At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead architectural direction for Sage HR, guiding teams through complex technical challenges.
- Company: Join Sage, a global leader in HR and payroll solutions with a collaborative culture.
- Benefits: Enjoy generous bonuses, 25 days annual leave, and comprehensive health coverage.
- Other info: Hybrid role with opportunities for professional growth and community volunteering.
- Why this job: Shape the future of HR tech while working with cutting-edge tools and talented teams.
- Qualifications: Experience as a Technical Architect with Ruby on Rails and AWS expertise.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
Job Description hackajob is collaborating with Sage to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.
Do not wait to apply after reading this description a high application volume is expected for this opportunity.
We’re looking for a hands‑on Technical Architect to join our Sage HR organisation and play a key role in shaping the technical direction of one of Sage’s most strategic growth products.
Sage HR sits at the centre of our HR and payroll ecosystem, already supporting over 4 million employees globally and continuing to scale rapidly as we invest in its future.
This role is deeply embedded with our engineering teams — working alongside product managers, engineers, and technical leaders to define architectural direction, establish patterns, and guide teams.
You’ll act as a technical authority, coach, and consultant: setting direction where needed, rolling up your sleeves to solve complex problems, and helping teams navigate scale, technical debt, and an increasingly service‑ and event‑driven architecture.
*** Please note: This is a hybrid role requiring 3 days per week in our Newcastle office ***
In this role you’ll
- Act as the architectural authority for Sage HR, defining and evolving the technical architecture as the product continues to scale from a high‑growth platform into an enterprise‑grade solution.
- Work closely with engineering teams, product managers, and engineering leaders to translate product strategy and commercial priorities into clear architectural direction, patterns, and technical approaches.
- Provide hands‑on architectural leadership, staying close to delivery by guiding teams through complex technical decisions, problem‑solving alongside engineers, and shaping solutions as work progresses.
- Establish and embed architectural standards, patterns, and best practices (including service‑based and event‑driven architectures) to address scale, integration, and long‑term maintainability.
- Coach and mentor engineers, helping raise technical maturity and architectural capability across teams — particularly in a context with varying seniority and a high proportion of contingent labour.
- Lead architectural thinking around integrations and platform connectivity, working across HR and payroll products and supporting an increasingly API‑ and event‑driven ecosystem.
- Tackle technical debt and legacy challenges, guiding the evolution of existing systems towards more modern, scalable architectures.
- Partner closely with other architects and senior technical leaders across Sage to ensure local decisions align with wider organisational standards while remaining pragmatic and delivery‑focused.
- Champion modern engineering practices and AI‑assisted development approaches, helping teams adopt and use tools such as Git Hub Copilot and similar technologies where appropriate
Skills, Knowledge & Experience (Requirements)
Must Have
- Significant experience working as a Technical Architect or Senior Engineering Leader within product‑led software teams, with a strong focus on architecture that supports real delivery.
- Deep hands‑on technical expertise with Ruby on Rails and strong experience designing and operating systems on AWS (experience with Azure transferable).
- Proven experience designing and evolving service‑based and/or event‑driven architectures, including APIs and integrations between complex systems.
- Strong background in scaling software products, including refactoring existing codebases, evolving monolithic systems, and supporting vertical or horizontal growth.
- Excellent problem‑solving skills, with the ability to balance architectural direction and pragmatic delivery.
- Experience working closely with engineering teams as a coach and consultant, not just a reviewer — able to guide, challenge, and, when needed, roll up sleeves and contribute directly.
- Strong communication skills, with the confidence to defend architectural decisions, influence senior stakeholders, and work collaboratively across disciplines.
- Nice to Have
- Experience working on HR, payroll, or compliance‑sensitive products (not essential).
- Exposure to AI‑assisted development tooling (e. g. Git Hub Copilot, Claude Code) and interest in applying AI to improve engineering productivity and quality.
- Familiarity with multiple database technologies (Postgre SQL, My SQL, SQL Server) and data‑centric architectural challenges.
- Experience working in distributed or hybrid teams and navigating complex organisational environments.
Benefits? We have plenty...
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- Generous bonuses and pension scheme: Up to 8% matched pension contribution plus 2% top-up by Sage.
- 25 days of paid annual leave with the option to buy up to another 5 days.
- 8 bank holiday days.
- Paid 5 days yearly to volunteer through our Sage Foundation.
- 50% income protection.
- Holiday buy + sell.
- Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage.
- Work away scheme for up to 10 weeks a year.
- Ongoing training and professional development.
- Hybrid working. xsabvtc
- Healthy Mind app membership
- Access to various helpful memberships for finances, health and wellbeing.
- #LI-MD1
