Solution Architect - Messaging & Core Network

Key Responsibilities Solution Architecture & Design

• IMS, SIP & USSI Expertise
• Design and validate SIP-based service flows for USSI and IMS messaging services.
• Define iFC (Initial Filter Criteria) for triggering application servers within IMS.
• Architect USSD to USSI interworking scenarios, ensuring service continuity across CS and IMS domains.
• Ensure compliance with relevant 3GPP specifications for IMS and USSI services.

IMS, SIP & USSI Expertise

• Design and validate SIP-based service flows for USSI and IMS messaging services.
• Define iFC (Initial Filter Criteria) for triggering application servers within IMS.
• Architect USSD to USSI interworking scenarios, ensuring service continuity across CS and IMS domains.
• Ensure compliance with relevant 3GPP specifications for IMS and USSI services.

Deployment & Integration

• Lead solution design and execution for on-premise and cloud-native deployments (private cloud, public cloud, hybrid models).
• Architect deployments using Linux, virtualization, Kubernetes, and containerized environments.
• Define integration with external systems such as BSS/OSS, charging systems (OCS/OFCS), mediation, and analytics platforms.
• Oversee installation, configuration, upgrades, and migrations of messaging platforms.

Protocol & Network Expertise

• Strong expertise in SMPP, SS7 (MAP/CAP), Diameter, SIP, HTTP/REST APIs.
• Define integration with BSS/OSS, OCS/OFCS, PCRF/PCF, mediation systems, and external enterprise platforms.
• Ensure seamless interoperability between legacy telecom nodes and IMS core networks.
• Expertise in SMS Firewall use cases, including A2P/P2P filtering, grey route prevention, anti-spam, and fraud control mechanisms.

Performance, Security & Optimization

• Define and validate capacity planning, performance benchmarking, and throughput optimization.
• Ensure security compliance, including firewall rules, access control, signaling security, and DDoS protection strategies.
• Conduct root cause analysis (RCA) for critical issues and provide architectural fixes.

Customer Engagement & Technical Leadership

• Act as a technical authority in customer discussions, design workshops, and solution reviews.
• Provide deployment strategy and BoQ inputs for new and existing projects.
• Mentor engineering and delivery teams on best practices, architecture standards, and troubleshooting approaches.
• Collaborate with product teams for feature enhancements and roadmap alignment based on field experience.
• Co-ordinate with support team for understanding feature parity for version upgrades.

Required Skills & Experience Domain & Technical Expertise

• 8–12 years of experience in telecom core network and messaging domain.
• Hands-on experience with SMSC, USSD Gateway / USSI, and SMS Firewall platforms (deployment, integration, troubleshooting).
• Strong understanding of telecom signaling protocols (SS7, SMPP, Diameter, SIP).
• Experience with cloud-native architectures, containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Solid knowledge of Linux systems, networking (IP, routing, firewalling), and database fundamentals.

Deployment & Architecture

• Proven experience in large-scale telecom deployments (Tier-1 or Tier-2 operators).
• Expertise in designing on-premise, cloud, and hybrid architectures.
• Experience in high availability, disaster recovery (DR), and geo-redundancy setups.

Commercial & Presales Alignment

• Ability to contribute to BoQ preparation, solution sizing, and infrastructure planning.
• Support presales teams with technical solutioning, proposal inputs, and customer presentations.

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
• Effective communication and stakeholder management across technical and business teams.
• Ability to lead discussions with customer architects, network teams, and CXO-level stakeholders.
• High ownership with a structured and execution-driven approach.

AI Tools & Skills

• Working knowledge of AI/ML and Generative AI (LLMs, NLP, basic ML concepts).
• Hands-on exposure to frameworks such as LangChain and LlamaIndex.
• Understanding of RAG architectures, embeddings, vector databases, and prompt engineering.
• Experience with AI APIs and integrations (e.g., OpenAI, Microsoft Azure AI, Google Cloud AI).
• Familiarity with AI use cases such as chatbots, automation, and recommendation systems.
• Awareness of AI governance, data privacy, and ethical considerations.
• Ability to map business needs to AI solutions (BA) and design scalable AI architectures (Solution Architect).

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Telecom / Electronics / Computer Science) or equivalent.
• Certifications in cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP) and Kubernetes.
• Experience working with telecom product vendors or system integrators.