Enterprise Architect in Cheltenham

This is a high-impact Enterprise Architecture role within a large, complex organisation undertaking significant transformation across its research and innovation capabilities.

You will operate at the heart of strategy, working directly with senior leadership to shape how technology enables cutting-edge research. While aligned to the research domain, this role has enterprise-wide influence, contributing to broader business and IT strategy across multiple functions.

This is not a hands-on technical design role. Instead, you will act as a strategic advisor, helping senior stakeholders make informed decisions, navigating complex regulatory environments, and ensuring technology investment aligns with long-term organisational goals.

What You'll Be Doing

• Shaping and evolving enterprise-wide IT and business architecture strategy, aligning immediate change demand with long-term transformation objectives.
• Developing and maintaining business capability models to articulate current and future state architecture.
• Identifying capability gaps, duplication and optimisation opportunities, particularly within research and innovation services.
• Defining high-level 'As-Is' and 'To-Be' architectures and supporting the creation of business and technology roadmaps.
• Acting as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, including external partners, translating complex technical concepts into clear, business-focused outcomes.
• Supporting major programmes by providing architectural direction, ensuring solutions are aligned to enterprise strategy and deliver measurable value.
• Leading and coordinating architectural activity across multiple initiatives, ensuring consistency, quality and alignment.
• Supporting the development and maturity of the organisation's Enterprise Architecture function, standards and governance.
• Working closely with leadership across IT and research, including a dotted-line relationship into Research IT, to ensure alignment of priorities and delivery.
• Contributing to business case development and ensuring architecture underpins strategic decision-making.

Key Focus Areas

• Research and innovation platforms, services and partnerships.
• Navigating complex stakeholder environments, including collaboration with healthcare and research organisations.
• Supporting secure and compliant research environments, including frameworks and regulatory considerations.
• Enabling effective management of research systems, contracts, and funding-related processes.
• Driving business process understanding and re-engineering across research capabilities.

What They're Looking For

Essential Experience

• Proven experience operating as an Enterprise Architect or in a senior architecture role within a large, complex organisation.
• Strong track record of developing enterprise strategies, capability models and architectural roadmaps.
• Experience working across multiple architecture domains, including business, application and technology.
• Ability to operate at a strategic level, engaging senior stakeholders and influencing decision-making.
• Demonstrable experience translating business needs into technology-enabled outcomes, and vice versa.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end delivery, from early concept through to implementation and business change.
• Experience leading or coordinating architectural teams, often in matrix or non-line management structures.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences.

Highly Desirable

• Exposure to research, healthcare, or similarly regulated environments.
• Understanding of secure and compliant research practices and associated standards (e.g. ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, NHS DSP Toolkit, or similar).
• Awareness of high-performance or research computing environments, such as GPU/CPU architectures, high-performance storage or advanced networking (beneficial but not essential).
• Familiarity with research-related software ecosystems or AI/ML tooling (e.g. PyTorch or similar), at a conceptual level.
• Experience working with external partner organisations where stakeholder engagement is commercially or strategically sensitive.

What Will Make You Stand Out

• A well-rounded architectural background, rather than deep specialism in a single domain.
• The ability to navigate ambiguity and complex governance or regulatory approval processes.
• A natural influencer who can build credibility quickly and establish strong relationships across diverse stakeholder groups.
• A focus on outcomes and business value, rather than getting drawn too deeply into technical detail.
• A passion for helping organisations mature their Enterprise Architecture capability and embed best practice.

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to shape how a major organisation enables research and innovation through technology, influencing strategic direction while working with some of the most complex and interesting challenges in the sector.

You'll be empowered to operate at a senior level, drive real change, and help build a more mature, effective Enterprise Architecture function.