Solution Architect - Insurance or Investment management

Senior Solution Architect / Solution Architect / Technical solution architect

£700-£750 per day - Umbrella engagement - 6 month initial contract - 3 days per week on site

Insurance of Investment management experience is essential

Overview of the role:

The Technical Solution Architect is responsible for proactively delivering solution, technical, and data architecture designs for specific areas or segments of the organisation's overall architecture. This will result in deliverables that guide a portfolio of solutions to achieve targeted business outcomes. Solutions include systems (including applications, technologies, processes, and information), shared infrastructure services and shared application services.

• Create deliverables that help develop the direction for managing the organisation's portfolio of "to be" and "as is" solutions.
• Provide the necessary leadership, analysis and design tasks related to the development of an enterprise's solutions architecture within specific

• Provide support and advice to in-flight projects and programmes to ensure they operate within the organisation's architecture plans.
• Define standards for the application and technology architecture for services and integration within the organisation.

They are facing massive demand for architecture support across the business. This senior hire will work closely with developers/engineers while heavily managing stakeholders to define requirements and HLDs.

• Background: Must have Insurance and Investment Management experience.
• Scope: Broad knowledge across Data, Applications, and Infrastructure (all things Microsoft).

Candidates with experience in the following will be of paritcular interest

• Dynamics 365 (Potential upcoming implementation)
• MS Fabric (Huge focus for them from a data POV)
• Power Platform (Power Automate / Power Apps)
• RPA
• ServiceNow

Key responsibilities

• Leadership: leading and setting direction for initiatives in line with the Enterprise Architecture.
• Understand the business drivers and business capabilities (future and current state) and determine corresponding system designs and change requirements to drive the organisation's targeted business outcomes.
• Design and lead the implementation of a solutions architecture across a group of specific business applications or technologies based on enterprise business strategy, business capabilities and business requirements.
• Manage and develop the architecture within a broad scope of projects, working closely with peers and stakeholders that manage and design architecture.
• Provide consulting support to projects to ensure the project is aligned with the overall enterprise architecture.
• Monitor the current-state solution portfolio to identify deficiencies through aging of the technologies used by the application, or misalignment with business requirements.
• Support the principles, guidelines, standards and solution patterns for application integration and development, to ensure solution decisions are aligned with the enterprise's future-state architecture vision.
• Design and direct the governance activities associated with ensuring solutions architecture assurance and compliance.
• Support the roadmap for the evolution of the enterprise application portfolio to future from current state (as defined by the solutions architecture).
• Facilitate the evaluation and selection of software product standards and services, as well as the design of standard and custom software configurations.
• Identify the organisational impact (for example, on skills, processes, structures or culture) and financial impact of the solutions architecture.

Skills and experience:

• A minimum of five years solution architecture experience in application development or application integration.
• Knowledge of digital process automation, technical architecture, database management, or operations. Knowledge of Data Engineering and Application Integration scenarios.
• Knowledge of cloud technologies and service architecture or Mesh application (MASA) preferably using the Microsoft Azure stack.
• Exposure to multiple, diverse technologies and processing environments.
• Good understanding of strategic and new and emerging technology trends, and the practical application of these to new and evolving business and operating models.
• Understanding of agile methods and processes, and capability of supporting agile project teams.
• Excellent analytical and technical skills.
• Knowledge of the components of an enterprise technical architecture.
• Knowledge of financial models and budgeting.
• Excellent understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and infrastructure and network architecture.
• Applying Architecture through the TOGAF standard
• A clear analytical thinker and problem solver.

Desirable

• Experience with Investment Management platforms such as Aladdin.
• Experience with business process mapping exercises.

Reasonable Adjustments:

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.

If you need any help or adjustments during the recruitment process for any reason , please let us know when you apply or talk to the recruiters directly so we can support you.