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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 by modernising systems and improving product delivery.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience as a Kafka Architect with strong full-stack engineering skills.
- Other info: Work in a dynamic environment with opportunities for mentorship and career growth.
Contract | Inside IR35
2 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.
- Engineering Strategy & Delivery
- 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.
- Platform & Infrastructure
- 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 Stoke-on-Trent employer: Verse Consulting
Contact Detail:
Verse Consulting Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Kafka Architect in Stoke-on-Trent
✨Network Like a Pro
Get out there and connect with people in the industry! Attend meetups, webinars, or even just grab a coffee with someone who’s already in the role you want. We all know that sometimes it’s not just what you know, but who you know that can help you land that Kafka Architect gig.
✨Show Off Your Skills
When you get the chance to chat with potential employers, don’t hold back! Share your hands-on experience with Kafka and Kubernetes, and how you’ve improved SDLC effectiveness in past roles. We want to see your passion and expertise shine through!
✨Tailor Your Approach
Every company is different, so make sure you tailor your conversations to fit their needs. Research the organisation and understand their transformation programme. We want to hear how your skills can specifically help them streamline their internal systems and improve product delivery.
✨Apply Through Us!
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we’re here to support you every step of the way in landing that dream role as a Kafka Architect.
We think you need these skills to ace Kafka Architect in Stoke-on-Trent
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV speaks directly 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. We love a good story!
Showcase Your Technical Skills: Don’t just list your skills—demonstrate them! Include details about your hands-on experience with CI/CD, release management, and infrastructure automation. We’re looking for someone who can hit the ground running, so show us what you’ve got!
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. Let’s get you on board!
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 ready to discuss your experience with Kafka architecture, including how you've implemented it in previous projects. Prepare to explain how you’ve tackled challenges and optimised performance in a SaaS environment.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As this role involves mentoring engineers, be prepared to share examples of how you've led teams in the past. Discuss your approach to guiding engineering practices and how you’ve fostered a culture of collaboration and innovation within your teams.
✨Demonstrate Your Technical Blueprint Skills
Be ready to talk about your experience in defining technical blueprints and architectural decisions. Bring examples of technical specifications you've produced and how they contributed to a successful transformation roadmap in previous roles.
✨Familiarise Yourself with Modern Practices
Since the role advocates for modern engineering practices, make sure you can discuss your experience with CI/CD, containerisation, and automation. Highlight any specific tools or frameworks you've used, especially in relation to Kubernetes and cloud environments.