At a Glance
- Tasks: Design innovative cloud-native solutions and lead engineering teams in a dynamic environment.
- Company: Join Willis Re, a leader in reinsurance with a focus on cutting-edge technology.
- Benefits: Competitive daily rate, flexible contract role, and the chance to shape future tech solutions.
- Other info: Opportunity to work in a fast-paced, greenfield environment with excellent career growth.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by architecting solutions that drive analytics and client engagement.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience in solution architecture and hands-on software engineering required.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
Willis Re is building its global technology estate from the ground up, unencumbered by legacy and designed around data, analytics and modern cloud platforms. We are looking for a Solution Architect to shape and deliver the solutions that power our reinsurance broking, analytics and client-facing platforms.
Working closely with the Head of Architecture & Engineering, business stakeholders and strategic delivery partners, you will own end-to-end solution design across a portfolio of greenfield initiatives.
Key Responsibilities:- Cloud Architecture: Design secure, scalable, cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure, spanning infrastructure, PaaS services, networking, identity, security and observability.
- Data Engineering: Design solutions around our data lake platform, architecting performant pipelines, sound data models and strong governance for large volumes of reinsurance placement, exposure, claims and market data.
- Hands-on Prototyping: Take a hands-on role in building proofs of concept and prototypes to validate designs and support key technical decisions.
- Integration: Define and govern third-party integrations with market platforms, carrier and client systems, and vendor SaaS products, using API-first, event-driven and secure data-exchange patterns, with canonical data models and anti-corruption layers to insulate the core platform.
- Security & Compliance: Embed security and compliance into designs from the outset, covering zero-trust principles, authentication and authorisation (Entra ID, OAuth 2.0), data protection, data residency and auditability, working with security and risk teams.
- Engineering Leadership: Work closely with in-house and partner engineers, setting the engineering standards for a greenfield estate and guiding them through implementation, acting as lead engineer where needed to ensure solutions are built to the agreed designs.
- Governance: Produce high-quality solution designs, integration contracts and architecture artefacts, and play an active role in the Architecture Review Board (ARB), presenting your own designs and vetting solution designs from vendors and delivery partners.
- AI Adoption: Promote the adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools and practices across the delivery lifecycle.
About You
You are a highly technical, hands-on architect who is comfortable operating in a fast-moving, greenfield environment with a lean core team and strategic delivery partners. Ideally you will bring:
- Experience: Extensive experience, grounded in hands-on software engineering and progressing into solution architecture over the last 4+ years. You have designed data-intensive systems you also helped build, ideally in insurance, reinsurance or wider financial services.
- Technical Stack: Current, practical programming skills, ideally in C#/.NET or Python, with strong SQL, working knowledge of modern UI frameworks such as React or Angular with TypeScript, and hands-on experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform) and AzureDevops. You are comfortable writing production-quality code for proofs of concept and pairing with engineers.
- Azure Expertise: Deep expertise in Azure infrastructure and platform services, including networking, security, identity, compute and integration services, along with hands-on experience of CI/CD tooling such as Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
- Architectural Patterns: Depth across architectural patterns such as microservices, event-driven, API-led, lakehouse/medallion and domain-driven design, with good judgement on when to apply each.
- Data Platforms: A strong track record architecting data-intensive solutions handling large data volumes, with experience across cloud data platforms, data pipelines and SQL-based technologies.
- Integration: Strong integration experience across external systems, including REST APIs, messaging and event-driven architectures, and secure file and data exchange, with experience using canonical data models and anti-corruption layers.
- Security: Strong grounding in security architecture, including authentication and authorisation patterns (OAuth 2.0, OIDC, Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC), zero-trust principles, and designing for compliance in regulated financial services (data privacy, cross-border data residency and audit requirements).
- AI Foundations: Experience designing agentic or AI-enabled solutions, including patterns such as retrieval-augmented generation, tool and API integration, evaluation and human-in-the-loop design, would be a significant advantage, though it is not essential. Familiarity with AI-assisted engineering tools such as Claude Code or Claude Cowork is a plus.
- Communication: Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex business requirements into pragmatic technical designs and to influence stakeholders at all levels.
About Willis Re
We combine specialist broking with analytics, modeling and research to help insurers optimize risk.
Solution Architect (Contract Role) in London employer: Willis Re
Willis Re is an exceptional employer that prioritises a diverse and inclusive work environment, offering employees the opportunity to engage in meaningful work that drives strategic growth in the reinsurance sector. With a strong focus on professional development, employees benefit from advanced analytical resources and collaborative teamwork, ensuring they are well-equipped to excel in their roles while fostering strong relationships with clients and global reinsurers. Located in a dynamic market, Willis Re provides a unique platform for career advancement and innovation in risk management.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Solution Architect (Contract Role) in London
✨Get Involved in Open-Source Projects
Diving into open-source projects is a brilliant way to showcase your skills and connect with other developers in the community. Not only will you beef up your GitHub profile but you might also catch the eye of someone at Willis Re who values hands-on experience over just theory.
✨Attend Local Tech Meetups
Tech meetups are gold mines for networking and discovering job opportunities, especially in the fast-paced world of software engineering. Check out local listings for events in your area and don’t shy away from introducing yourself. This could lead directly to a temporary position at Willis Re!
✨Showcase Your Work Online
With temporary roles, it’s all about standing out in a short space of time. Create a portfolio website where you highlight your projects and skills. Talk about your code, and provide links to your GitHub repositories. This will not only demonstrate your abilities but will also make it easier for recruiters at Willis Re to see what you bring to the table.
✨Leverage Temporary Job Boards
Don’t forget to check specialised job boards for temporary software development roles. Websites like We Work Remotely or Remote OK often list short-term gigs that can be a perfect fit. Apply directly through our website as well, making sure your application is sharp—temporary roles can move fast!
We think you need these skills to ace Solution Architect (Contract Role) in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Tech Skills:Make sure your CV highlights your tech stack and any programming languages you’re proficient in. Include specifics about any frameworks or technologies you’ve worked with; they can make you stand out in the sea of applicants. It’s all about showing that you have the chops we need at Willis Re!
Portfolio 2.0:Since you’re applying for a temporary gig, it’s super important to showcase a portfolio that highlights your best projects. Include links to GitHub or any personal projects that demonstrate what you can do in a real-world environment. This gives us a taste of your style and your problem-solving approach!
Keep It Brief and Relevant:With a temporary position, we want to see your ability to hit the ground running. Be concise in your CV and cover letter; stick to experiences that directly relate to the role. Highlight any previous temporary roles or freelance gigs that show your adaptability and quick learning!
Tailor Your Cover Letter:Don’t just send a generic cover letter. Personalise it for Solution Architect (Contract Role) at Willis Re! Mention why this temporary role excites you and how you see yourself contributing in the short run. Show us what you've got and why you're the one for this quick turn-around!
How to prepare for a job interview at Willis Re
✨Nail the Technical Skills
For a software engineering role, you'll likely face technical questions or coding tasks during your interview. Brush up on the relevant programming languages and frameworks that Willis Re uses, and don’t forget to practice some coding challenges on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank. Showing your coding prowess can really make you stand out!
✨Prepare for System Design Questions
Even for a temporary role, having a grasp of system design principles can be crucial. Be ready to discuss how you would architect a software solution, including discussing trade-offs, scalability, and performance considerations. Having examples from previous projects can really show off your analytical thinking.
✨Demonstrate Your Adaptability
Since this is a temporary role, you'll want to emphasise your ability to hit the ground running. Highlight experiences where you quickly adapted to new technologies or teams. Let’s make it clear to the interviewers at Willis Re that you can learn on the job and deliver results in a short timeframe!
✨Show Off Your Portfolio
Make sure to have a portfolio or GitHub ready showcasing your projects. Having tangible evidence of what you've done—be it personal projects, contributions to open-source, or previous work—can convey how capable you are. Tailor this for what might interest Willis Re, so it's relevant and sparks conversation during your interview.
