Senior Solutions Architect

Senior Solution Architect - full-time 35 hour permanent opportunity, to join our team of experienced Architects

What's in it for you?

An excellent salary up to £70,000, Company Car scheme with a car worth up to £50,700, discretionary annual bonus, 27 days holiday in addition to statutory bank holidays, healthcare, on-site health and wellbeing services, pension plus much more

Team working

Our team enjoy a healthy balance of Hybrid working within our modern offices in Milton Keynes and working from home, optimising face to face office collaboration and strengthening stakeholder relationships whilst building your network. Once established in the role, the team typically spend 2 to 3 days a week in the office so please do ensure this is feasible both in terms of distance and commute time before considering whether to apply for this exciting role with us

You will report directly to the Lead Enterprise Architect, providing architectural design ownership at a domain level for key strategic initiatives and transformation programmes within VWFS UK which will include our New Contract Management Transformation, Fleet Programmes & Projects, and our Digital Programme - but it doesn't end there

Your purpose is to ensure continual improvement of our Solution Architecture capability, embracing agile and design thinking frameworks to support our business strategy and the Minimal Viable Product and Minimal Viable Architecture approach to delivery

You will define and develop new solution architecture technology components, patterns and integrations and make opportunity and solution recommendations to the Head of Architecture, Technology & Enterprise Data, Lead Enterprise Architect, Architecture Review Board and Enterprise Architects, as well as the product and business teams. You'll also work in close collaboration with the global architecture team in our headquarters in Germany

• So, if you put customers at the heart of everything you do, to create Wow moments
• You really understand what it means to be a Senior Solution Architect in a forward-thinking, data driven financial services organisation
• You're curious, challenging and courageous in driving your actions forward, even in times of ambiguity - we would really like to hear from you

Sound exciting? These are the skills and experience you can bring with you:

• You'll have experience leading architecture development working with cross-functional technology and architecture teams and business stakeholders for complex systems and IT services
• You have in-depth knowledge and experience of Solution Architecture in at least one IT Architecture domain, for example: Business, Application, Data, Technology, Security
• Expertise in enterprise integration patterns, interface design, messaging models as well as Agile architectural thinking and Lean delivery of architectural work
• Experience of leading documentation of large, complex IT proposals linked to objectives, costs, and financial benefits
• You have used and managed EA tools such as LeanIX, Alfabet, Bizzdesign and Sparx Enterprise Architect
• Strong experience of cloud platforms such as AWS and Microsoft Azure and, designing APIs, Integrations, Event Based Architectures and Micro-services Architectures
• Great architectural instinct - knowledge of what a good, or bad architecture looks like
• Understanding of both SOAP and REST, and the pros and cons of each
• Experience of building out both high level and low-level technical designs for consumption by product, system, development teams and technology partners
• You may have worked as part of a wider architecture community of practice, both locally and globally
• Omni-channel and B2C front-end integration experience, with a passion for digital transformation
• Designing systems and solutions within a hybrid cloud model and a good working knowledge of Canonical messaging and Corporate Information modelling
• Experience of Technology components and BI and Data Solution components to deliver Solution Architecture
• You have a TOGAF Architecture Qualification or similar
• Previous experience in Financial Services, Automotive Finance or Retail Consumer Finance would be a real advantage

Here's a bit more detail about what you will be doing:

• You'll have responsibility for activities that span both Volkswagen Financial Services UK (VWFS UK) and VW Bank GmbH (UK Branch) (referred to as VW Bank UK) and therefore you'll comply with any applicable rules, regulations and standards as set out in our European Organisational Handbook (E-OHB), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and European Central Bank (ECB)
• Lead the Solution Architecture and design for a specific business area
• Define and develop high level architecture and designs in line with the published Architecture roadmaps, technology standards, patterns, principles, guardrails, and guidelines to deliver quality IT solutions
• Define and develop Solution Building Blocks in line with the VWFS application & platform strategies to ensure alignment with enterprise-wide strategies
• You'll work in partnership with other areas of IT to realise the end-to-end solution architecture vision, ensuring implementation follows agreed high-level design and meets acceptance into service requirements for IT service management
• Convert complex requirements into architecture and design to create blueprints for the relevant solutions using published reference architectures, and where appropriate with guidance from VWFS Enterprise Architecture
• Provide full-stack Solution Architecture services to the various IT Development teams and capabilities for the implementation and delivery of products and services to realise the business outcomes
• Advise on functional, non-functional requirements and service impacts in relation to IT architecture to fulfil the required service level agreements and end customer outcomes
• Support the Lead Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Digital Architect, Enterprise Data Architect, Enterprise Technology Architect and Enterprise Application Architect in developing the principles, standards, and technology strategy to achieve the VWFS UK and HQ business strategies
• Provide subject matter Solution Architecture expertise within the Architecture community of practice to foster collaboration, agility and support cross-functional architecture delivery and best practice
• Support the optimisation and automation of architecture artefacts and processes to ensure economical and efficient architecture delivery by defining & evolving solution architecture tools and methods for agile and waterfall delivery
• Build and maintain excellent working relationships with key stakeholders throughout the organisation, in particular Senior Product Owners, Technical Product Owners, Programme & Project Managers, Enterprise Data professionals, Software Engineers and Business Analysts

About Volkswagen Financial Services

Our mission is straight forward, we want to be 'The Key to Mobility'. What does that mean? To make getting from A-to-B as easy and simple for as many people as possible. To truly meet the mobility needs of people in a changing world, our offering goes beyond traditional vehicle financing. We do this by providing a range of finance and aftersales products on Volkswagen Group vehicles, as well as developing innovative mobility products designed to solve real problems and support our customers.

Volkswagen Financial Services is committed to being an inclusive employer and we welcome applications from everyone. Diversity and Inclusion is not just a statement for us and we are nurturing an environment where everyone can be their 100% self. If there is anything we can do to support you being your 100% self during our recruitment process, please let us know and we will support you as best we can

Closing date for applications: Wednesday 13th November