Enterprise Architect - Technical Strategy

Job Description

DescriptionWe're looking for an Enterprise Architect with a strong technical focus to turn enterprise direction into practical technical strategy and clear guidance for engineering teams. This is a new, influential role with the opportunity to shape cross-domain technical direction and how architecture supports engineering across the organisation.

You will work alongside another Enterprise Architect focused on business strategy and enterprise change, and our Business Architect. Together, these roles provide complementary, cross-cutting architecture leadership across the organisation.

Your focus will be cross-domain technical strategy, modern engineering practices and consistent, sustainable technical decision-making. Product Architects retain architecture leadership within their domains, and engineering teams retain detailed design responsibility. Your role is to provide enterprise direction, connect thinking across domains and help resolve complex cross-cutting challenges.

You will partner closely with Engineering Managers, Technical Principals and Product Architects, while they retain accountability for architecture, engineering leadership and technical outcomes within their domains.

What you'll be doing:

Shape enterprise technical strategyTurn business priorities and enterprise direction into clear technical choices, principles and shared directionLead technical thinking on significant cross-domain challenges, surfacing risks, dependencies and opportunitiesShape the technical dimension of strategic planning, investment decisions and build, buy or reuse choices, considering value, cost, risk and long-term maintainabilityShape pragmatic modernisation paths that balance new capabilities, legacy technology, technical debt and service continuityEnable teams with practical guidanceCo-create practical patterns across integration, APIs, identity, service design and other cross-cutting areasHelp teams define clear domain boundaries and shared language using appropriate modelling and architecture techniquesBring Data, Platform, Security and DevEx standards together as practical guidance that teams can useSupport Product Architects and Technical Principals through peer support, review and the Architecture Community of PracticeCreate visibility and proportionate governanceBring domain views together to show the wider technical landscape, dependencies, risks and opportunitiesEstablish practical approaches to surfacing architecture debt, technical risks and significant decisionsFacilitate resolution of cross-domain disagreements and escalate material trade-offs through the appropriate routeHelp ensure governance enables good decisions without adding unnecessary approval layersBuild a connected architecture knowledge systemEstablish a connected view of domains, systems, services, ownership, decisions and technical guidanceMake architecture information current, structured and useful to engineers, architects and AI-enabled toolsIntegrate architecture documentation with engineering sources and workflows where practicalWork with Product Architects to keep domain architecture, decisions and architecture debt visible and connectedQualificationsPragmatic about architecture, standards, documentation and governance, with a focus on helping teams make better decisions and deliver wellAble to move between enterprise-level strategy and detailed technical discussionsCurious about emerging technology, including AI, with the judgement to assess where it can add value and the risks or trade-offs involvedAble to work effectively with senior stakeholders, constructively question established approaches and influence without relying on formal authorityAble to communicate complex ideas clearly, facilitate constructive discussions, build effective relationships and recognise when domain teams should own the answerMinimum criteria: Substantial engineering and architecture experience, including operating at enterprise architecture or equivalent strategic level, with responsibility for shaping direction across multiple teams, systems and domainsProven experience influencing enterprise technology strategy, investment decisions and significant cross-domain changeExperience working with senior engineers and architects on complex software, platform and technology decisionsBroad knowledge of modern architecture across areas such as APIs and integration, identity, cloud, resilience and operabilityExperience applying modelling techniques and creating practical principles, guardrails, standards, patterns and decision-making approachesGood understanding of the architectural implications of AI and other emerging technologiesBenefitsMotability Operations is a unique organisation, virtually one of a kind.

We combine a strong sense of purpose with a real commercial edge to ensure we provide the best possible worry-free mobility solutions to over 800,000 customers and their families across the UK. Customers exchange their higher rate mobility allowance to lease a range of affordable vehicles (cars, wheelchair accessible vehicles, scooters, and powered wheelchairs) with insurance, maintenance and breakdown assistance included.

We are the largest car fleet operator in the UK (purchasing around 10% of all the new cars sold in the UK) and work with a network of around 5,000 car dealers and all the major manufacturers.

We pride ourselves on delivering outstanding customer service, achieving an independently verified customer satisfaction rating of 9.8 out of 10.Our values are at the heart of everything we do. They represent ambition, and we look for our people to live and breathe them every day: We find solutionsWe drive changeWe careWe operate hybrid working across the organisation where we split our time between working on-site at our offices, and at home, remotely within the UK. We believe hybrid working achieves a good work/life balance for our colleagues, allowing us to connect with each other, collaborate on important work, and perform together to deliver for our customers.

It allows us to have the flexibility to work remotely up to 2-days per week whilst also using the great office spaces we have available. As a Motability Operations team member, you can expect: An annual discretionary bonus15% non-contributory pension (9% non-contributory pension during probation period)Life assurance at 4 times your basic salary to give you peace of mind that your loved ones will receive some financial helpEmployee Discount Scheme with a huge number of retailers and an app to save on the goDiscounted Electric/Hybrid Car Salary Sacrifice SchemeAccess to the Cycle to Work Scheme (we have showers, changing rooms and secure bike sheds on site)As well as financial benefits, our staff's health and well-being are very important to us, so we also offer:28 days annual leave with option to purchase and sell daysFunded Private Medical Insurance coverCritical illness insuranceFree access to healthcare apps, such as Peppy, Unmind, Aviva Digital GPFunded health screening for over 50s1 day per year to volunteer - Staff can support a local charity or do a sponsored event whilst being paid for itAccess to our fully accessible company allotment - Where we grow our own produce for local charitable organisationsAccess to Prayer room and quiet spaces whilst working in the officeWe also understand that not everyone is the same so offer several voluntary benefits that you can select outside the core package, these include;Dental InsuranceHealth and cancer screenings for you and your partnerDiscounted gym membershipsCharitable givingAt Motability Operations, we believe in building a diverse workforce, where our people are empowered to attend work as their true selves, and we encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We want to sustain a culture that nurtures, where employees are free to flourish and where they're rewarded equally, regardless of race, nationality or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, age, disability, or gender.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer and as such, all our offices provide first rate disability access. With our hybrid working environment, we do our best to accommodate part-time and flexible working requests where possible, building on our culture of trust, empowerment, and flexibility.

Please note, Motability Operations reserves the right to bring forward the closing date of any of its job vacancies if we receive a suitable number of quality applications from which to make a shortlist. Therefore, we recommend that you apply as soon as possible rather than wait until the published closing date.