Head of Architecture (Media) in London

Head of Architecture (Media) in London

London Full-Time 60000 - 80000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead architectural vision and governance for innovative media technology solutions.
  • Company: Global leader in premium media and entertainment with a creative edge.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, professional development, and opportunities for global impact.
  • Other info: Join a collaborative team focused on continuous learning and technical excellence.
  • Why this job: Shape the future of media technology and drive creative outcomes at scale.
  • Qualifications: Experience in enterprise architecture, particularly in cloud-native environments.

The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.

Our client is a global leader in premium media and entertainment, operating at scale across the creation, production, and distribution of digital content. The organisation is widely recognised for its creative output and global reach, with its technology function playing a central role in enabling the full lifecycle of content—from initial development and production through to post-production, distribution, and global delivery.

The technology organisation supports world-class storytelling by delivering secure, scalable, and highly automated production workflows. It leverages modern cloud-native architectures, data platforms, artificial intelligence, media asset management systems, and advanced post-production tooling to enable creative teams to work efficiently at global scale. Cloud infrastructure, particularly AWS, underpins much of this ecosystem, providing elastic compute, media processing, storage, and global delivery capabilities that ensure performance, resilience, and cost efficiency.

The Head of Architecture is responsible for defining, evolving, and governing enterprise and solution architecture across the technology landscape. This role establishes architectural vision, principles, standards, and reusable reference architectures that guide engineering teams in building secure, scalable, and resilient platforms and products. Reporting into senior technology leadership, the role provides architectural leadership across multiple domains, ensuring alignment with broader enterprise architecture and group technology strategy.

It plays a key part in shaping the long-term technology roadmap in partnership with Product, Engineering, and Delivery leaders, balancing innovation with operational stability, cost efficiency, and delivery velocity. A core responsibility is ensuring that engineering execution aligns with architectural intent. This includes leading design assurance processes, reviewing solution designs, and maintaining governance over non-functional requirements such as security, scalability, availability, performance, observability, sustainability, and regulatory compliance.

The role also oversees the management of technical risk, architectural debt, and dependency complexity across a distributed global engineering environment. In addition, the Head of Architecture drives consistency in engineering best practices across cloud-native development, AI, DevOps, platform engineering, and API-first design. Strong emphasis is placed on AWS services and patterns, including microservices architecture, containerisation (EKS/ECS), serverless computing (Lambda), infrastructure-as-code (CloudFormation/Terraform), and data-driven architecture to support modern media workflows.

Beyond technical leadership, the role requires strong governance and stakeholder engagement. The Head of Architecture represents the organisation in senior architecture and engineering forums, influencing strategic decisions and ensuring clarity of trade-offs between speed, cost, risk, and long-term sustainability. The role also ensures architectural standards are embedded consistently across global delivery teams.

A key aspect of the position is capability development. The successful candidate will help build a high-performing architecture and engineering community, fostering continuous learning, technical excellence, and knowledge sharing. This includes mentoring senior engineers and architects, strengthening leadership capability, and supporting long-term talent development.

The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in enterprise and solution architecture within large-scale, complex environments, ideally within media, entertainment, or similarly sophisticated digital organisations. They will possess strong hands-on expertise across modern cloud platforms, particularly AWS, and a proven track record of delivering cloud-native transformation programmes.

We are particularly interested in speaking with experienced Lead Architects, Principal Architects, or senior technical leaders who are operating at that level and are ready to take the next step into a Head of Architecture position. Candidates who have demonstrated architectural leadership, influenced technology strategy, and successfully partnered with engineering and product organisations at scale will be well positioned for success in this role.

Professional certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional, AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, or equivalent cloud architecture qualifications are highly desirable, alongside broader architecture frameworks such as TOGAF or similar. Strong stakeholder management, excellent communication skills, and the ability to translate complex architectural concepts into clear, actionable direction are essential.

The successful individual will be a strategic thinker with strong commercial awareness, able to balance agility with governance and long-term platform sustainability. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a collaborative and forward-thinking technology leader who thrives in complex, global environments and is passionate about enabling creative outcomes through modern, scalable, cloud-first technology platforms. It offers an excellent opportunity for an accomplished architect—or an exceptional Lead Architect ready for their next career step—to shape the future architecture strategy of a world-class media and entertainment organisation.

Head of Architecture (Media) in London employer: Morson Edge (Technology)

As a global leader in premium media and entertainment, our client offers an exceptional work environment that fosters creativity and innovation. Employees benefit from a collaborative culture that prioritises continuous learning and professional development, with ample opportunities to influence cutting-edge technology strategies. Located in a dynamic industry, the company provides a unique chance to work with advanced cloud-native architectures and AI-driven solutions, ensuring that team members are at the forefront of digital transformation in media.

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Contact Details:

Morson Edge (Technology) Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Head of Architecture (Media) in London

Get Your Portfolio Game On Point

As an aspiring architect, your portfolio is your golden ticket. Make sure it's not just a collection of your best work, but tells a story about your design process and creative thought. Showcase a range of projects, from conceptual sketches to final renderings—think of it as a visual CV!

Slide into Networking Events

Architecture thrives on community connections, so keep an eye out for local architecture meetups, exhibitions, and lectures. These events are gold for meeting industry professionals, and who knows? You might just bump into someone from Morson Edge (Technology) who can give you the insider scoop on their hiring process!

Learn the Software Inside Out

Make sure you're up to speed with design software like AutoCAD, Revit, and SketchUp. Being able to discuss your proficiency during interviews can really set you apart. Plus, if you can mention particular projects where you’ve used them, you’ll demonstrate both skill and practical experience.

Refine Your Interview Skills

Interviews for architecture roles can get quite technical, so practice answering questions about your design process and decision-making strategies. Prepare for potential design challenges they might put forward in interviews—show them you can think on your feet and come up with innovative solutions!

We think you need these skills to ace Head of Architecture (Media) in London

Enterprise Architecture
Solution Architecture
Cloud-native Architectures
AWS Services
Microservices Architecture
Containerisation (EKS/ECS)
Serverless Computing (Lambda)

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show Off Your Design Skills:Architecture is all about creativity and technical skills, so make sure your portfolio is front and centre! Include a range of your best projects, showcasing different styles and techniques. Don't forget to explain your design process and the challenges you overcame for each project – it gives hiring managers a glimpse into your thought process!

Tailor Your CV to Architecture:When putting together your CV, highlight relevant experience in architectural design software, like AutoCAD or Revit. Plus, if you have any internships or coursework that involved real-world projects, be sure to mention them. We want to see not just what you've done, but how it relates directly to this role at Morson Edge (Technology)!

Craft a Compelling Cover Letter:Your cover letter is your chance to express your passion for architecture and what drew you to Morson Edge (Technology). Talk about specific projects or values of theirs you admire, and how you see yourself contributing to their team. We want to feel your enthusiasm – let it shine through your words!

Use Professional Terminology:Don't shy away from using industry-specific jargon that demonstrates your expertise! Terms like 'sustainability', 'scale', and 'aesthetics' can not only show your knowledge but also help you connect with the hiring team. Just ensure it's done in a way that's relatable and not overly technical, so we can see your passion clearly!

How to prepare for a job interview at Morson Edge (Technology)

Master the Technical Questions

In an architecture interview, be ready to tackle some technical questions about building codes, design principles, and software like AutoCAD or Revit. Brush up on your knowledge of materials and components, as you might even face scenarios to solve during the interview that showcase your problem-solving skills in real-time.

Bring Your Portfolio to Life

Your portfolio is your golden ticket! Make sure it not only showcases your best work but also highlights your design thinking process, from sketches to final outputs. During the interview, be prepared to discuss the projects in detail—what challenges you faced, how you overcame them, and what you learnt.

Demonstrate Your Passion for Sustainability

In today's architecture landscape, sustainability is key. Be sure to highlight any projects that involved eco-friendly designs or your understanding of sustainable practices. This will show that you’re not just familiar with the trends but are genuinely passionate about creating a better future through your designs.

Engage with Your Interviewers

Architecture is a collaborative field, so showing that you're a team player is essential. When conversing with the interviewers, actively listen and respond to their ideas. This isn’t just about you showing off your skills, but also about connecting and demonstrating how well you’d fit into their team at Morson Edge (Technology).