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- Tasks: Lead architectural design for a major platform modernisation programme across multiple domains.
- Company: Leighton, a trusted tech partner for top global brands for over 33 years.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Why this job: Shape the future of technology while making a real impact on business transformation.
- Qualifications: Deep experience in cloud architecture and strong stakeholder engagement skills.
- Other info: Join a dynamic team with a culture of inclusion and innovation.
The predicted salary is between 72000 - 108000 £ per year.
Leighton: 33 years and counting. Experienced and agile. Trusted by some of the world’s biggest brands. We develop and deliver custom software. We use technology to make money, save money, create efficiencies, integrate systems, and solve problems to help our customers thrive.
The Role: We’re looking for a seasoned Principal Solutions Architect to provide architectural leadership across a major platform modernisation programme. This is our highest-priority strategic initiative and sits at the heart of a wider organisational transformation spanning finance, operations, commercial, contact centre, technology, product, revenue management, and fraud domains. In this role, you will guide the end-to-end architecture of a cloud-native, AWS-hosted ecosystem, ensuring strategic alignment, technical governance, and a coherent target state across multiple autonomous product teams.
You’ll combine enterprise-level architectural leadership with hands-on support, helping teams navigate complex design decisions, cross-domain dependencies, and the replacement of a large legacy monolith under fixed commercial timelines. The role requires both breadth and depth across application, data, integration, security, and cloud architecture, along with strong stakeholder leadership in a politically complex environment.
What you’ll do:
- Lead architecture across all domains — application, integration, data, cloud, and security
- Define and evolve the target-state architecture for a modernised holiday-packaging platform
- Govern solution decisions and run architecture decision review forums
- Establish architectural standards, patterns, guardrails, and governance models
- Translate business capabilities, value streams, and operational processes into technical architectures
- Review high-level and low-level design artefacts for alignment and quality
- Oversee API strategy, integration patterns, and AI-readiness
- Shape contact-centre architecture and integrations using Amazon Connect
- Enable teams to deliver safe value with your expertise in information security and data privacy
- Map and manage cross-program dependencies and multi-company integration challenges
- Support teams with technical spikes, PoCs, and de-risking complex design areas
- Influence senior stakeholders and navigate organisational politics across group-level entities
- Support executive decision-making through technical appraisal
- Align architectural decisions with technical strategy, commercial targets, risk constraints, and delivery timelines
- Set and guide operating models for the transition to BAU and day 2 operations
What you’ll bring:
- Deep experience spanning application, data, integration, security, and cloud architecture
- Proven track record designing and governing public cloud-based platforms (AWS preferred)
- Strong working knowledge of modern event-driven/API/microservice patterns
- Familiarity with customer support and contact-centre journeys
- Experience with governance in large delivery programmes
- Ability to influence, review, and guide architecture across distributed, autonomous product teams
- Good grasp of enterprise capability modelling, value streams, and end-to-end business flows
- Experience integrating numerous third-party vendors and systems
- Skilled at managing architectural risk, decision trade-offs, and long-term maintainability
- Exceptional stakeholder engagement and communication skills
- A team enablement and host-leadership mindset, promoting best practices and engineering culture
- Comfort balancing strategic leadership with hands-on architectural contribution
Great to have:
- Travel or retail industry experience is desirable, but strong experience in any large-scale consumer or regulated digital platform is equally relevant
- Experience designing multi-tenant, internationalised systems
- Knowledge or experience of architecting for compliance with ISO 27001, SOC 2, and PCI-DSS frameworks
- Practical experience of applying Team Topologies and Conway's Law as part of architecture practice
- Background in modernising large monolithic platforms under commercial constraints
- Knowledge of fraud-management, revenue-management, and financial architecture domains
- Familiarity with secure-by-design frameworks and regulated-cloud standards
- Experience contributing to or establishing enterprise architecture functions
- Exposure to multi-cloud or hybrid integration environments
- Experience with modern data product architectures, data meshes, and reverse ETL
- Prior consulting experience delivering complex transformation programmes
Principal Solutions Architect employer: Software Delivery (Non-Technical)
Contact Detail:
Software Delivery (Non-Technical) Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Solutions Architect
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage with professionals on LinkedIn. We all know that sometimes it’s not just what you know, but who you know that can help you land that Principal Solutions Architect role.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews by diving deep into the company’s projects and tech stack. Familiarise yourself with their cloud architecture and integration patterns. We want you to show them you’re not just a fit, but the perfect fit for their team!
✨Tip Number 3
Don’t shy away from showcasing your hands-on experience. Bring examples of how you’ve navigated complex design decisions or influenced stakeholders in previous roles. We believe that real-world stories can make a huge impact during your discussions.
✨Tip Number 4
Finally, apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets the attention it deserves. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take that extra step to connect directly with us.
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Solutions Architect
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter for the Principal Solutions Architect role. Highlight your experience with cloud architecture, AWS, and any relevant projects that showcase your skills in leading architectural decisions.
Showcase Your Leadership Skills: We want to see how you've influenced teams and stakeholders in previous roles. Share specific examples of how you've navigated complex environments and made impactful architectural decisions.
Be Clear and Concise: When writing your application, keep it straightforward. Use clear language to describe your experience and avoid jargon unless it's necessary. We appreciate a well-structured application that gets straight to the point.
Apply Through Our Website: Don’t forget to submit your application through our website! It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for the role. We can’t wait to see what you bring to the table!
How to prepare for a job interview at Software Delivery (Non-Technical)
✨Know Your Architecture Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the principles of application, data, integration, security, and cloud architecture. Be ready to discuss your past experiences with AWS and how you've governed public cloud-based platforms. This will show that you can lead architectural decisions effectively.
✨Prepare for Stakeholder Engagement
Since this role involves influencing senior stakeholders, practice articulating your ideas clearly and confidently. Think about examples where you've navigated complex organisational politics and how you’ve successfully communicated technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Be prepared to discuss specific challenges you've faced in previous roles, especially around modernising legacy systems or managing architectural risks. Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers and highlight your hands-on contributions.
✨Understand the Business Context
Familiarise yourself with the business capabilities and value streams relevant to the role. Be ready to translate these into technical architectures during the interview. This shows that you understand not just the tech side, but also how it aligns with the company’s strategic goals.