Software architects are required to undertake different types of duties, not all of which are technical. Software architects combine their experience, knowledge, and skills, both technical and non-technical, to fulfill such duties. Software architects will be expected to have a firm grasp of designing software architectures, architecture patterns, and best practices.
Software architects should have the ability to foresee possible issues and design architectures to overcome them. They should be able to mitigate risks and evaluate solutions such that they can select the proper one to resolve a particular problem. While some of the skills and duties of a software architect are similar to what a senior developer might do, it is a very different role. Software architects shoulder a greater amount of responsibility, and there is a larger expectation of what a software architect brings to a project.
Senior developers have a great depth of knowledge regarding the technologies that they use on a project. They are highly proficient in the languages, tools, frameworks, and databases that are used in their software systems. While software architects are expected to have this depth of knowledge as well, they must also possess a wide breadth of knowledge. They need to be familiar with technologies that are not currently being used in the organization so that they can make informed decisions about the design of the architecture.
Ideally, software architects have the breadth of knowledge to be aware of multiple solutions to a problem and understand the trade-offs between them. It can be just as important for a software architect to understand why a particular solution will not work as it is to understand why one will.