Chief Architect – Professional Services EMEA in London

At NICE, we don’t limit our challenges. We challenge our limits. Always. We’re ambitious. We’re game changers. And we play to win. We set the highest standards and execute beyond them. If you’re like us, we can offer you the ultimate career opportunity that will light a fire within you.

The Chief Architect is a senior Professional Services leader and enterprise technical authority responsible for shaping, governing, and assuring NICE’s most complex and strategically critical customer engagements (e.g. tier‑1 enterprise programmes). This role combines consulting‑grade leadership with deep technical authority, owning solution direction across pre‑sales, delivery, and post‑go‑live phases. It exists to de‑risk large programmes, protect long‑term customer outcomes, and ensure what NICE sells, designs, and delivers stands up to enterprise, regulatory, and operational scrutiny.

The Chief Architect operates as:

• A trusted advisor to customer CTOs / Chief Architects
• A senior consulting leader within Professional Services
• The final architectural authority across multi‑year, multi‑vendor programmes

This is not a hands‑on implementation role and not a junior Lead Architect position. It is equivalent to a senior consulting / architecture leadership role in a top‑tier systems integrator.

How will you make an impact?

• Professional Services & Consulting Leadership
  • Act as a senior consulting leader within NICE Professional Services for enterprise and complex accounts.
  • Shape and oversee complex transformation programmes, not just individual implementations.
  • Provide direction, assurance, and challenge to delivery teams where programmes drift from architectural, contractual, or outcome‑based intent.
  • Own architectural positioning in statements of work, ensuring scope, assumptions, and dependencies are realistic and defensible.
  • Support Services leadership in managing programme risk, delivery credibility, and executive confidence.
  • Work with Partners and SIs as a peer‑level authority, setting boundaries and governance expectations.
• Pre‑Sales Leadership & Deal Shaping
  • Commitments are technically and operationally deliverable.
  • Designs align to NICE’s true product capabilities and roadmap.
  • Delivery risk is surfaced early, not post‑signature.
  • Actively engage in strategic pursuits, large bids, and public‑sector procurements.
  • Lead architecture‑level deal assurance, ensuring engagement directly with customer CIO / CTO / Chief Architect stakeholders as a consulting peer.
  • Prevent over‑commitment by introducing enterprise‑grade architectural governance early.
• Architecture Authority Across Delivery & Operations
  • Target architectures, integration strategies, and migration approaches.
  • Security, data, resilience, and non‑functional designs.
  • Serve as final architecture authority for NICE on assigned strategic accounts.
  • Review and approve support resolution of high‑risk architectural challenges during delivery.
  • Ensure consistency between what is sold, what is delivered, and what is supported long‑term.
• Cross‑Functional Enterprise Leadership
  • Operate horizontally across Sales, Professional Services, Product, Engineering, Cloud Ops, Support, and Partners.
  • Translate enterprise and public‑sector requirements into clear, prioritised input for Product and Platform teams.
  • Resolve ambiguity around ownership, responsibility, and decision‑making at architecture level.
  • Represent Professional Services and customer reality in senior internal forums when required.
• Governance, Risk & Public‑Sector Readiness
  • Lead architecture‑level consideration of security, data protection, compliance, and regulatory constraints.
  • Own architectural risk assessments on strategic programmes.
  • Ensure solutions are credible in UK public‑sector and regulated enterprise environments.
• Leadership, Mentorship & Practice Maturity
  • Act as a role model and mentor for Solution Architects and Delivery Architects.
  • Raise architectural and consulting maturity across EMEA Professional Services.
  • Contribute to establishing repeatable enterprise patterns, standards, and guardrails without bureaucracy.

Have you got what it takes?

Required Education, Experience, and Specific Job-Related Skills

• 10–15+ years in enterprise architecture and/or consulting leadership roles.
• Strong background in consulting, SI, or professional services environments (e.g. big 4 trajectory).
• Proven experience leading architecture across large, complex, multi‑year programmes.
• Deep credibility across demonstrated ability to operate across pre‑sales and post‑sales contexts.
• Comfortable providing challenge and direction to senior stakeholders.
• Executive‑grade communication and presence.

Nice‑to‑Have Qualifications

• CX, contact‑centre, data, or AI‑enabled platforms.
• Architecture or cloud certifications (useful, not essential).

What Success Looks Like

• Large enterprise deals are won well and delivered cleanly.
• Fewer architectural escalations late in programmes.
• Clear alignment between Sales, Services, Product, and Cloud Ops.
• Customers recognise NICE as having credible, authoritative architectural leadership.

What This Role Is Not

• Not a delivery programme manager.
• Not a junior or mid‑level Lead SA role.
• Not a pure product or engineering position.

What’s in it for you?

Join an ever-growing, market-disrupting, global company where the teams – comprised of the best of the best – work in a fast-paced, collaborative, and creative environment! As the market leader, every day at NICE is a chance to learn and grow, and there are endless internal career opportunities across multiple roles, disciplines, domains, and locations. If you are passionate, innovative, and excited to constantly raise the bar, you may just be our next NICEr!

Enjoy NICE-FLEX! At NICE, we work according to the NICE-FLEX hybrid model, which enables maximum flexibility: 2 days working from the office and 3 days of remote work, each week. Naturally, office days focus on face-to-face meetings, where teamwork and collaborative thinking generate innovation, new ideas, and a vibrant, interactive atmosphere.

NICE Ltd. (NASDAQ: NICE) software products are used by 25,000+ global businesses, including 85 of the Fortune 100 corporations, to deliver extraordinary customer experiences, fight financial crime and ensure public safety. Every day, NICE software manages more than 120 million customer interactions and monitors 3+ billion financial transactions. Known as an innovation powerhouse that excels in AI, cloud and digital, NICE is consistently recognized as the market leader in its domains, with over 8,500 employees across 30+ countries. NICE is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, neurotype, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other category protected by law.