Solution Architect- Edinburgh

• Lead solution architecture and design activities across complex enterprise technology environments.
• Translate business and technical requirements into secure, scalable and resilient solutions.
• Define and govern target-state architectures, roadmaps, standards and reusable architectural patterns.
• Provide architectural direction across cloud, infrastructure, applications, integrations and legacy platforms.
• Understand how historic and modern systems interact and define appropriate approaches for joining these technologies together.
• Lead architecture across APIs, integrations, distributed services, microservices and event-driven environments.
• Assess existing technology environments and define appropriate target architectures and migration strategies.
• Evaluate architectural options and emerging technologies, assessing technical trade-offs, risks and benefits.
• Support delivery teams through solution design, architecture assurance, technical risk management, implementation guidance and operational readiness.
• Ensure solutions adhere to relevant security, privacy, regulatory, audit and governance requirements.
• Partner with business, product, engineering, architecture, security, risk and delivery stakeholders to provide clear technical direction.
• Maintain key architectural deliverables including reference architectures, roadmaps, solution designs, decision records, integration standards, governance frameworks and risk assessments.
• Support technology assessments and proofs of concept where appropriate.
• Explore how AI and emerging technologies can be incorporated into the technology landscape and used to better understand and solve complex architectural problems.

• Strong experience as a Solution Architect / Senior Solution Architect within a complex enterprise environment.
• Strong knowledge of cloud and infrastructure architecture.
• Experience with AWS.
• Experience working with legacy/historic platforms and systems alongside modern technology.
• Strong systems-integration knowledge and an understanding of how different applications, infrastructure and platforms connect.
• Experience architecting solutions across complex, multi-technology environments.
• Strong understanding of API-led integration and distributed architectures.
• Ability to assess technical trade-offs and provide pragmatic architectural recommendations.
• Strong technical leadership and stakeholder-management capability.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business-focused recommendations.

Desirable Experience

• Experience modernising legacy technology estates.
• Front-end technology exposure.
• Understanding of backend and back-office systems.
• Experience across large-scale enterprise transformation programmes.
• Microservices and event-driven architecture experience.
• Experience defining technology roadmaps and migration strategies.
• Exposure to AI-enabled technologies or solutions.

AI Mindset

We are particularly interested in candidates who:

• Embrace AI and see its potential within technology and architecture.
• Are actively experimenting with AI tools, professionally or independently.
• Are curious about how AI can help them explore and understand complex systems.
• Can identify practical opportunities to incorporate AI into technology solutions.
• Maintain strong underlying architectural knowledge and use AI as an additional tool rather than a substitute for technical expertise.