Head of Architecture in Manchester

Interact provides enterprise-grade intranet software that connects over three million employees to leading global names like Levi's, Domino’s, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Technicolor. Our team of customer-focused problem solvers are passionate about helping organizations to communicate better. We do this together by constantly working to improve every service and product we offer. With offices in Manchester, New York, Dubai, Tulsa, and Warsaw, we operate across North America, EMEA, and Australia.

We are excited to announce we are looking for a Head of Architecture at Interact Software. The Head of Architecture will lead the architectural vision, strategy, and execution, ensuring alignment between technical initiatives and business goals. In this role you will drive the evolution of our technical architecture, foster innovation while overseeing the design, development, and optimization of scalable, high-performance solutions across a platform used by millions of users globally. You will be responsible for shaping the future direction of our systems, ensuring that both current and future needs are met through forward-thinking strategies, engineering excellence, and modern architectural practices.

In this leadership role, you will lead and develop a team of Principal Software Engineers and Technical Architects, setting clear expectations, driving high performance, and fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement. You will also oversee AI integration across the organisation—both within the core product and across the wider ecosystem—ensuring these capabilities are delivered securely, responsibly, and at scale. You will communicate effectively between technical and non-technical stakeholders, drive governance, ensure architectural excellence, and guide teams toward successful and sustainable implementations. You will work closely with senior leadership to align architecture with business objectives and to deliver complex, high-impact features across the platform.

A little about you...

• Deep expertise in .NET and modern technical architecture, with the ability to operate hands‑on where needed.
• Proven experience leading teams of Principal Engineers and Architects in complex environments.
• Strong understanding of AI integration patterns (e.g. RAG, embeddings, vector databases), cloud‑native architectures, and scalable distributed systems.
• Experience overseeing AI‑enabled product capabilities at scale.
• Proven ability to drive high standards in system design, delivery practices, and operational performance across large‑scale platforms.
• Ability to define and execute long‑term architectural strategies while balancing short‑term delivery needs.
• Confident in making high‑stakes, complex decisions and leading teams through ambiguity and change.
• Strong understanding of governance frameworks, risk mitigation, and architectural assurance in enterprise environments.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex technical concepts for non‑technical audiences and influence at executive level.
• Demonstrated track record of adopting emerging technologies and driving impactful innovation.
• Proven experience building, mentoring, and leading high‑performing engineering and architecture teams.
• Deep knowledge of modern software architecture patterns, including microservices, event‑driven systems, and cloud‑native design.
• Strong understanding of AI/ML concepts and integration approaches, including LLMs, RAG architectures, vector databases, and responsible AI practices.
• Expertise in scalable platform design, performance optimisation, and distributed systems used by high‑volume, global user bases.
• Solid understanding of security, compliance, data privacy, and governance frameworks in enterprise SaaS environments.
• Strategic and forward‑thinking, with the ability to anticipate future technology and business needs.
• Highly collaborative, able to influence and align diverse stakeholders across engineering, product, and executive levels.
• Pragmatic and outcome‑focused, balancing innovation with delivery and operational realities.
• Strong ownership mindset, with a drive for accountability and continuous improvement.
• Resilient and adaptable, able to navigate ambiguity and lead through complex organisational and technical challenges.

About the role...

• Lead, mentor, and scale a high‑performing team of Principal Software Engineers and Technical Architects, ensuring strong technical leadership across domains.
• Shape and influence the architectural strategy across the business, aligning decisions with immediate needs and long‑term goals.
• Define and drive architectural roadmaps, standards, policies, and vision statements to guide the organisation’s evolution.
• Champion engineering excellence, driving best practices in design, delivery, scalability, and maintainability.
• Define and lead the AI architecture strategy across Interact’s platform and ecosystem.
• Oversee the design and delivery of AI‑powered features such as intelligent search, summarisation, classification, recommendations, generative capabilities, and insights.
• Ensure the development of secure, scalable AI integration layers using modern patterns (e.g. embeddings, RAG, vector databases, prompt orchestration, evaluation frameworks).
• Govern the creation and operation of AI services, APIs, telemetry, evaluation pipelines, and guardrails.
• Establish and enforce best practices for responsible AI, including privacy, compliance, model governance, and risk mitigation.
• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to prioritise AI initiatives and define measurable business and user outcomes.
• Ensure reuse and scalability through shared AI components, SDKs, and architectural standards across teams.
• Serve as a bridge between engineering, product, and executive stakeholders to ensure architectural decisions align with business goals.
• Collaborate closely with senior leadership to shape and deliver strategic initiatives and complex platform capabilities.
• Proactively identify opportunities for architectural improvements, innovation, and transformation.
• Oversee technical governance, ensuring architecture decisions align with organisational standards, risk management, and budget considerations.
• Lead architectural assurance processes to mitigate risk and ensure quality across products and services.
• Define and enforce architectural principles, standards, and review processes.
• Provide strategic guidance on complex, high‑risk technical designs across the platform.
• Shape and evolve the overall system architecture, ensuring scalability, resilience, and performance at global scale.
• Lead the design and delivery of complex, cross‑cutting platform features.
• Review and approve key architectural decisions, ensuring alignment with long‑term strategy.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, particularly in AI, cloud, and modern software architecture.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies that enhance the platform and improve engineering effectiveness.
• Foster a culture of experimentation and innovation within the architecture and engineering teams.
• Drive the development of architectural documentation, patterns, and best practices.
• Coach and mentor senior engineers and architects, building strong technical leadership across the organisation.
• Provide training and alignment sessions to ensure consistency in implementation and decision‑making.
• Make high‑impact, complex architectural decisions with significant business and technical implications.
• Build alignment and consensus across diverse stakeholders, balancing trade‑offs effectively.
• Ensure technical quality, reliability, and performance meet organisational goals.
• Embed engineering excellence into all aspects of architecture and delivery.

Benefits

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy and sell additional days)
• Cycle to work scheme
• Access to Learning & Development platform
• Life Insurance
• Auto Enrolment Pensions
• Healthshield (Cashback on dental check-ups and fillings, eye tests, physiotherapy, prescriptions and much more)
• Reimburse for usage of personal mobile phone
• Free Gym membership and Free Friday lunch for office based staff