Solution Architect, Cargo Management Systems

About WhiteCrow

We are global talent research, insight, and sourcing specialists with offices in the UK, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Dubai, and India. Our international reach has helped us to understand and penetrate specialist markets at a global level. In addition to this, our service is also extended to complement our client's in-house talent acquisition teams.

About our client

Our client is a globally recognized organization headquartered in Southeast Asia, specializing in aviation support services, air cargo handling, ground operations, and institutional food solutions. The company provides a wide range of services, including passenger assistance, ramp and baggage handling, aviation security, aircraft cleaning, and laundry operations for the aviation sector.

Beyond aviation services, the organization operates large-scale central kitchens and food production facilities, catering to airlines, corporate clients, and institutions across diverse cuisines and service formats. With a strong presence across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa, the company supports global travel, trade, and logistics through an extensive international network, further strengthened by strategic acquisitions in recent years.

As a Solution Architect, Cargo Management Systems, you will be responsible for...

Target State Architecture and Convergence

• Defining and maintaining the target state architecture for cargo management systems across the global network, covering platform selection, consolidation, integration, and retirement
• Producing a roadmap that is sequencing how regional systems (Cargospot, COSYS+, ePic) are moving toward an agreed target, with clear architectural rationale for each decision
• Documenting and governing architecture decisions to ensure transparency, consistency, and auditability
• Maintaining a current-state map of the platform estate, including capability overlap, integration debt, and footprint reduction opportunities

Integration, Connectivity, and Data Architecture

• Defining integration standards and patterns for cargo systems, including airline connectivity (ONE Record, Cargo-XML, EDI), messaging, and API design
• Setting the data architecture for the cargo estate so that operational, customer, and commercial data flows are remaining consistent and reusable across stations
• Establishing interoperability requirements between cargo management systems and adjacent platforms
• Governing the technical aspects of customer-specific connectivity so that customer requests are being met without fragmenting the core platform

Change Order Validation and Cost Governance

• Reviewing and validating every material change order being raised against the cargo management systems to ensure it is justified by the actual scope of work
• Assessing the technical complexity of each change order independently and challenging vendor proposals where required
• Challenging inflated, padded, or over-scoped change orders and providing documented technical rationale for decisions
• Distinguishing change orders that are reflecting genuine new scope from those that should be falling within existing contractual obligations or standard product, thereby protecting the network from avoidable cost
• Maintaining a defensible record of change-order assessments so that platform spend is remaining traceable and auditable, and patterns of vendor over-scoping are becoming visible to leadership

Standards, Governance, and Technical Authority

• Owning the architectural standards against which regional implementations are being assessed, and running the technical review of material platform changes
• Providing architectural input into product governance
• Ensuring vendor solution designs are aligning with the target architecture and are not introducing avoidable lock-in
• Partnering with cybersecurity and enterprise architecture functions to ensure cargo platform architecture is meeting security, audit, and regulatory requirements

Delivery Partnership and Advisory

• Acting as the senior technical advisor to the Digital Product Management function, translating strategic direction into an executable systems blueprint
• Supporting platform evaluations and proofs of concept with rigorous technical assessment
• Providing architectural guidance to regional technology teams during implementation, migration, and cutover
• Communicating architecture clearly and plainly to non-technical leadership, while stating platform status honestly as live, in build, in pilot, or proposed

What you already have...

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related discipline required; postgraduate qualification preferred
• Recognised enterprise architecture certification valued: TOGAF 9.2 or equivalent
• Cargo Systems Domain (required): Deep, hands-on knowledge of cargo management systems and the cargo handling business is essential and non-negotiable for this role; ideally across more than one of Cargospot, COSYS+, or ePic, with a clear understanding of how these systems are used at station level in export, import, and special-handling flows.
• This knowledge is the basis on which the role validates change orders and holds the architectural line
• Change Order and Cost Assessment: Demonstrated ability to assess vendor change orders on cost, man-hour estimate, and technical complexity, and to challenge estimates that are not justified by the work; able to translate a technical scope into a defensible commercial judgement
• Solution and Systems Architecture: 10 or more years in technology delivery with a minimum 5 years in a solution or systems architecture role for enterprise operational platforms
• Integration and Connectivity: Strong practical experience with integration architecture, API design, and airline connectivity standards (ONE Record, Cargo-XML, EDI, IATA messaging)
• Platform Convergence: Demonstrated experience consolidating or rationalising a multi-system estate, including migration sequencing and footprint reduction
• Vendor Engagement: Proven experience evaluating and challenging platform vendors on architecture, integration, and total cost
• Cross-Regional Delivery: Experience operating across APAC, EMEA, and Americas with the cultural fluency to navigate regional system ownership and variation
• Sector Experience: Aviation, cargo, logistics, or other 24/7/365 operational environment strongly preferred