IT Domain Architect - Energy Sector - Brussels - ASAP Start - Freelance Only

A major European player in the energy transmission sector is seeking a senior IT Domain Architect to support the transformation and long‑term sustainability of critical energy infrastructure.

You will work alongside internal teams and external experts to help design and evolve a reliable, secure and future‑proof digital landscape supporting large‑scale physical assets. The organisation operates in a highly regulated, safety‑critical environment and plays a key role in the energy transition.

Diversity, inclusion and collaboration are core values, with the belief that diverse perspectives drive better outcomes and innovation.

The Domain Architect – Asset Management will join the IT Architecture function, with a dedicated focus on the Asset Management domain, which underpins infrastructure operations and grid reliability.

Your mission is to ensure that the Asset domain IT landscape is coherent, secure, operable and future‑proof, while remaining aligned with corporate strategy and regulatory obligations.

This is a pragmatic, delivery‑oriented architecture role. You will act as a bridge between business strategy and IT execution, translating business capabilities into concrete, scalable architecture blueprints that support safe and reliable operations.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture & Design

• Work closely with Business Architecture to translate business capabilities into actionable IT roadmaps.
• Transform complex business processes into clear, implementable IT architecture blueprints.
• Ensure architectural consistency across solution lifecycle phases (build, run, evolve, retire).

Standards, Governance & Decision‑Making

• Define and enforce domain‑specific architecture principles aligned with group and local standards.
• Present and defend architectural designs within formal governance bodies.
• Document decisions via Architectural Decision Records (ADRs).
• Prevent architectural drift and manage technical debt.
• Monitor SLA/OLA performance and identify domain‑level risks.

Application & Platform Portfolio Management

• Maintain a single source of truth for the Asset IT portfolio within the Enterprise Architecture repository.
• Conduct portfolio assessments (e.g. TIME, 6R) with Business and IT stakeholders.
• Identify reuse and rationalisation opportunities to reduce cost and complexity.
• Guide Solution Architects to ensure alignment with domain strategy and quality standards.

Strategic Advisory

• Perform trade‑off analyses (cost, risk, complexity, time‑to‑value) to support executive decision‑making.
• Review Solution Architecture deliverables for domain consistency.
• Develop and maintain domain roadmaps anticipating regulatory, technological and system evolution.
• Advise senior stakeholders on long‑term architectural implications of asset‑related decisions.

Data, Integration & Information Architecture

• Govern asset and operational data models, integration patterns and data ownership.
• Ensure interoperability between enterprise systems, operational/control systems and analytics platforms.
• Coordinate with Data Architecture teams to ensure semantic consistency and data quality.

Security, Resilience & Compliance

• Embed security, availability, resilience and compliance requirements into domain architectures.
• Ensure alignment with regulatory, safety and cyber‑security obligations.
• Define architectural measures for business continuity and disaster recovery.

Core Competencies

• Strong stakeholder communication skills, from executive to technical teams.
• Strategic mindset, balancing innovation, resilience, compliance and operability.
• Collaborative leadership across architecture disciplines.
• Comfortable operating within architectural governance and accountable for domain‑level decisions.

Technical & Professional Experience

• Strong experience with TOGAF and ArchiMate, applied pragmatically.
• Hands‑on experience with Domain‑Driven Design (DDD), Event Storming and Agile Architecture.
• Familiarity with architecture evaluation methods (e.g. ATAM, TIME).
• Proven background in Energy & Utilities, Asset Management or infrastructure‑heavy environments.
• Understanding of IT/OT integration, safety‑critical systems and operational constraints.

Languages

• Native‑level proficiency in Dutch, French or German.
• Professional proficiency in English.
• Additional languages are a plus.

For non‑EU candidates

• Must hold a valid work permit for Belgium
• Must have a residence permit confirming right of residence