At a Glance
- Tasks: Design innovative solutions and ensure high-quality delivery for clients' business needs.
- Company: Join a leading financial tech company with a focus on collaboration and innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic team environment with mentorship opportunities and career advancement.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by shaping solutions that drive business success.
- Qualifications: 5+ years in development, strong communication skills, and a passion for problem-solving.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
The Solutions Architect is responsible for consulting with clients and ensuring high quality designs that are practical, deliverable, and maintain the integrity of FNZ’s products and services that help clients meet their business objectives.
Specific Role Responsibilities
- Contribute towards business requirements and ensure the underlying business problem is understood throughout FNZ.
- Produce technical and/or functional designs that fulfil the requirements, are commercially viable and technically achievable.
- Participate throughout the software development lifecycle to ensure the project stays true to the design vision and the client’s needs, and that the design is responsive to challenges encountered during build.
- Maintain the functional integrity of the primary areas of the delivery team.
- Act as subject matter expert for nominated areas of the delivery team.
Requirements
- The Solutions Architect will gather, review, validate and provide feedback on requirements for solutions and products, to ensure that the requirement:
- Fully and coherently expresses the underlying business need for change.
- Includes a full consideration of non‑functional requirements.
- May reasonably be answered by a development that will be consistent both with existing technical architecture and the product roadmap.
Design
- On allocated projects, the Solutions Architect will be the overall solutions architect and be responsible for the design.
- On other projects, the Solutions Architect may support other members of the delivery team.
- The Solutions Architect will be responsible for the production and documentation of designs.
- Designs must:
- Meet all the agreed functional and technical requirements.
- Take account of and meet the agreed non‑functional requirements.
- Be documented fully according to FNZ standards for design documentation.
- Utilise the technology framework in which products are built.
- Be clearly and easily traceable to the requirements.
- Deliver usable functionality (intuitive, transparent, easy to test, maintainable, recoverable).
- Be consistent with the functional and data architectures of all FNZ’s products.
- Correctly utilise existing software components and refactor as necessary to generalise their function.
- Review and provide constructive feedback and help ensure the high quality of designs done by others within the delivery teams.
- Contribute to wider FNZ design meetings, including sharing best practices, sharing architectural decisions and gathering feedback on proposed designs, and providing constructive feedback to designs from others.
- Use best practice principles of good software architecture.
Project Build and Delivery Participation
- The Solutions Architect will participate in all software projects for which they act as designer, throughout the build, delivery, implementation and support phases.
- Provide a handover of the design to the delivery team via design walkthroughs and help lead estimation sessions.
- Provide client walkthroughs and demos.
- Be available to both the delivery team and external stakeholders such as regression testing, releases, documentation, implementation, consultancy and support to answer questions about the design.
- Ensure that the design is built correctly.
- Amend the design if problems emerge during the build and test phases.
- Participate in development and test activities on a project where extra capacity is required.
Product Owner Responsibilities
- Ensure that changes within their stream support the product vision and strategy.
- Support and assist the sales and marketing team throughout the sales process, including software demonstrations.
- Participate in product webinars.
- Develop other people’s expertise in primary areas of responsibilities.
- Assist Delivery and Project Managers in putting project plans together.
- Raise any issues encountered promptly with key stakeholders.
- Fulfil the Product Owner role on Scrum projects.
Other Duties
- Document existing designs within an FNZ product where full documentation does not already exist.
- Act as a consultant in areas of expertise, both internally and externally to clients.
- Devise and deliver training courses in areas of expertise.
- Assist the production support team in triage of client support issues in their functional areas.
- Help mentor more junior members of the team.
Essential Requirements
- Significant relevant prior development experience ideally in RPG and Java (5+ years).
- Customer facing experience.
- Significant experience with Figaro (5+ years) in either a development or a consultancy environment.
- Significant knowledge of the financial industry.
- Experience of mentoring more junior members of a team.
- Confident, and able to take initiative in a client and delivery focused environment.
- Commercially aware.
- Excellent organisational, administration and time management skills.
- Good team communication skills, confident in dealing with internal and external clients.
- Highly developed written and oral communication skills.
- Superior analytical thinking and problem solving.
Solution Architect in Birmingham employer: FNZ
FNZ is an exceptional employer for a Solutions Architect, offering a dynamic work environment that fosters innovation and collaboration. With a strong focus on employee growth, FNZ provides ample opportunities for professional development and mentorship, ensuring that team members can thrive in their careers. Located in a vibrant area, the company promotes a culture of inclusivity and support, making it an ideal place for those seeking meaningful and rewarding employment.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Solution Architect in Birmingham
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at FNZ or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to FNZ.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like FNZ.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like FNZ that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Solution Architect in Birmingham
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at FNZ.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at FNZ and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at FNZ
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If FNZ uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
