Retail-Tech IT Architect in London

Leading UK retailer and hospitality client now undergoing a significant business and technology transformation. This is a pivotal hire within a newly evolving architecture function, offering the opportunity to shape enterprise-wide strategy during a large-scale cloud and operating model transformation.

As Enterprise Architect, you will operate as a senior individual contributor, working across domains with tech leads and engaging closely with C-suite stakeholders. This is a highly visible, commercially focused role - not hands-on engineering but defining how technology enables the business to grow and compete. The IT enterprise architect will develop and define our technology strategy, working alongside our strategic vendors to set direction, drive innovation, stretch thinking and ensure we are constantly benefiting from the best technology across all areas of our business landscape, including corporate, head office and operations.

Reporting to the director of IT strategy and architecture, you will be responsible for the design and engineering principles associated with the delivery and operational health of our technology landscape, as well as the broader technology governance process.

• Assist leadership team and strategic partners in the setting of our technology strategy, architecture and engineering principles for our technology function - in collaboration with relevant specialist technical leads.
• Facilitate business and IT alignment, connecting strategy to execution, through a collaborative, supportive and consultative manner - driving our digital business strategies to balance innovation and growth.
• Translate and guide execution of business strategy to achieve our targeted business outcomes by leading the development of an implementation roadmap for enterprise architecture.
• Drive innovation through active horizon-scanning of emerging technologies and the business ecosystem for major disruptive technology and non-technology trends (trendspotting) that affect our markets and business.
• Lead analysis of our future-state capabilities and future (and current) technology environment, to detect critical gaps and opportunities and recommend solutions for improvement to drive our business towards its targeted outcomes.
• Support our technology partners in delivering change in line with our overall technology strategy of creating modular, cloud-first solutions.
• Develop and implement core technology governance frameworks for technologists across our business and its partners.
• Own, build and maintain the enterprise roadmaps, such that it is easily communicated to partners and the wider technology functions.
• Define repeatable patterns, tools and approaches for all teams - ensure that all solutions designed target our cloud-first architecture.
• Agree, document and publish architecture principles, tools and frameworks to ensure our technology is managed and nurtured as a series of value-creating ecosystems.
• Develop strong relationships and collaborative ways of working at all levels across internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide and track the holistic view of our technology ecosystems and work with internal and external teams to evolve them as necessary.

Technical Knowledge & Experience

• An expert practitioner with experience of overseeing end-to-end application architecture, preferably in a similar multi-site, omnichannel, enterprise scale business within the retail or hospitality sector.
• Experience in cloud migration and application modernisation programmes.
• Experience in agile ways of working, DevSecOps, SRE and continuous delivery.
• Comfortable defining migration patterns and green-field architectures, and crucially where the two intersect.
• Ability to identify software or technology opportunities and drive the introduction of new tools and processes across teams and disciplines.
• Proven leader in innovation and sought out for their engineering and solution design skills to drive the organisation's digital business strategies.
• Expert in their core discipline and skilled in several other areas, with experience and knowledge of several domain and product areas.
• Experience in setting strategic direction as well as leveraging external expertise alike.
• Mastery of all components of enterprise architecture, business & IT principles and processes.
• Strong consulting skills such as targeted communications, engagement management, stakeholder management and business development.
• Experience in the broader consumer commercial landscape - including how technology can be used to enhance customer experience, operational efficiency, data insights and cost optimisation.
• Experience of various operating models such as project-centric and product-centric and different types of agile principles, methodologies and frameworks, especially those designed to be scaled at the enterprise level.
• Vendor - and technology neutral - seeks to achieve targeted business outcomes rather than personal preferences.
• Stays on top of tech trends, experimenting with, and learning new technologies.
• A strong focus on enablement, creating patterns, toolsets and best practice allowing for a true 'as-a-service' capability across applications, software engineering, integration and data.
• Deep architecture focus, ensuring technologies are used, purchased and developed appropriately.

Skills

• Analytical: Takes a logical approach to analysis of information to draw accurate conclusions.
• Business acumen: Robust understanding of how a multi-site business operates with awareness of key challenges and risks.
• People management: Able to achieve high levels of performance through teams; sets clear objectives and guides and motivates team members to succeed.
• Influencing and persuading: Confident relationship building skills with proven ability to influence and negotiate effectively at senior levels.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, communicating effectively at all levels.
• Facilitation: Able to facilitate teams' and individual thinking processes.
• Prioritisation: Effectively manages own and team's workload against competing demands.
• Problem solving: Excellent problem solving, with ability to probe and establish real issues and identify correct solutions.
• IT literate: Strong Excel skills; able to create effective presentations and documents; high level of ability in Word; experience and knowledge of modern reporting systems.

This position offers a basic salary up to £120K + car allowance + bonus and excellent package. The role requires 4 days a week in the West London office with Fridays WFH.