operations, and DevOps approaches that streamline releases and operations.
Best Practices: Document and share lessons learned, refine reference architectures, and champion the adoption of agile or iterative methodologies for BSS/OSS implementations.
Risk Management: Identify and proactively address potential vulnerabilities—technical, operational, or regulatory—collaborating with security and compliance teams to maintain safe and reliable systems.
Reporting & KPI Monitoring
Architecture Documentation: Maintain updated diagrams, configuration standards, and decision logs for all BSS/OSS components.
Key Metrics: Track indicators such as billing accuracy, provisioning times, network fault resolution rates, and SLA adherence, reporting findings to the IT Business Partner Director and other relevant stakeholders.
Continuous Feedback Loop: Gather input from operations, finance, customer service, and network teams to ensure architecture remains aligned with evolving business needs.

Qualification, Skills, Knowledge & Competencies:
Education & Certifications
Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Telecommunications, Engineering, or a related field (Master’s/MBA is a plus).
Certifications: Relevant credentials in telecom systems (e.g., TM Forum certifications), project management (PMP, PRINCE2), or architecture (TOGAF) can be advantageous.
Professional Background
Telecom Systems Experience: 7+ years in designing, implementing, or managing BSS/OSS solutions within a telecom or service provider setting.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven ability to collaborate across various departments (finance, network ops, CRM) and manage multiple stakeholders in a matrix environment.
Vendor & Partnership: Experience in selecting technology partners, overseeing vendor implementations, and managing complex system integrations.
Technical & Domain Knowledge
BSS Components: Strong understanding of billing systems, CRM platforms, product catalogs, revenue assurance, and mediation engines.
OSS Layers: Familiarity with network inventory, service fulfillment, fault/performance management, and network analytics, including technologies like SDN or NFV.
Integration & Security: Knowledge of API design, microservices architecture, data protection regulations, and zero-trust security models.
Leadership & Soft Skills
Strategic Thinking: Ability to reconcile short-term fixes and long-term modernization strategies, ensuring system evolutions deliver measurable business value.
Collaboration & Influence: Skilled at building consensus among cross-functional teams and aligning technical decisions with Axian Telecom’s business objectives.
Communication: Effective at conveying complex BSS/OSS concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences, justifying investments and outlining trade-offs.
Language Skills
Fluency in English: Required for cross-border coordination, documentation, and stakeholder communication.
Proficiency in French: Highly desirable, given Axian Telecom’s pan-African footprint and diverse stakeholder base.
Key Success Factors
End-to-End Consistency: Ensuring seamless data flow between billing, CRM, provisioning, and network management systems, minimizing errors and enhancing service quality.
Scalability & Future-Readiness: Adopting flexible architectures (e.g., cloud-based, microservices) to accommodate new services, growing subscriber bases, and evolving market demands.
Reduced Time-to-Market: Streamlined processes and well-defined integration patterns that enable rapid rollout of new telecom products and packages.
Cross-Team Collaboration: Strong cooperation with finance, operations, and IT security, ensuring BSS/OSS remain aligned with both financial targets and regulatory requirements.
Continuous Improvement: Ongoing pursuit of new solutions, best practices, and architectural enhancements that keep Axian Telecom’s core systems at the forefront of technological innovation.