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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead architectural design and guide engineering practices for a major transformation programme.
- Company: Established SaaS organisation in the financial services sector.
- Benefits: Competitive day rate, hands-on leadership role, and opportunity to shape technology.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on modernising systems and improving product delivery.
- Qualifications: Experience as a Kafka Architect with strong full-stack engineering skills.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with opportunities for mentoring and career growth.
Contract | Inside IR35
Days Onsite per Week – Canary Wharf
£750–£800 per day
About the Organisation
Our client is a well-established SaaS-led organisation operating within a highly regulated environment, delivering digital products used across financial and operational industries. The company is embarking on a major transformation programme to streamline and modernise its internal systems, enabling faster product delivery, improved scalability, and a more cohesive technology ecosystem.
The programme aims to redesign the internal application landscape to ensure systems work together seamlessly—improving engineering velocity, reliability, and the organisation’s ability to bring new products to market.
The Role
We are seeking an experienced Kafka Architect/Solution Architect to join the transformation project with the full programme expected to run 12 months or longer. You will lead architectural thinking, define the technical blueprint, and guide engineering practices to support the creation of a unified system landscape that enables smoother product deployment and improved platform cohesion. This is a hands-on leadership role working closely with engineering, product, architecture, and business stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
- Technical Leadership & Architecture
- Lead technical discovery to assess the current application, integration and infrastructure landscape.
- Own architectural decisions and produce technical specifications to enable a clear transformation roadmap.
- Define a cohesive system architecture across front-end, middleware, APIs, and backend data services.
- Support the creation and prioritisation of backlogs for engineering teams to deliver against.
- Mentor and guide a small group of engineers, promoting strong engineering and delivery discipline.
- Oversee and shape the end-to-end SDLC, ensuring consistency across development, testing, DevOps and release processes.
- Advocate for modern engineering practices including automation, containerisation, and continuous delivery.
- Identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation within the SDLC to improve engineering productivity.
- Work across both public cloud and on-prem environments with an emphasis on containerised services (e.g., Kubernetes).
- Ensure infrastructure aligns to the new target architecture and supports scalable, reliable product delivery.
- Contribute to decisions on integration patterns, data flows, APIs, microservices and broader platform modernisation.
Skills & Experience
Essential
- Multiple years’ experience operating at Kafka Architect/Solution Architect level within SaaS organisations (ideally with exposure to financial services or regulated industries).
- Strong full-stack engineering background, with the ability to design and evaluate front-end, middleware, and backend architectures.
- Experience mentoring, coaching or managing small engineering teams.
- Proven ownership of architectural decisions, technical specifications and shaping of engineering backlogs.
- Hands-on experience improving SDLC effectiveness, including:
- Experience across Kafka and Kubernetes
- CI/CD
- Release management
- Strong understanding of infrastructure automation and containerisation (Kubernetes).
- Ability to work across cloud and on-prem environments.
Desirable
- Background in Java engineering (not essential).
- Experience with multi-cloud or hybrid architectures.
- Exposure to AI adoption within engineering processes.
Engagement Details
Day Rate: £700–£800 (Inside IR35)
Location: Canary Wharf – 2 days onsite
Start Date: ASAP
Kafka Architect in London employer: Verse Consulting
Contact Detail:
Verse Consulting Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Kafka Architect in London
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, especially those who work with Kafka or in SaaS environments. A friendly chat can lead to insider info about job openings that aren't even advertised yet.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Prepare a portfolio or case studies showcasing your previous work as a Kafka Architect. Highlight your hands-on experience and how you've improved SDLC effectiveness—this will make you stand out during interviews.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice makes perfect! Get ready for technical interviews by brushing up on your knowledge of Kafka, Kubernetes, and CI/CD processes. Mock interviews with friends or colleagues can help you feel more confident when it’s your turn.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! We’ve got loads of opportunities that might be just what you’re looking for. Plus, applying directly can sometimes give you an edge over other candidates.
We think you need these skills to ace Kafka Architect in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Kafka Architect role. Highlight your experience with Kafka, Kubernetes, and any relevant SaaS projects. We want to see how your skills align with our transformation programme!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to explain why you're the perfect fit for this role. Share specific examples of your architectural decisions and how they’ve positively impacted previous projects.
Showcase Your Leadership Skills: Since this is a hands-on leadership role, don’t forget to mention your experience mentoring and guiding engineering teams. We love seeing how you’ve shaped engineering practices in past roles!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply through our website for a smoother application process. It helps us keep track of your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates!
How to prepare for a job interview at Verse Consulting
✨Know Your Kafka Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your Kafka knowledge before the interview. Be prepared to discuss your experience with Kafka in detail, including architectural decisions you've made and how you've implemented Kafka in previous projects. This will show that you have the hands-on experience they’re looking for.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
Since this role involves mentoring engineers and leading architectural thinking, be ready to share examples of how you've successfully led teams in the past. Discuss specific situations where your guidance improved engineering practices or project outcomes, as this will demonstrate your capability in a hands-on leadership role.
✨Understand the Transformation Programme
Familiarise yourself with the company's transformation goals and how your skills can contribute to achieving them. Think about how you can help streamline their internal systems and improve product delivery. Showing that you understand their objectives will set you apart from other candidates.
✨Prepare for Technical Questions
Expect technical questions related to system architecture, SDLC, and cloud environments. Brush up on your knowledge of containerisation, CI/CD processes, and integration patterns. Being able to articulate your thought process and decision-making in these areas will highlight your expertise and fit for the role.