Location: 2 days per week in a UK office (must be able to attend the office in the location)
Glasgow, Bolton, Doncaster, Bury St Edmonds, Newmarket, Cardiff, London or Salisbury
Salary: Circa £120,000 per annum + discretionary bonus + comprehensive benefits
About the Role
Our client are the digital architects of the advanced software systems. Their engineering teams build and scale high-throughput IoT data platforms and intelligent software.
The Head of Enterprise Architecture owns every architecture decision across the group and holds that authority permanently within IT, meaning direction is never set by a supplier or a business unit. The role reports to the CIO and sits at the top of the architecture function, with accountability for capability roadmap, technical risk, and the reference architecture that underpins the organisation's strategy through to 2030.
The postholder chairs the Enterprise Architecture Board and enforces a strict rule: no technology is implemented without EAB approval.
This is a role for someone who wants to build platforms.
Key Responsibilities
Design Authority & Governance
- Act as the single design authority for all architecture decisions
- Own and maintain the enterprise architecture framework, principles, standards, and governance model.
- Chair the Enterprise Architecture Board, running design reviews with documented go/no-go decisions and ensuring every technology is EAB-approved before implementation.
- Assign a single named IT owner to every system, platform, and integration.
Architecture Strategy & Capability Roadmap
- Define the target architecture and capability roadmap
- Ensure new verticals and products can be added without structural rework.
Platform Over Project
- Champion investment in reusable capability, including the integration layer, F&O, over one-off solutions.
- Apply a platform-versus-technical-debt test to every delivery decision.
- Drive decommissioning and consolidation of legacy architecture.
Systems and Software Development/Design
- Senior-level oversight of the full software/systems development lifecycle - from planning through to delivery and evolution.
Deep Technical Ownership & Supplier Governance
- Hold secondary technical ownership of key platforms including D365/F&O.
- Govern supplier output against a defined brief, with suppliers delivering to that brief rather than authoring it.
- Preserve architecture and design authority internally while execution is outsourced.
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead and develop the Enterprise Architecture team, moving to a one-person-one-area model across capability and application-domain architects.
- Maintain spans of 5–8, a maximum of five layers, and consistent titles and career paths.
- Manage resourcing, performance, and succession, with structured knowledge transfer to reduce key-person risk.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Change, Data & Analytics, Information Security, IT Operations, and Business Partnering to turn strategy into deliverable roadmaps.
- Ensure clean, documented handovers between Think, Change, and Do.
Security, Quality & Standards
- Set reference architectures, engineering standards, and quality gates for internal and outsourced delivery.
- Scan the technology landscape and advise on emerging solutions and best practice.
- Manage the function against clear IT service and delivery KPIs.
Experience Required
- Extensive experience in enterprise or solution architecture, with demonstrable experience acting as design authority for a large business.
- Experience establishing architecture governance frameworks from scratch or significantly maturing an existing one.
- Experience governing outsourced or supplier delivery, holding suppliers to a defined brief
- Experience leading large-scale platform or legacy transformation, including measurable technical-debt reduction.
- Experience with modern, cloud-native and platform/integration architecture, including APIs and event-driven services.
- Experience with enterprise applications and ERP, specifically D365/Dynamics F&O, and core data platforms.
- Working knowledge of TOGAF or an equivalent recognised architecture framework.
- Experience leading and developing technical teams, including coaching and succession planning.
Key SFIA Metrics
- Enterprise and business architecture (STPL) – Level 7 : shaping business strategy through architecture across an entire enterprise, often influencing board-level decisions.
- Solution architecture (ARCH) – Level 6 : Designing architectures for specific solutions or systems at a senior level, taking overall accountability for architectural decisions across significant projects or programmes.
- Strategic planning (ITSP) – Level 6 : Leading the development of IT strategy that aligns with and drives wider business strategy, typically working with senior stakeholders.
- Governance (GOVN) – Level 6 : Establishing and overseeing governance frameworks, policies and controls across an organisation to ensure IT activity is compliant, accountable and well-managed.
- Systems and software life cycle engineering (SLEN) – Level 6 : Senior-level oversight of the full software/systems development lifecycle from planning through to delivery and evolution.
- Software design (SWDN) – Level 6 : Leading the design of complex software systems, setting design standards and making key technical decisions.
- Testing (TEST) – Level 5 : Ensures a solid, established level of test strategy and management designing test approaches and leading testing activity, though not the top tier of the framework.
- Supplier management (SUPP) – Level 5 : Managing supplier relationships and contracts at a senior operational level, including negotiation and performance management.
- Information security (SCTY) – Level 4 (working knowledge) : a competent, applied understanding of security practices
Skills & Attributes
- Comfortable holding design authority and challenging suppliers and senior stakeholders when direction conflicts with architecture standards.
- Strong written and verbal communication, able to translate complex technical detail for both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Strong problem-solving and root-cause analysis skills.
- Resilient and able to operate effectively in ambiguous situations.
- Working knowledge of a regulated and/or energy-sector environment.
- DevSecOps and secure-by-design engineering practice.
- SFIA competency alignment at Level 6 or above in enterprise/business architecture, solution architecture, strategic planning, or governance.
Head of Enterprise Architecture in London employer: Sadler Recruitment
Join a dynamic global luxury asset insurer in Cardiff Bay, where you'll enjoy a flexible working pattern of 3 days in the office and 2 days from home. With a strong focus on employee growth and technical autonomy, this role offers you the chance to lead DevOps initiatives in an innovative environment, ensuring that your contributions directly impact the architecture and scalability of our platform. Experience a collaborative work culture that values your expertise and encourages you to explore new solutions while insuring some of the world's most valuable assets.
