Solution Architect in Sunderland

At Munich Re Specialty – Global Markets (MRS-GM), it is our ambition to become the leading Primary Specialty Insurance provider, underpinned by an effective and adaptable strategy, superior products and industry leaders working in a supportive environment to achieve this. At the heart of our success is a strong culture where people are encouraged to be present, bold and curious, allowing them to achieve their individual goals.

We are currently looking for a Solutions Architect to be based in Manchester on a full-time basis, reporting into the Head of Subsection – Architecture Delivery. We’re adding to our diverse team of experts and are looking to hire those who are committed to building a culture that enables the creation of innovative solutions for our business units and clients.

Responsibilities

• Develop application and system roadmaps associated with applications transformation and modernisation.
• Develop flexible, adaptable, modular, and reusable solution designs in collaboration with business stakeholders and the IT development teams while ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards.
• Support the definition of high‑level operational models, and prepare business cases in alignment with the IT security and quality guidelines.
• Present business cases, for operational and tactical technical initiatives, for approval, funding and prioritisation.
• Uphold appropriate solution architecture governance processes and tools while maintaining focus on design patterns and technology standards.
• Be the accountable individual for the finalisation, acceptance and approval of solutions you architected, by relevant stakeholders.
• Act as an enabler of Agile and DevSecOps practices in collaboration with product delivery and operation support teams.
• Explore, evaluate and promote technology innovation within the organisation.
• Review high‑level designs with technical leads and developers, review code, enforce best practices, assist with debugging critical issues, and enforce performance testing to deliver efficient and performant applications.
• Be the responsible individual to identify technology risk(s) of initiatives you are leading as an architect and develop corresponding mitigation strategies.
• Stay current on, evaluate and recommend the use of cutting‑edge technologies and methods, considering their technical pros and limitations.
• Leverage market and technology trends to identify the business benefits of alternative technical solutions.
• Support the requirements gathering process to right‑size initiatives and solution strategy.
• Collaborate with development teams and assist with the application of Agile and DevSecOps techniques within architecture and designs.
• Create comprehensive solution architecture specification documents and other required documentation.

Knowledge and Skills

• Exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills, with thorough attention to detail.
• Excellent planning, documentation and problem‑solving skills.
• Knowledge of design and implementation of solutions and systems using custom built and CoTS / MoTS applications hosted in the cloud and on‑prem.
• Experience designing solutions including policy administration systems, ERP and customer / agent‑facing portals.
• Substantial knowledge of the system development life cycle and the scaled agile methodology.
• Certifications preferred; TOGAF certification is a significant plus.
• Demonstrate competence to work at the highest technical level of all phases of system architecture design, using state‑of‑the‑art rule/framework‑based architecture, object‑oriented component analysis and proficiency in web‑based systems architecture, service‑based architecture and enterprise application architecture.
• Ability to guide and mentor development teams on sound design and coding principles, best practices in API based, Micro Services and Cloud technologies.
• Experience in integration architectures from Service Bus to API mediation and event bus models.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary technologies and business trends that allows architecture to solve problems in a creative and cost‑effective manner.
• Experience developing roadmaps outlining the evolution of the enterprise application portfolio from current to desired state.
• Bachelor’s degree or above in Computer science or related tech discipline or equivalent work experience.
• Deep Knowledge and proven hands‑on experience with cloud technologies.
• 7+ years’ of IT experience with 6+ years of architecture experience.
• Demonstrated leadership skills.

If you are excited about this role but your experience does not align perfectly with everything outlined, or you don’t meet every requirement, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the candidate we are looking for!