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- Tasks: Lead the design of innovative tech solutions and shape the future of our architecture.
- Company: Join a leading wealth management firm with a focus on technology and client experience.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, bonus scheme, pension, and flexible benefits including private medical insurance.
- Other info: Hybrid role with opportunities for professional growth and mentoring.
- Why this job: Influence strategy and drive architectural excellence in a collaborative environment.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in Microsoft/.NET environments and strong leadership skills.
The predicted salary is between 85000 - 85000 £ per year.
We are looking for a T-Shaped Solution Architect who combines broad, hands-on technology experience with deep expertise in modern Microsoft engineering patterns. In this role, you will take ownership of end-to-end solution architecture – translating business outcomes into robust technical delivery. You will shape and guide the design of secure, scalable, and supportable technology solutions, working closely with delivery teams to ensure successful implementation. You will partner with stakeholders across the organisation to ensure solutions meet business needs, align with governance and architectural standards, and contribute to the responsible evolution of our technology landscape. This is an opportunity to influence strategy, drive architectural excellence, and shape the future of our technology estate while working collaboratively across teams and business units. This is a hybrid role, 3 days a week from our Leeds office.
Benefits
- Salary - up to £85,000
- Bonus scheme - on target bonus - 15%
- Pension scheme - contribute up to 5% of your salary and Openwork will match you and put in an extra 5%
- Critical illness cover
- Income protection - 1x salary
- Death in service - 4x salary
- 27 days holiday + bank holidays, with the opportunity to buy up to an additional 10 days
- A range of other flexible benefits to include private medical insurance, dental insurance and much more.
Key Accountabilities
- Translate business strategy into solutions architecture: Understand business drivers, outcomes, capabilities and value-streams (current and future state) and determine corresponding solution designs and change requirements.
- Translate business and technical requirements into an architectural blueprint to achieve business objectives; document assumptions, constraints, risks and dependencies.
- Identify organisational and financial impacts (skills, processes, structure, cost) and recommend pragmatic options and trade-offs.
- Lead solutions design and analysis across products, projects and services, covering applications, integrations, data flows and operational processes.
- Create reference architectures and solution patterns (identity, integration, real-time, data, platform) to enable consistent delivery and reuse.
- Analyse the business/IT environment to detect critical deficiencies and technical debt; recommend solutions for improvement and prioritise remediation.
- Ensure application stack has maintainable component design, performance and a coherent user experience.
- Define authentication and authorisation patterns across our services.
- Lead real-time interaction patterns, including scaling, reliability and observability considerations.
- Shape SQL data architecture and access patterns, including performance, integrity, and lifecycle/retention considerations.
- Work with Openwork on potential adoption of our Strategic data solutions.
- Design and evolve our Azure infrastructure and platform services to be secure-by-design and fit for reliable operations.
- Play a pivotal role in design authority: shape standards, guide major technology decisions, and ensure architecture assurance and compliance.
- Define principles, guidelines and guardrails to ensure solution decisions align to the target-state architecture vision.
- Support agile teams with advice on opportunities, impacts and risks, taking account of technical and architectural debt.
Technology leadership, vendors and continuous improvement
- Mentor and inspire engineering teams, fostering technical excellence and continuous improvement (documentation, patterns, testing, observability).
- Evaluate new technologies, tools and frameworks; contribute to RFI/RFPs and make recommendations on adoption.
- Engage third parties/vendors to ensure solutions integrate effectively, meet security and operational requirements, and support 2plan goals.
What you will need to succeed
- Proven experience as a technical, solution or application architect delivering modern systems in Microsoft/.NET environments.
- Strong Microsoft expertise: Azure, .NET, identity concepts (IdentityServer/Entra), integration patterns and API management.
- Experience with modern web architectures; Blazor WebAssembly experience strongly preferred.
- Experience designing authentication/authorisation flows (OAuth/OIDC, tokens, claims) and applying secure-by-design practices.
- Experience with real-time architectures (SignalR or equivalent) including scaling and resilience.
- Strong SQL and relational data architecture experience (modelling, performance, integrity, lifecycle).
- Experience integrating third-party systems and evaluating vendor solutions (RFI/RFP, due diligence, recommendations).
- Experience in a regulated environment (financial services wealth management desirable) with audit-minded delivery and compliance awareness.
- Desirable: Power Platform experience (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI) with governance and guardrails.
- Desirable: Azure architecture certifications; TOGAF welcome but practical delivery experience is more important.
Knowledge
- Architecture best practices and tooling; ability to produce clear diagrams, models, strategies and roadmaps.
- Non-functional design: security, performance, availability, resilience/DR, observability and supportability.
- System development life cycle methodologies (agile/DevOps) and how to support teams with an architectural runway.
- Compatibility and integration of products/services across interdependent technologies and services.
- Regulatory and compliance considerations relevant to technology delivery (data protection, security, auditability).
Skills and Competencies
- Strong leadership and stakeholder management; able to translate complex technical and security concepts into business language.
- Skilled at influencing, guiding and facilitating stakeholders and peers with decision making.
- Able to work creatively and analytically to solve business problems and propose solution options with clear trade-offs.
- Hands-on technical credibility with engineers; able to mentor and uplift engineering practice and documentation discipline.
- Comfortable working across applications, data, cloud and security and collaborating with diverse teams and partners.
Why us?
2Plan Wealth Management was launched in July 2007 and we have continuously built on our strengths to become one of the leading wealth management firms in the UK. Our head office administration, technology and regulatory teams provide exceptional support to all our financial advisers around the country, enabling them to deliver the best possible service to clients. The client experience is paramount and all our advisers pride themselves on providing up-to-date advice and building long lasting, professional client relationships. We want all our clients to view 2plan wealth management as their trusted go-to adviser for their financial matters.
Principal Architect employer: The Openwork Partnership
Contact Detail:
The Openwork Partnership Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Architect
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage on platforms like LinkedIn. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can put in a good word for you.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews! Research the company, understand their tech stack, and be ready to discuss how your experience aligns with their needs. Practise common interview questions and have your own questions ready to show your interest.
✨Tip Number 3
Showcase your skills! Create a portfolio or GitHub repository that highlights your projects and achievements. This is your chance to demonstrate your technical expertise and problem-solving abilities in action.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at StudySmarter.
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Architect
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience with Microsoft technologies and solution architecture. We want to see how your skills align with the role, so don’t hold back on showcasing your relevant projects!
Showcase Your Leadership Skills: As a Principal Architect, you'll be guiding teams and influencing decisions. Use your application to demonstrate your leadership experience and how you've successfully mentored others in tech. We love seeing examples of collaboration and stakeholder management!
Be Clear and Concise: When writing your application, keep it straightforward and to the point. We appreciate clarity, so avoid jargon unless it's necessary. Make it easy for us to see your qualifications and how you can contribute to our tech landscape.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to submit your application directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it’s super easy to do!
How to prepare for a job interview at The Openwork Partnership
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your Microsoft technologies, especially Azure and .NET. Be ready to discuss how you've applied these in real-world scenarios, particularly in designing secure and scalable solutions.
✨Understand the Business Context
Familiarise yourself with the company's business drivers and how your architectural decisions can impact them. Be prepared to translate technical jargon into business language, showing that you can bridge the gap between tech and strategy.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As a Principal Architect, you'll need to lead and mentor teams. Share examples of how you've inspired engineering teams or influenced stakeholders in past roles. Highlight your ability to guide major technology decisions and ensure compliance with architectural standards.
✨Prepare for Scenario-Based Questions
Expect questions that ask you to solve hypothetical problems or design solutions on the spot. Practice articulating your thought process clearly, focusing on trade-offs and impacts, to demonstrate your analytical skills and architectural expertise.