Interim Projects Architecture Lead (12 month FTC) in London

Location: London

Contract Type: Contract

Work Pattern: Full Time and Hybrid

About The Job

Reporting to the Chief Data, Digital & AI (CDDAO), MS Amlin is seeking an experienced architecture leader to define and oversee the enterprise technology architecture required to underpin the company's transformation. The successful candidate will ensure that architecture decisions support the business strategy, simplify the technology landscape, reduce operational risk, and enable innovation through cloud modernisation, data enhancement, and emerging technologies such as AI. The Interim Projects Architecture Lead will develop and lead the architecture function, ensure alignment with Group standards, and play a central role in major technology investments — including technology selection decisions. Deep familiarity with technology solutions used within specialty insurance and reinsurance markets will be highly advantageous. This is a unique opportunity to influence the future technology direction of a top‐tier Lloyd's syndicate undergoing meaningful transformation.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading on the technology architecture for MS Amlin, with the following direct responsibilities:
• Defining and owning the enterprise architecture strategy ensuring alignment with business goals, regulatory requirements, and group technology standards.
• Leading the future‐state design of MS Amlin's application, data, cloud, and integration architectures, ensuring resilience, interoperability, scalability, and security.
• Partnering with business stakeholders to translate strategic objectives into technology capabilities and roadmaps.
• Guiding major application selection decisions, particularly in underwriting, claims, pricing/actuarial, risk, finance, and operations.
• Overseeing solution architecture for major change initiatives, ensuring quality and alignment with enterprise architecture.
• Evaluating emerging technologies and provide thought leadership on their relevance to specialty insurance and reinsurance.
• Managing architectural governance, standards, and decision‐making frameworks, ensuring consistent adoption across technology teams aligned with Group governance.
• Developing and leading a high‐performing architecture team, embedding modern engineering and architectural principles.
• Simplifying and rationalising the application estate, designing a coherent platform landscape that reduces complexity and enhances value.
• Collaborating closely with Group architecture teams to ensure adherence to group‐wide patterns, controls, and standards.
• Supporting and collaborating the broader MS Amlin team with:
• Evolving the cloud strategy, ensuring appropriate use of cloud services, landing zones, and shared capabilities.
• Shaping the data architecture vision, including data governance, analytics platforms, integration patterns, and the enablement of AI.
• Supporting procurement and vendor selection, ensuring architectural integrity in contract and solution design.
• Ensuring compliance with regulatory and security requirements, embedding architecture practices that minimise operational and technology risk.
• Influencing and supporting transformation initiative.

What you'll need

Experience

• Significant experience in senior architecture leadership roles within the Financial Services industry, with experience in London Markets, speciality and reinsurance beneficial.
• Deep understanding of core insurance platforms, underwriting systems, pricing/actuarial models, exposure management, claims systems, data and AI solutions, and regulatory reporting tooling.
• Proven track record of driving architectural transformation, ideally involving cloud modernisation, platform consolidation, and application rationalisation.
• Strong background in enterprise, solution, and data architecture, with experience designing end‐to‐end architectures across the full IT stack.
• Experience selecting and implementing COTS and SaaS platforms and leading major technology assessment and selection processes.
• Skilled in developing and influencing technology roadmaps, standards, and governance frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of cloud (Azure or similar), modern integration patterns (APIs, event‐driven), and scalable data architectures.
• Understanding of AI/ML enablement and how modern data platforms support intelligence and automation.
• Experience working within regulated environments and managing architectural controls aligned to risk management frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with senior leaders, business stakeholders, and third‐party vendors.

Skills and Competencies

• Exceptional communication and influencing skills; able to articulate complex technical strategies in business language.
• Strong leadership with the ability to build credibility quickly and inspire confidence across executive and technical teams.
• Pragmatic, commercially minded, and capable of balancing long‐term strategy with immediate delivery needs.
• Highly analytical with strong problem‐solving capabilities; able to operate effectively within ambiguity.
• Demonstrates resilience, adaptability, and a collaborative approach.
• Brings gravitas, sound judgement, and an ability to challenge constructively.
• Committed to fostering an inclusive culture and developing high‐performing architectural talent.

What Can You Expect From Us?

As well as a competitive base salary and performance‐related discretionary bonus, benefits include access to MS Amlin employee benefits. Hybrid working is a model: teams typically do 3 days a week in the office.

Hybrid Working

At MS Amlin we operate a hybrid working model to empower our people with flexibility to blend where they work. We value collaboration and believe that we work better together, our teams typically do 3 days a week in the office.