Amadeus Labs - Principal Functional Architect

Role Purpose :

The Solution Manager / Functional Architect is accountable for end-to-end functional ownership of Connectivity Distribution solutions.

The role ensures technical and functional excellence, acts as a reference and leader in their domain, and drives the definition, validation and evolution of complex, cross-functional solutions aligned with Amadeus business strategy.

The position operates with a high level of autonomy, based on management direction, and contributes to large's cale, cross-ART and cross-product initiatives.

It plays a critical role in translating business needs into robust, scalable and production-ready solutions, from requirements to deployment.

Key Callout :

- Strong understanding of Hotel IT ecosystem CRS, OTAs, PMS, Channel Managers, etc.

- Ability to deep dive into requirements and devise functional solution impacting multiple products.

- Flexible to work with global teams Customers, Partners, Internal Amadeus teams.

- Should be able to elicit requirements from Customers, Product Managers and other key stakeholders.

- Assess multiple solution options and take data backed decisions, solution chosen should be scalable, easily maintainable, etc.

Key Accountabilities (Aligned To Amadeus Job Architecture) :

Technical & Functional Excellence :

- Acts as a recognised functional leader and reference for Connectivity Distribution, in line with Amadeus Expert/Senior profile expectations.

- Demonstrates excellence and establishes standards for product definition activities, including :

a. Functional specifications.

b. Solution design.

c. Resolution of highly complex functional and technical problems.

- Consolidates, structures and articulates business needs and improvement opportunities into :

a. New product concepts.

b. Product enhancements and upgrades.

- Plans, conducts and directs the analysis of highly complex business problems with broad impact on products, customers and operations.

- Acts as the functional entry point for the Connectivity Distribution area for :

a. Cross-area solution design.

b. Complex scenarios and new product initiatives.

c. Architecture proposals in collaboration with architects.

- Supports Customer-facing teams, including participation in Business Requirement Matrix (BRM) assessments.

- Proposes and/or reviews solution sizing for complex and cross-functional initiatives within the assigned scope.

- Reviews and validates specifications and solution proposals to ensure feasibility, consistency, quality and alignment with architecture principles.

- Creates and implements internal and external customer feedback mechanisms to continuously improve product quality and customer satisfaction.

- Applies a structured problem's olving methodology, ensuring appropriate documentation and traceability.

- Performs process engineering and business flow assessments to drive solution re-engineering where required.

- In case of system failure :

a. Proposes recovery and action plans.

b. Defines risk mitigation strategies.

c. Provides recommendations for long-term improvements.

- Ensures compliance with Amadeus governance and processes, including :

a. State of Requirements.

b. Project Change Proposal (PCP).

c. High-Level Architecture Design.

d. R&D project follow-up from requirements to production.

Continuous Improvement :

- Makes concrete recommendations to revamp and improve documentation, ensuring it is complete, accurate and usable across teams.

- Identifies and drives process improvements related to :

a. Specifications.

b. Solution design.

c. Documentation.

d. Proactive maintenance and quality practices.

e. Overview Validation & Quality Assurance :

- Contributes to the test strategy definition and reviews test plans to ensure :

a. Functional compliance.

b. System integrity.

c. End-to-end consistency.

- Ensures traceability between requirements, specifications and tests.

- Ensures production integrity by investigating, validating and prioritising incidents in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

Building Relationships & Knowledge Sharing :

- Actively contributes to the PDA Community and other relevant Amadeus communities related to the role (e. Maintenance).

- Coaches and mentors team members on product definition and solution design skills, driving professionalisation and best practices.

- Provides guidance, training and mentorship to :

a. Product Definition Analysts.

b. QA Engineers.

c. Software Development Engineers.

- Actively supports on-boarding of new colleagues, ensuring effective knowledge transfer.

- Acts as a functional consultant for internal and external users on detailed product capabilities.

- Serves as a key communication conduit between engineering, architecture, QA, product and customer-facing teams.

- Supports development teams by :

a. Clarifying functional behaviour.

b. Addressing testing issues.

c. Delivering training on new products.

- Tracks delivery planning aspects for service or product deployment, contributing to :

a. Customer relationship management.

b. Cost and timeline challenges.

- Shares advanced knowledge of :

a. System flows.

b. Engineering documentation.

c. Tools and architecture concepts.

- Ensures a shared understanding of business and product objectives across stakeholders.

Participation in Team & ART Events :

- Actively supports teams and ART stakeholders by participating in :

a. Agile ceremonies.

b. ART forums.

c. Solution assessments and reviews.

Contribution to Product Promotion :

- Supports feature definition and scoping and contributes to RFP/RFI responses.

- Provides content for :

a. Product documentation.

b. Sales tools and commercial collateral.

- Delivers presentations, demos and enablement sessions for customers and customer-facing teams.

- Contributes to the preparation and execution of key product events, ensuring successful launches and follow-up.

Expected Level of Autonomy & Impact (Amadeus-Aligned) :

- Works with high autonomy, guided by management direction.

- Leads initiatives or contributes to broad, cross-functional and cross-ART projects.

- May contribute to resource planning and budget discussions.

- Recognised as a leader in their functional domain, capable of formally training Specialists and Senior Specialists.