Job Description
Senior Solutions Architect
Contract Type: Perm
Location: Alderley Park or Glasgow
Working Style: Hybrid - 50% from home / 50% office based
Right To Work: Only candidates who possess a valid right to work in the UK or Eligibility to work in Ireland will be able to undertake this role. Unfortunately, Royal London are unable to offer visa sponsorship
We have exciting opportunities for a Senior Solution Architect to join Royal London’s Longstanding Customers & Annuities business area. You’ll help shape modern technology solutions that support customers throughout retirement, contributing to significant change across annuities, retirement journeys and digital services. From modernising longstanding platforms to improving online self-service, your work will help us deliver more accessible and effective experiences for our customers.
This is an opportunity to influence important technology decisions, work across complex business initiatives and contribute to the continued growth of Royal London’s annuity business. You’ll also take ownership across multiple initiatives, provide strategic oversight and support the development of other architects through coaching, mentoring and workload leadership.
More about the role:
- Take ownership of the architecture across multiple complex initiatives, maintaining a coherent end-to-end view of business outcomes, operating models and technology dependencies.
- Shape target architectures, transition states, delivery roadmaps and reusable design patterns for the Longstanding Customers & Annuities portfolio.
- Lead the design and assurance of end-to-end solutions for significant business and technology change.
- Translate business strategy, customer outcomes and future capabilities into practical, deliverable architecture.
- Provide strategic oversight throughout delivery, resolving architectural issues and ensuring solutions remain aligned with agreed designs.
- Lead architecture governance activity, clearly presenting options, recommendations, risks and trade-offs to senior business and technology stakeholders.
- Ensure architecture decisions align with enterprise principles, technology strategy, security standards and approved roadmaps.
- Balance customer value, resilience, security, cost, operational sustainability, technical debt and total cost of ownership when shaping solutions.
- Influence investment and sequencing decisions by identifying cross-initiative dependencies, risks and opportunities for reuse.
- Support the modernisation of platforms serving longstanding customers and the development of customer portals and digital self-service capabilities.
- Work collaboratively across delivery teams, business areas, technology partners and suppliers, constructively challenging decisions where required.
- Provide assurance and guidance on the work of other architects, helping to maintain consistency and quality across the portfolio.
- Coach and mentor solution architects, providing workload leadership and supporting the continued development of architecture capability.
- Bring external insight and thought leadership to improve architecture practices and identify opportunities for innovation.
What you’ll bring:
- Significant experience shaping and delivering architecture for complex, business-critical solutions, programmes or portfolios.
- A proven ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and maintain effective oversight across multiple initiatives.
- Experience defining target architectures, transition states, delivery roadmaps, reference architectures or design guardrails.
- Strong end-to-end architecture capability across applications, integration, data, cloud, infrastructure and operational services.
- Experience providing architectural governance and assurance throughout the full delivery lifecycle.
- The ability to translate business strategy, customer outcomes and complex requirements into clear, practical technical direction.
- Confidence evaluating architectural options and making evidence-based recommendations that balance value, risk, cost and delivery constraints.
- Strong knowledge of non-functional requirements, including security, resilience, performance, scalability, supportability and regulatory considerations.
- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, including experience presenting complex decisions to senior business and technology audiences.
- Experience constructively challenging stakeholders, resolving ambiguity and building agreement across teams with different priorities.
- Commercial awareness, including an understanding of supplier considerations, operating models, financial constraints and total cost of ownership.
- Experience working effectively with third-party technology partners and suppliers.
- Experience coaching, mentoring or providing workload leadership to other architects.
- The ability to think strategically while remaining comfortable working through technical detail when required.
Desirable experience
- Integration architecture.
- Microsoft Azure or another cloud environment.
- Digital or customer-facing solution delivery.
- Financial services or another regulated industry. (Financial services experience is helpful but not essential. We’re more interested in your architecture capability, approach to solution design and ability to influence successful outcomes).
If you feel you’d be a great fit for Royal London but don’t meet every requirement, we’d still love to hear from you. Research shows some candidates are less likely to apply unless they meet 100% of the criteria. If you meet most of the requirements and are keen to learn, we encourage you to apply.
About Royal London
We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.
Our People Promise to our colleagues is that we will all work somewhere inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.
We've always been proud to reward employees by offering great workplace benefits such as 28 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, an up to 14% employer matching pension scheme and private medical insurance.
Inclusion, diversity and belonging
We’re an inclusive employer. We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across Royal London. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected – whatever their background.