Solution Architect

Solution Architect

• Annual Salary: Competitive
• Location: Oxford (Hybrid - minimum 2 days per week onsite)
• Job Type: Full-time

A new exciting Solution Architect permanent position has become available, working with a market leading educational publisher organisation, where you will play a pivotal role in designing and delivering complex, multi-component customer-facing systems and applications.

This includes digital platforms, web and eCommerce applications, and online research platforms. You will provide hands-on technical leadership, collaborating closely with product owners and various teams to ensure our technology solutions align with business goals and architectural standards.

Day-to-day of the role:

• Collaborate with product or system owners to understand their requirements and challenges, creating high-level design documents to address these effectively.
• Work alongside other architecture colleagues to define all aspects of solution design, including technology selection and workflow processes.
• Drive the design and delivery of solutions that align with long-term technology strategies and architectural principles.
• Translate strategic goals into capabilities, ensuring initiatives are prioritized to deliver essential business growth.
• Guide development teams and vendors in implementing architectural patterns and coding standards.
• Provide consultancy and mentoring across the architectural community, facilitating design reviews and identifying opportunities for framework-oriented strategies.
• Collaborate with internal and third-party engineering teams to ensure alignment with target architecture and standards.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights for non-technical stakeholders.
• Develop technical talent through effective supervision, coaching, and mentoring.

Required Skills & Qualifications:

• Experience in technically leading development teams and acting as the technical authority.
• Deep understanding of product technology development and its application to meet business needs.
• Proven experience in delivering product solutions within a customer-facing product delivery SaaS environment.
• Familiarity with Scrum, Kanban, and Scaled Agile methodologies.
• Ability to deliver solutions to required quality within agreed budget and timescales.
• Knowledge of Enterprise Architecture principles and cloud-based technologies, especially AWS.
• Strong communication skills with effective stakeholder management capabilities.
• Experience in the publishing or closely related industries with an emphasis on digital technology is desirable.

Benefits:

• 25 days' holiday plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (3-days), increasing with service.
• 35-hour working week with flexibility in working patterns depending on the role.
• Active employee networks and societies.
• Pension contributions up to 12%.
• Loans and savings schemes through Salary Finance.
• Travel to work schemes and access to a wide range of local discounts.
• Private medical insurance and a management bonus.