Purpose of the role:
The IT solution architect is responsible for taking business requirements and
company objectives and determining how these could be achieved technically across
our environments.
Main responsibilities:
- leading the overall technical design process
- co-ordinating IT technical team activities throughout the life cycle of a project or change
- assessing requests and establishing technical options which ensure that the end result is fit for our immediate and future purposes
- managing technical designs and guiding the development and delivery of technical solutions which support our business objectives
- being mindful of our IT principles (eg operational ease, suitable security, sustainability, resilience, cost-efficiency and risk) and ensuring that designs adhere to good data practices, compliance, regulatory standards, security frameworks and best practices relevant to our environment
- bringing broad IT experience to designs to ensure that we are looking ‘up’, as well as ‘in’, when designing technical change
- being involved from the start, when a new opportunity/need is identified, through the assessment of each new request and within the activity which develops its supporting technical designs, builds the change and delivers it into our business
Experience in:
- co-ordinating the internal and external IT technical work streams required for the successful delivery of new cloud, web and mobile projects and/or change
- key contributor to IT strategy and planning, focusing on maximising the value from current IT solutions, consolidating applications (where applicable) and improving applications’ integration
- reviewing and advising on third parties’ technical designs
- IT design, such as digital and business applications, infrastructure (including network and server), enterprise systems (including cloud, data and business intelligence) and the EPoS system, with a corporate and franchising perspective
- data architecture, providing coverage across areas like data and reporting, system and franchise integrations
- ensuring that our underlying foundations are stable and secure; providing coverage across security, networks, cloud services and datacentres
General skills include:
- collaborating across an organisation, at all levels, with excellent business-facing analytical and communications skills; ability to explain technical topics to those
without a technical background and business topics to technical teams
- strong analytical skills, coupled with a pragmatic approach to technical design
and delivery
- ability to redesign current architecture, reducing risks around availability and complexity
- demonstrated ability to identify risks and recommend practical solutions
- a focus on excellent security, agility and system stability means that we are able to react quickly and carefully assess every change, ensuring that the right designs are implemented in the right way
- development of future technical roadmaps
- good governance, ensuring that IT principles are being adhered to by both internal
and third-party teams
Reporting to: IT Director
Grade: Middle Manager
Dept: IT
Salary and benefits:
- competitive salary
- 25 days’ paid holiday (plus bank holidays) pro rata; free shares (after 18 months
with the company); private medical insurance; contributory pension scheme