Solution Architect in Guildford

This is a senior architecture role within the global technology organization, as part of the team

responsible for serving the UK operating entity. You will have a high level of accountability and

responsibility, operating in a dynamic and evolving environment. The role combines strategic solution.

architecture with deep technical infrastructure expertise, requiring the ability to operate effectively

The primary activities of this role are to define and deliver end-to-end IT solution architecture, create

repeatable architecture patterns, produce solution designs, and advise internal partners on how best

to invest in the right IT solutions to realize strategic ambitions in the UK. Security and

Service is a key aspect of all designs and deliverables.

The role entails working closely with and influencing a wide variety of business and technical

stakeholders, understanding overall business and IT strategy, organisational fit, compliance, and

ongoing business change requirements. It includes leading architectural design authorities, providing

technical leadership to other architects, and driving alignment of the technology landscape

with the enterprise target picture.

In addition to the above, the role is responsible for the architectural assurance of deliverables and for

the QA of peer deliverables. A key element of the role is the research of market-leading technologies.

and technology services, along with the generation of business cases to present to architectural

design authorities to justify purchase and implementation. You will also be highly process-oriented.

able to ensure that the architecture process can demonstrate traceability of the design decisions

made, successfully arguing both the pros and cons of each option.

The role sits within a small team of architects, reporting to the principal architect for technology.

working closely with technical, solution, and integration architects across the wider team and with the

enterprise architects in the UK team.

Responsibilities

You will:

• Produce proposals and justify the value of technology strategies to senior business audiences.
• Drive alignment of the technology landscape with the enterprise target picture, including
  system retirement
• Ensure that architecture, divergences, and risks are clearly communicated and agreed upon by all.
  stakeholders
• Convey architecture decisions through a variety of communication techniques to both technical
  and non-technical stakeholders
• Lead architectural design authorities for projects, and work within enterprise architectural
  governance and enterprise portfolio management frameworks
• Translate business requirements into technology, service, and security deliverables, identifying
  risks and proposing appropriate mitigations
• Identify all areas of architectural, technical, and security risk, and ensure these are managed with
  the cooperation of appropriate stakeholders
• Produce (or ensure production of) all architectural deliverables under the development
  and supporting documentation
• Provide design assurance for solution architecture to ensure solutions are implemented as
  designed to the correct standards and quality
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to other solution architects within the team.
• Self-manage day-to-day architecture priorities and delivery workload.

Skills and Experience

Your skills and experience include:

• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to interact at all
  business levels—from the CEO and C-suite through to technical SMEs, developers, testers, and
  project managers
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to assess the audience and
  pitch / influence appropriately
  and application domains
• Defining, documenting, and architecting solutions across hybrid, on-premise, and public cloud
  estates, potentially requiring integration with legacy technologies for large projects and
  programs
• Supporting and designing mission-critical infrastructure solutions across a wide variety of
  technologies
• IT security and risk management within an architecture role
• Experience working within architectural design authorities and governance forums
• Technical selection and RFI/RFP processes, including supplier assurance of third-party products
  and contractual due diligence, including drafting statements of requirements for third parties or
  commenting on vendor statements of work (SoW)
• Working in a highly regulated environment (e.g., financial services)
• Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and waterfall methodologies, along with associated toolsets
  (such as Jira)
• Use of documentation tools such as Atlassian Confluence along with diagramming or architectural
  modelling tools and languages (draw.io, Sparx, ADOIT, ArchiMate, Mermaid, C4)
• Broad knowledge of IT technologies and architectural styles and patterns (e.g., event-driven,
  serverless, microservices, SOA, layered architectures)
• Supporting implementation and solution design for large public cloud implementations, preferably
  both AWS and Azure
• Supporting implementation and technical design across core technologies (Windows, Linux,
  VMware, Hyper-V, web, database, security gateways, LAN/WAN networking)
• Designing solutions involving middleware and integration, including JBoss/WebLogic, enterprise
  service bus / message queueing / integration platforms (iPaaS) such as RabbitMQ, MuleSoft,
  Boomi, Kafka
• Designing (including requirements traceability) secure, high-performing, and highly available
  technology solutions
• Knowledge of continuous integration and deployment processes, methods, and tools
• Providing architectural support and assurance to DevOps teams, with application of agile
  practices
• Ability to work with cutting-edge AI LLM technologies, producing work in conjunction with models
  such as Anthropic Claude, whilst experimenting and exploring different methods of co-working
  with AI

Your education and qualifications should include:

• Degree or HND in information technology, or equivalent experience
• Relevant technical and business qualifications (e.g., Microsoft or AWS certifications, TOGAF, ITIL)
• Evidence of your commitment to continuous learning