Consulting Solution Architect

This is an exciting opportunity to join Experience and Transformation as a Consulting Solutions Architect. We have a wide-ranging client list, working with some of the biggest and innovative brands in the UK across utilities, gaming, publishing, retail and CPG, leisure, financial services and beyond. We are a rapidly expanding team, working at a fast pace, to develop cutting edge solutions for our clients. Within this role, you will work closely with Business Analysts, Lead Consultants and technical SMEs to advise on architectures. Integral to the role is working to take the requirements from the BA and to work with the client to perform a number of tasks: Document the As-Is architecture. Gain a comprehensive understanding of the current architecture, so as to help inform capability gaps but also inform any subsequent architecture changes. Design the To-Be architecture. Design an end state To-Be architecture that meets the client’s requirements. Phase the To-Be. Must be able to understand the client’s priorities and take into account dependencies and risks to design the phasing of transition between the As-Is and To-Be. Recommend Components. Alongside designing both Logical and Physical To-Be diagrams, you will be required to recommend potential specific components that meet the client’s functional requirements whilst also fitting into to the broader business requirements. This is an integral role within the team. We work closely with our technical partners, especially AWS, to define and shape solutions. You will have an exciting opportunity to take a lead on defining a future state for a range of solutions. Increasingly, much of what we are doing is developing architectures that enable organisations to deploy and operationalise AI models. This is, obviously, an ever-changing market, and you’ll be front and centre of supporting on RnD and performing horizon scanning. Key responsibilities As referenced in the previous section, you will take lead on a range of technical challenges. However, it is crucial that you are a critical thinker. Much of what you will be doing will be focused on future focused technology, leaning into AI Architecture, and designing solutions that support the delivery of AI models. Within this role, you will be expected to perform a number of tasks: Define and assess technical architectures and solutions Define technical and requirements Produce high-and-low level technical designs Define the tools and practices to be used to monitor and support cloud applications Architect end to end solutions that support the ingestion, processing and storage of data, including, potentially, the deployment of ML or AI models Architect and make recommendations to rationalise, simplify or optimise architectures Make recommendations that may support the following: Digital sovereignty Compute optimisation Cost optimisation This role will touch on many elements, including data platforms, AI architecture, cloud architecture, MLOPs, integration frameworks, DevOps processes. You will work closely with the BA and Lead Consultant to make strategic recommendations. With the As-Is architecture you will work with the BA to identify where current capability falls short of what is needed for their marketing and data aspirations and will define and recommend a future architecture, along with clear rationale and explanation as to the decisions that have been made. You will then be required to design a To-Be architecture that not only addresses the desired capabilities whilst also taking into account the client’s maturity and broader business context. You will then work with the BA and Lead Consultant to phase the architecture to align it with business priorities and other dependencies. To To-Be architecture will then be refined by identifying the scope and requirements for each capability area and recommending suitable vendors. Alongside this role you may be asked to support in the delivery of implementations conducted by our development team. This would see you working with the development team and Head of Development to design Solutions and also guide them on the development to ensure that they are working to specification. It is imperative that you feel comfortable in front of technical and non-technical clients: Asking questions to understand the As-Is Asking questions to gain a full understanding of technical requirements and dependencies Presenting your proposed architecture Fielding questions from a range of stakeholders, and “defending” your opinion and design Skills & experience Understanding of contemporary software engineering, including the selection and application of appropriate technology and patterns Confidence working in a team and designing full-stack solutions Detailed knowledge of at least one major Cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP) Confident in-front of clients and technical stakeholders, explaining design decisions DevOps and the techniques which enable it, including containerisation, CI/CD and IaC Relational and non-relational databases Integration methods and transport protocols e.g. REST API, Kafka etc Knowledge of Cloud native resources, and their uses and application e.g. Lambdas, Functions, Kubernetes Experience of working in agile environments Comfortable working with high-level stakeholders, both internally and externally Nice to have: Understanding Integration patterns with MarTech and AdTech products Digital analytics & tag management – specifically their role in the collect of data and that might be used About you You understand differing architecture principles, such as monolith, hybrid or microservices, and are able to articulate their benefits and disadvantages You are inquisitive and future thinking You are a strong listener with a superb ability to understand a client requirement, whilst also being able to interrogate and ask questions to get into the detail of solutions Pragmatic – able to make recommendations that balance the need for new capability vs. the upheaval involved in making change and limiting factors You are confident in understanding and documenting an as-is architecture and articulating its limitations & challenges You are an analytical thinker who is able to uniquely think about a problem and create To-Be architectures and phasing which meets a client’s nuanced needs You will understand interdependencies between systems You are able to listen to the needs of technical and business stakeholders and interpret them You are flexible and capable of proactive and reactive communication You are results driven with a professional approach to project delivery and a successful track record You have excellent written/verbal English You are an experienced and effective presenter You will have superb organisational skills You have high levels of personal motivation You are a logical thinker with excellent problem solving You are commercially confident & able to provide accurate estimations for work You are a selfless team player who will share knowledge, mentor and develop other members of the team on relevant technology and business trends