Lead Architect

Job Role: Lead Architect
Salary: £114,000 – £136,000 dependant on experience + 20% bonus + car allowance
Working location: Milton Keynes / London, Hybrid
Employment type: Full time, Permanent
Job Summary
We’re looking for a Lead Architect to provide strategic direction and leadership across NHBC’s enterprise, solution, data, integration, and technology architecture. Reporting to the Chief Data & Architecture Officer, you’ll set architectural standards, ensure coherence across solutions, and align technology investments with NHBC’s business strategy and transformation goals. You’ll lead NHBC’s architecture community, mentoring domain architects, driving secure by design principles, and promoting innovation that’s both ethical and business-focused. As Chair of the Architecture Design Authority, you’ll oversee design assurance, guide major change initiatives, and influence senior stakeholders to keep NHBC’s architecture future‑ready, compliant, and cost‑effective.
What You’ll Do
Own and evolve NHBC’s enterprise architecture strategy, framework, and governance
Lead the Architecture Design Authority, ensuring high-quality design assurance
Align architecture with business strategy, transformation, and regulatory needs
Champion standards, reuse, and composability across all technology domains
Mentor domain architects and develop NHBC’s professional architecture community
Collaborate with business, security, and operations teams to embed secure by design principles
Provide expert input to investment decisions, technology roadmaps, and innovation initiatives
Ensure architecture governance integrates seamlessly with Agile and DevOps delivery
What You’ll Bring
Extensive experience leading architecture functions in complex or regulated organisations
Deep knowledge of enterprise, data, integration, and cloud architecture
Proven ability to align architecture with strategy and transformation goals
Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder engagement skills
Expertise in architecture frameworks (e.g. TOGAF) and design assurance practices
Understanding of governance, risk, and compliance in technology delivery
Awareness of emerging technologies, AI and automation, and their architectural implications
What We Offer
27 days annual leave +