Lead Solutions Architect

Overview of role

Office: London (Hybrid - 40% required in the office)

The Lead Solutions Architect will lead our team of Data, Applications and Solutions Architects. This pivotal role will be responsible for ensuring robust, scalable, and secure solutions across our enterprise landscape. The ideal candidate will have deep expertise in Microsoft Azure, a strong grasp of enterprise architecture principles and a proven track record in leading a cross-functional architecture team in a fast-paced, project driven environment. The Lead Solutions Architect will also be responsible for setting the standards, patterns and principles for internal and external implementation teams for or on behalf of Walkers. Expected to be a key driver of the firm's technology platforms and tooling the Lead Solutions Architect will become a key role as new business models and opportunities arise from an increased use of technology such as Machine Learning and AI.  The role holder will be expected to have a deep understanding and of SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and Hybrid cloud technologies with a particularly deep understanding of Microsoft Azure landscape. The Lead Solutions Architect will be expected to be a champion of adopting such cloud technology, understanding where such modern solutions can help drive the firm to meet its objectives while understand also where it is not appropriate

The Lead Solutions Architect will report to the Global Head of Architecture and be expected, along with all other architects to be consultative in the areas they are extremely competent in as well as having the aptitude to quickly understand new and emerging technologies. The role holder will be responsible for leading the selection of Enterprise SaaS platforms and as part of this will have to work closely with vendors to design solutions which align with Walkers' standards and reference architectures. The Lead Solutions Architect will own the integration solution across various SaaS platforms and be the subject matter expert in providing architectural guidance and assurance at both project and strategic level. The role will also have a responsibility to help choose and manage suppliers involved in any other of the assigned project deliverables. The Lead Solutions Architect should have experience of creating and working with Enterprise Architecture artefacts and be familiar with working with delivery pipelines using tools like Azure DevOps for infrastructure as code in cloud-based deployments as well as traditional on-premises application design and deployment.

Duties, Responsibilities & Person Specification

• Mentor and develop a team of Architects across data, applications and solutions domains.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performance culture within the architecture team.
• Drive the development and evolution of the solutions architecture roadmap aligned with business goals.
• Collaborate with business leaders, product owners, and delivery teams to understand requirements and translate them into architectural solutions.
• Ensure architectural governance and oversight is embedded in project delivery and strategic planning.
• Ensure solutions are aligned with enterprise architecture, security and compliance requirements.
• Be seen as the clear leader in all in-house led development projects, integration projects and strategy and the application portfolio. Provide subject matter expertise to projects and design governance boards.
• Advise the CTO and the Global Head of Architecture on modern ways of working to delivering software and applications in an Agile fashion and move towards a DevOps style culture.
• Ensure that all strategy, architecture, standards, patterns, principles and roadmaps are kept current and fully understood by all relevant teams within the firm.
• Create and maintain architectural documentation as artefacts that relate to network topology, architectural designs, patterns, principles and standards and technology selection.
• Create and own the firm’s standard non-functional requirements for all integrations, development tooling and code management, testing and deployment tooling.
• Select and design solutions based on SaaS platforms with focus on interoperability and decoupled integrations.
• Work with IT, suppliers, vendors and specialty third parties to develop a strategy for the firm based on the adoption of public cloud. Identifying an approach over a period of time to delivering against this vision using target architectures.
• Continual research on new software and working practices to remain abreast of developments in across the IT industry in multiple verticals and not just Legal.
• Advise and architect designs to ensure their smooth deployment and reliable operation for fulfilling business objectives and processes.

Education, Skills & Experience

• Proven experience in a senior or lead architecture role within a complex enterprise environment.
• Proven experience in creating, managing, developing and motivating Architecture teams including conducting performance reviews, setting goals and career development.
• Strong leadership and team management skills.
• Broad knowledge across data architecture, application architecture, and integration patterns.
• Experience with architectural frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman, or similar.
• Deep Experience with Microsoft Azure architecture, landing zones, governance and enterprise-scale architecture.
• Experience in leading the selection of SaaS solutions/applications  whilst ensuring conformance with enterprise standards.
• Experience with hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
• Proven experience in implementing secure zero-trust models.
• Familiarity with data governance, security, and compliance standards (e.g., GDPR, ISO 27001).
• Familiarity with Microsoft Purview, Defender, Sentinel.
• Experience with cloud native design, microservices, containers (AKS) and serverless computing.
• Thorough knowledge of applications integrations and the API economy.
• Hands on and design experience of services within Microsoft Azure leveraging services like Logic Apps, Durable Functions, APIM, Containers and other PaaS type services.
• Experience in leveraging both SQL and Document Databases and leveraging the Power Platform for low code data dashboarding.
• University degree in Computer Science or other relevant discipline or 10 Years IT experience
• ToGAF 9 or higher certified.

Personal and Professional Requirements

• Ability and willingness to occasionally work outside normal working hours/days when requested.
• Decisive and confident in one’s own ability and recommendations
• An understanding that occasional international business travel will be necessary
• Strong written, oral and presentation communication skills.
• Excellent inter-personal skills and ability to present ideas and proposals in user-friendly language

• A passion for network and communication technologies continually staying up to date and evaluating where new technology can add value to the business.
• Highly self-motivated and directed, with keen attention to detail.
• Trusted advisor with the ability to step in and help support teams in advice and consultancy when necessary.
• Able to effectively prioritize tasks in a high-pressure environment.
• Experience working in a geographically dispersed team-oriented, collaborative environment.

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