The Functional Architect Role

High-level definition of the Functional Architect role

The role of the Functional Architect is a blend between Business Analyst, Product Manager, and Usability/UX Analyst. On many projects the FA is the Logical Solution owner who works along side the technical architect to design the functional behavior of a system.

This role is very similar to a product manager except that the functional architect is generally not concerned with all of the product management tasks such as release management, time to market, etc.

This role is very similar to a Business Analyst except that, even on larger, projects there is only one FA on a project who is concerned with the overall vision of the product, functions, and features of an application. Whereas the job of the Business Analyst is to get into the details the Functional Architect tends to remain at the high/conceptual level of an application.

Other common titles for this role are: Business Analyst, Product Manager, etc.