Technical Solutions Architect

Technical Solutions Architect

Location: London
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Reporting to: Head of Technology
Working pattern: Hybrid, with a minimum of three days in the office each week

We’re looking for a Technical Solutions Architect who enjoys designing solutions and getting involved in making them work.

We’re a small team supporting a diverse portfolio of businesses. There’s a mix of established systems, new technology and environments that need to move forward. You’ll help us work out what needs to change, design the right solution and see it through into delivery and support.

This is a broad, hands-on role. You’ll need depth in some technical areas and the curiosity and judgement to get to grips with others. We don’t expect you to know everything on the list below. We do expect you to ask good questions, make sound decisions and take ownership of your work.

What you’ll be doing

Your time will be split roughly between architecture and design (40%), engineering and delivery (40%), and technical assurance and operational support (20%).

You’ll work independently and alongside architecture, infrastructure and cloud colleagues to:

• Design and deliver solutions across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

• Understand where we are and where we need to get to. Document existing environments, define target architectures and build practical plans to move between them.

• Stay involved through delivery. Configure, implement and validate solutions, working through the technical detail as well as the design.

• Build for day-to-day operation. Consider security, resilience, availability, performance and scalability from the outset.

• Make handovers work. Define operational acceptance criteria, produce useful documentation and make sure support teams understand what they’re taking on.

• Provide technical leadership. Be a trusted point of contact in your specialist areas and help colleagues resolve complex problems.

• Support major change. Projects may include office fit-outs, cloud migrations, data centre moves and technology refreshes.

• Improve how we work. Identify gaps in platforms, processes and standards, then help put them right.

Occasional international travel and work outside normal hours will be needed for some projects, migrations and significant technical issues.

What we’re looking for

You’ll have a strong background in infrastructure, cloud or enterprise technology, with substantial experience supporting systems followed by several years designing and delivering solutions.

You’ll be someone who:

• Can explain complex technical issues clearly and help people reach a decision.

• Produces documentation that makes designs, decisions and delivery plans easy to understand.

• Is comfortable creating high-level and low-level designs and defining operational and user acceptance criteria.

• Can balance project delivery with operational demands and manage their own workload.

• Investigates problems properly and looks for opportunities to improve things.

• Takes the initiative, proposes sensible solutions and follows through.

• Works well in a small team where priorities vary and people help each other.

Familiarity with architecture frameworks such as TOGAF, monitoring tools, IT service management and project delivery methods would be useful.

Your technical background

We’re looking for strong engineering and architecture experience in several of the following areas, with enough breadth to understand how the wider environment fits together:

• Azure and cloud: Entra ID, integration services, Functions, App Service, managed identities, application registrations, virtual machines, scale sets, SQL and Cosmos DB.

• Networking and cloud connectivity: Routing, switching, firewalls, virtual networks, WAF, Front Door and ExpressRoute. Experience with Cisco, Meraki, Fortinet or Palo Alto would be useful.

• Infrastructure: Enterprise servers, storage, virtualisation, Fibre Channel and iSCSI, together with the physical requirements of reliable IT environments.

• Cyber security: Security by design, zero trust, SIEM and identity and access management, including SSO, MFA and privileged access. Familiarity with ISO 27001, NIST or Cyber Essentials would be helpful.

• Microsoft and end-user technology: Windows 11, Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and Teams Phone, alongside meeting room and video conferencing systems.

• Automation: Configuration automation and CI/CD.

• Data platforms: SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, data lakes or MuleSoft.

• Monitoring and observability: Making sure services can be monitored, understood and supported effectively.

• Building and operational systems: Access control, CCTV, building management systems, cabling, power and cooling.

You don’t need to be an expert in all of these. We’re interested in where you have real depth, how you approach unfamiliar technology and how well you turn requirements into working solutions.

Relevant technical certifications are welcome, including Azure, Cisco and Fortinet qualifications. Equivalent practical experience and demonstrable knowledge are equally valuable.

Experience in private equity, a managed service provider or sectors such as shipping, property and hospitality would also be useful.

What you can expect

A varied role with room to influence technical decisions, stay hands-on and see the results of your work. You’ll work closely with a small team, tackle problems across different businesses and have opportunities to develop your expertise.

Benefits include:

• Discretionary bonus of up to 15%.

• Training and development through accredited providers.

• 25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, with up to five days carried over.

• Pension with a 6% employer contribution and a minimum 3% employee contribution, available after three months.

• Private medical insurance after three months.

• Life assurance at four times your annual salary, available after six months.

• Season ticket loan repayable over ten months, available from the start.

• Cycle to work scheme, available after three months.

• Hybrid working, with a minimum of three days in the office each week.

If you enjoy understanding how things fit together, making sensible technical decisions and staying involved until the job is done, we’d like to hear from you.