Systems Architect and Support Manager

Role Overview:

We are seeking an experienced Systems Architecture and Support Manager to provide leadership across systems architecture, technical support, and the ongoing development of our software and infrastructure environment. This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role for a contractor who is comfortable working within established organisational, architectural, and operational constraints.

The role combines proactive systems planning with practical implementation, ensuring that business-critical platforms remain stable, secure, scalable, and supportable. While the position includes diagnosing and resolving technical issues, the primary focus is on forward-looking architecture, continuous improvement, and the delivery of new capabilities and enhancements that support business growth.

The team member will be expected to work pragmatically within our current structure, processes, and technology stack, while driving measurable improvements in reliability, performance, maintainability, and operational readiness.

Key Objectives:

• Define and evolve a coherent systems architecture that supports current operations and future growth.
• Plan and implement system improvements, upgrades, and new capabilities in line with business priorities.
• Maintain and improve the performance, reliability, and security of live systems.
• Ensure systems are maintainable, supportable, and well-documented over the long term.
• Reduce recurring incidents and operational friction through preventative improvements.
• Strengthen IT support processes, tooling, and operational readiness to minimise disruption to users and services.
• Deliver enhancements and architectural improvements without disrupting ongoing business operations.

Role and responsibilities:

• Work with the Systems Manager on development and ongoing improvement of systems architecture, including dependencies, interfaces, data flows, integration points, and technical standards.
• Produce and maintain clear architecture documentation, including diagrams and decision records, to support internal alignment and future delivery.
• Plan, prioritise, and implement system upgrades, improvements, and new capabilities across software and infrastructure.
• Identify and address architectural bottlenecks and technical risks through incremental, well-managed change.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate operational and business requirements into actionable technical solutions.
• Introduce and maintain pragmatic monitoring, logging, alerting, and diagnostics to improve operational visibility and supportability.
• Provide escalation-level IT support for complex or high-impact technical issues affecting internal users, services, and business operations.
• Support incident response activities including triage, prioritisation, root cause analysis, remediation planning, and post-incident documentation.
• Ensure all changes are well-documented, tested, and safely deployed to production environments.
• Work within established development, deployment, and governance processes, recommending improvements where appropriate.
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure delivered changes are understood, documented, and supportable after delivery.
• Provide clear, honest technical assessments and progress updates to stakeholders.

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Required Skills and Experience:

• Significant experience as a Systems Engineer, Solutions Architect, Senior Software Engineer, Technical Lead, or Technical Contractor working on complex, production systems.
• Strong expertise in diagnosing, troubleshooting, and resolving complex technical issues across software and infrastructure.
• Demonstrable experience contributing to systems architecture, including technical design, integration planning, and improving maintainability.
• Strong understanding of operating systems, performance tuning, concurrency, and system internals.
• Experience planning and delivering system improvements, upgrades, and enhancements in live production environments.
• Strong operational mindset, with experience improving supportability through monitoring, documentation, and incident reduction.
• Ability to work independently, prioritise effectively, and deliver outcomes with minimal supervision.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain technical issues clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to assist with in house IT hardware issues which may arise.

Working Style and Expectations

• Proactive and outcome-focused, with a bias toward durable, long-term solutions.
• Comfortable operating in imperfect environments with historical constraints.
• Able to balance strategic architectural planning with hands-on delivery and operational support.
• Willing to take accountability for results rather than simply providing advice.
• Able to challenge existing approaches constructively while respecting organisational structure and decision-making processes.

Deliverables

• Documented architecture baseline and forward-looking improvement roadmap.
• Implemented system upgrades, enhancements, and architectural improvements aligned to business priorities.
• Improved system stability, performance, security, and operational visibility.
• Clear documentation enabling internal teams to maintain and support the systems going forward.
• Ensuring the day-to-day operating of the IT hardware in the building is operating.

Success Measures

• Successful delivery of planned system improvements and enhancements.
• Improved system performance, reliability, and operational visibility metrics.
• Decreased operational burden on internal teams through improved supportability.
• Improved clarity of system architecture, system ownership, and forward planning.
• Positive feedback from engineering, operational, and business stakeholders.