Principle Solutions Architect

As a Solutions Architect, you will architect, design, and communicate a system's high-level structural and behavioural aspects, to enable and guide the design and development of integrated solutions that meet current and future business needs, in alignment with corporate IT standards and architecture guiding principles. This necessitates engagement throughout the lifecycle of projects by taking full responsibility for the solution architecture. Design, develop and govern the solution architecture of the Group in alignment with corporate business and IT strategies, ensuring appropriate balance between functional, service quality, systems management requirements and business objectives. This necessitates engagement at the strategic enterprise level while also taking full responsibility for the solution architectures implemented by individual projects and programmes. In this role, you will: • Define and drive the overarching architectural intent for discoveries, connecting solution architects, products, SMEs, and other stakeholders. • Provide guidance and support to ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards and best practices. • Act as a key solution architect for large-scale initiatives, connecting architects throughout the development and implementation process. • Drive the holistic architectural intent across Agile Release Trains (ARTs) within the same portfolio and across portfolios, ensuring consistency and alignment. • Serve as an escalation point for solution architecture issues, facilitating communication and engagement with internal and external teams. • Ensure that developed solutions align with architectural intent, maintain high-quality standards, and address any escalated issues promptly and effectively. • Support the driving of architectural enablers, such as APIs and technical debt management, within the portfolio. • Collaborate with Enterprise Architects to validate and certify architectural intent, and architectural decision records (ADRs), and manage deviations effectively. • Address, visualize and communicate complex architectural challenges that extend across ARTs and portfolios, engaging and aligning all necessary stakeholders, including the business. • Take accountabilities for all architectural intents and ADRs developed within the ART. • Ensure that these outcomes align with Enterprise Architecture views, adhere to architectural standards, and meet the expected quality standards. • Act as the product owner and technology leader for the systems team, collaborating with various team members within the system team. • Prioritize initiatives and ensure that the outcomes are aligned with the architecture runway (roadmap) and architectural guidelines. • Define, maintain, and communicate the architecture runway (roadmap) for the ART. • Ensure that the architectural roadmap aligns with the overall enterprise architecture strategy and supports the organization's long-term goals. • Serve as the single point of communication for all architectural matters within the ART. • Engage and collaborate with other capabilities, ensuring that architectural aspects are appropriately planned, prioritized, and tracked. • Facilitate cross-functional collaboration to drive effective architectural decision making. • Lead the definition and governance of corporate and portfolio IT standards, guidelines, and practices, including technology roadmaps, reviewing the IT estate, scouting emerging technologies, and driving Proof of Concepts to align with business strategy. • Lead solution architecture for new initiatives, vendor solution acquisitions, and enhancements, taking accountability for architecture quality, integration architecture, technical decisions, solution costs, delivery schedules, technical debt, and overall solution performance. • Provide architecture leadership and governance by leading solution design reviews, advising on technical and architectural standards, guiding exception requests, and providing architecture and technology leadership across Agile Release Trains and Teams of Teams in collaboration with architects and engineering teams. • Own and manage architecture roadmaps and technical platforms, driving technical enablers, application modernization, quality improvements, and technical debt management while coaching Solution Architects and senior engineering resources. • Technical leadership in leading a group of technical architects and senior developers. • Ability to influence delivery plans based on architecture and skills constraints. • Comprehensive understanding of one or more technologies such as Java, ERP, Cloud, open source frameworks, low code platforms, Big data, BI, data warehouses, observability, automation, network and infrastructure, mobile & frontend technologies, AI/ML, container management platforms, database, integration, digital workplace, DevOps. IoT, Blockchain, web 3.0, contact center, mainframe, service management platforms, messaging, cyber security etc. • Understanding of agile software development methodologies such as SCRUM and Scaled Agile and industry standard software modeling techniques such as ArchiMate, C4 and UML. • Knowledge in architecture styles such as microservices, event driven architecture, cloud native applications and well architected framework for cloud and on-premise deployments. • Knowledge in major systems architecture is needed to ensure that a robust and scalable solution is developed. • Significant experience of major systems architecture is needed to ensure that a robust and scalable solution is developed. • Leadership Role: Yes