Solutions Architect

Working title: Solutions Architect / Senior Developer (Higher Education experience)

Contract: Fixed-term contract, 12 months, with potential to extend up to 15 months

Salary: Up to £60,000

Location: 3 days per week on site, with some flexibility to 2 days. 1 day per week would be unlikely.

Holiday: 35 days including bank holidays, excluding 2 Christmas closure days

Overview

We are looking for a senior technical hire with University experience who can bridge the gap between architecture and hands-on development. This person will bring broader solution design capability than the current team structure allows, while also being able to support delivery where required.

The role is suited to someone who can think like a Solutions Architect, understand complex systems integration, and either guide existing development resources or contribute directly to development work themselves.

Key purpose of the role

The University is modernising a long-standing, heavily used legacy system that has been in place for around 20 years. The successful candidate will help shape how this system evolves, ensuring it can integrate effectively with a range of education-sector platforms and services.

This will include working across multiple connected systems such as:

• room booking systems
• finance systems
• virtual learning environments
• other core educational platforms

Key responsibilities

• Take a broad, solution-level view of system design and modernisation
• Assess how the existing system should integrate with multiple internal and third-party platforms
• Understand and define API requirements across connected products
• Translate business and technical needs into practical architecture and delivery plans
• Provide direction and technical leadership to the current developer
• Contribute hands-on development where needed
• Help move a noisy, ageing legacy estate toward a more modern, maintainable architecture

Candidate profile

We are looking for someone who:

• Has strong experience in solution design or architecture, but is still comfortable getting into the code when needed
• Has a good understanding of APIs, integrations, and system-to-system communication
• Can work at both strategic and delivery level
• Higher Education Experience
• Ideally has experience modernising older or legacy systems
• Can operate well in a complex stakeholder environment, preferably within education or similarly integrated environments

Why this role exists:

There is currently a more junior developer in place, but the need is now for a more senior technical person who can think more broadly, shape the overall solution, and bridge the gap between architecture and development delivery.