Senior Software Architect in London

Role Overview

Reporting to the Lead Architect, the Senior Software Architect will be part of the Systems Architecture Team within the IT function. The role will be responsible for working with a range of teams to support and evolve our core application platform. The primary objective of the role will to consider all aspects of the complete system, how it will be deployed and used in the real world and to ensure that the architectural decisions we take, the tools, techniques and third party technologies we select make our product the best it can be. There are two clear aims: For our customers to be blown away by the functionality and usability of our products; and unrivalled reliability and robustness. The Senior Software Architect will be required to gain a deep understanding of our current application architecture and consider all aspects of the software as it is now and in the future. The role will also be expected to engage with the design of other aspects of the overall system where the software architecture will have an impact (e.g. the hardware and infrastructure environments) and be responsible for the ‘big picture’ thinking of the application and understanding what is required to solve a problem in a variety of dimensions.

General Responsibilities

• The availability, security, scalability of our vessel monitoring system
• Delivering our product roadmap
• Planning for the future
• Ensuring that quality is at the heart of our products

Working with the development, test and product management leads the role will help to define and implement world class operations and engineering practices in order to deliver stable, scalable and secure platforms. The role will leverage the best tools and solutions to increase the speed of deployment, whilst removing technology as a blocker to growth. You will be developing and delivering technology in line with SRT’s mission and quality system, with particular consideration for the operating platforms for government agencies and port authorities which come with high expectations around stability and security. You will be continuously tasked with improving all aspects of our applications and products to ensure continued operation, enriching the experience whilst removing complexity, risks and points of failure.

Key Responsibilities

• Interact with several key roles in the company including other System Architects, Product Managers, Lead Developers, test teams and other delivery functions.
• Lead the design thinking of the applications from a software level evaluating what tools and products best fit the wider aspirations of the company.
• Balance the “here and now” application requirements against the strategic architecture directions set out by Architecture, Product Management and Development teams.
• Own and produce the software high level designs as part of the release cycles of the products and then communicate and share the designs at a developer level.
• Ability to assist in code design reviews where needed to ensure quality whilst avoiding complexity working with the team.
• Collaboration will be key with a strong requirement to become familiar with skills and interests in the development team and align architecture decisions with the team’s interests very much at the forefront.
• Technically support the projects that will embed the application from inception to product releases and development enhancements.
• Research, evaluate and select technologies for the implementation of each component and connections to the components (integration).
• Create unified software architecture standards in the company.
• Control the architecture during the next iteration of a system release.
• Work with the Lead Architect to ensure the software architecture aligns with the overall solution architecture direction working on the future architecture state of the application investigating technologies within the proof of concept (PoC) environments.
• Resolve disputes and trade-offs at software architecture level.
• Document all work in accordance with agreed standards.

Skills and Experience

During your career, you would have had exposure to many different software technologies and technology stacks and will have become a deep generalist across several operational disciplines. You will need a solid technical understanding of these technologies and using this knowledge be able to deal with new challenges and methods of improving.

Essential:

• Minimum 5+ years of experience in mixed software engineering and IT projects.
• Broad understanding of how Large-Scale infrastructures, systems, applications, distributed databases and their requirements work together.
• Excellent and proven knowledge in programming and in several technological stacks.
• Excellent and proven experience in leading design decisions around evolving existing applications and introducing new products and ways of thinking from a software perspective.
• Deep and broad technical knowledge of software architecture and generic understanding of high-level architecture principles.
• Experience of working as part of a wider architecture team and awareness of the different layers of architecture.
• Strong experience in the ability to compose a large number of technical documentation, reports and diagrams.
• Ability to assess effort, risk, costs and complexity for software solutions.
• Good communication skills with the ability to relate to various audiences.
• Excellent understanding and experience of hardware infrastructure implementation and low-level working principles.
• Strong experience in application security and how code level principles dovetail into the overall security strategy.
• Ability to assess COTS applications and oversee the implementation of associated tools and products.

Desirable:

• Ability to maintain full-stack software applications (Java, JavaScript, Angular, TypeScript).
• Ability to understand at code level Java, C#, Unity, Docker, PostgreSQL.
• Understanding of large distributed, data sharing systems deployed over large distances.
• Familiarity with message queuing systems, for example rabbit, and cluster databases systems.
• Experience managing and deploying software and Operating System updates/upgrades over IP.
• Experience in network, server, and application-status monitoring.
• Experience with Cyber-Security strategies and implementation.
• Experience in software verification and validation including functional, regression, scenario, load, usability, stress, performance and automated testing.
• Knowledge of Unity and Unity cloud build frameworks and tools.