Business Architect

About Affinity Reply

Affinity Reply is a leading UK-based architecture consultancy focused exclusively on optimising IT/business alignment and minimising the cost of business and technology change. We distinguish ourselves by fostering trusted client relationships, ensuring successful outcomes through our proactive and insightful approach.

To meet the growing demands of our clients, we are looking for exceptional individuals passionate about driving digital transformation and delivering outstanding results.

Role Overview

As a Business Architect, you will play a crucial role in helping clients design and implement business solutions that align with their strategic objectives. You will work directly with senior client stakeholders, providing strategic guidance and thought leadership to transform business processes, capabilities, and systems. Your expertise will be key in bridging the gap between business needs and technological solutions, ensuring clients achieve sustainable business outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong, trusted relationships with stakeholders, understanding their business goals, challenges, and opportunities, and delivering tailored architectural solutions that meet their needs.
• Lead the design and development of business architecture frameworks and strategies that drive clients\’ business transformation efforts, aligning business processes and technology solutions with long-term strategic objectives.
• Analyse and optimise business processes, providing clients with actionable insights and recommendations to enhance operational efficiency and effectiveness.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including IT, project management, and delivery teams, to design and deliver business architecture solutions that meet client requirements and drive value.
• Establish and promote governance frameworks, methodologies, and best practices to ensure that business architecture initiatives are successfully implemented and maintained across client organisations.
• Lead and support clients through organisational change, ensuring that business architecture changes are effectively planned and smoothly implemented, tracking realisation of agreed benefits across the delivery lifecycle.
• Proactively identify and mitigate business risks related to business architecture initiatives, ensuring minimal disruption to client operations.
• Provide guidance and mentorship to junior consultants, fostering the development of business architecture expertise within the consultancy.
• Stay up to date with industry trends, new methodologies, and tools, and leverage this knowledge to continuously improve our consulting offerings and deliver maximum value to clients.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong ability to engage with clients at all levels, build rapport quickly, understand their business needs, and develop customised solutions that consistently exceed expectations.
• Expertise in aligning business processes, technology, and capabilities with clients\’ long-term business strategies to drive growth and transformation.
• Ability to work with a high degree of autonomy and lead client engagements, influence senior stakeholders, and guide decision-making.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to solve complex business challenges and recommend innovative solutions.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex concepts into clear, actionable recommendations for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• The capacity to adapt to changing business needs, technologies, and methodologies, coupled with a continuous learning mindset to stay abreast of industry trends and best practices.
• A collaborative mindset with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams, fostering positive relationships and aligning efforts towards common goals.

Education and Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in business, information technology, or a related field is required.
• A formally recognised Business Architecture certification (CBA, BCS, TOGAF).
• Demonstrable experience in Business Architecture including utilisation of relevant tools, frameworks and models.
• Proven track record in managing business change and leading teams, including a mature understanding of project management and delivery methodologies.
• Experience across Financial Services is highly beneficial.

Reply is an Equal Opportunities Employer and committed to embracing diversity in the workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender, identity, pregnancy, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, medical history, skin colour, marital status or parental status or any other characteristic protected by the Law.

Reply is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, please let us know of any Reasonable Adjustments you may need.