Principal Architect

Principal Architect - SAP

Salary: Circa £120,000 per annum

Location: Swindon or London

As the Principal Architect you will be a core part of the Leadership team for the SAP Platform. SAP Platform team acts as a central team servicing all CIOs within MTD (Member Technology Delivery) providing product architecture roadmap, reliability, best practice adoption and resilience. This role is within the MTD function, part of the wider COO organisation, which is responsible for delivering IT solutions which have our customers and colleagues at heart.

You will be accountable for the definition and delivery of the Architecture that supports our SAP landscape across the organization. You will provide thought leadership and architectural direction to our Architecture and Engineering teams.

You will drive the definition of technology roadmaps that support our business ambitions and align to our overarching technology strategy. You will lead the definition and assurance of end-to-end solution architectures for complex change, assuring both the quality and completeness of our solutions. This role will drive a culture of continuous improvement, with a focus on building architecture capability (including people) across all disciplines.

Across MTD, we have an important journey ahead of us to build and maintain our position in the market and respond to changing customer needs, guided by the strategic pillars of More Rewarding Relationship, Simply Brilliant Service and Focused, Fit and Fast. This is a pivotal role within the MTD Architecture team, who rely on this role for support in planning and strategic thinking to drive forward the delivery agenda.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join at team at a time of real change, where you will be at the heart of driving this agenda, and able to make a real impact. The successful candidate will have a broad range of experience of driving complex modernisation agendas to adopt and exploit both on-prem and cloud native technologies in a regulated environment.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, based at either our Swindon or London office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

What you’ll be doing

• Lead the ongoing evolution of the architecture capability (both within SAP Platform and the wider Society Architecture Practice) to ensure that it continuously improves and can meet the ongoing needs of the Society.
• Champion new SAP technologies, methodologies, and innovations, including SAP S/4HANA, SAP Fiori, and cloud-based solutions, to enhance efficiency and agility.
• Lead the definition of the short to medium term Architectural Roadmap and Runway for SAP landscape in the organisation.
• Define and lead the strategic design of SAP landscapes and architecture, ensuring alignment with business goals and IT strategy that results in successful implementation of solution architecture across the SAP transformation portfolio.
• Provide leadership and mentoring to other architects and technical teams, guiding them on architectural principles, design patterns, and implementation techniques.
• Develop and build strategic relationships with external parties (software vendors, research companies, industry bodies, and strategic partners) to ensure the definition and delivery of architecture is future proofed and in line with industry best-practice.
• Accountable for ensuring the E2E integrity of Solution Architecture and Design.

About you

We need somebody with:

• Extensive experience in SAP architecture, including expertise in SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, SAP Cloud Platform, SAP Fiori, and associated technologies.
• Deep applied and proven experience in leading architectural design for large-scale, complex SAP transformation programmes within a highly regulated environment, preferably in the financial services or banking sector.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management up to ExCo level to secure buy-in and facilitate informed decision making.
• Demonstrated experience in adopting and implementing emerging SAP technologies with a mix of both on-prem and cloud solutions.
• Experience of establishing and running Architectural governance and assurance.
• Experience of working on SAP applications in Banking and financial services including SAP-Fioneer, payments, core-banking and accounting is highly desirable.
• Experience of developing Architectural Roadmaps and feeding into investment and scheduling cycles.
• Track record of building high-performing Architectural teams and capability.
• Experience working with, and developing, Architectures that span both on-premise and cloud hosted technologies.
• Experience of working with 3rd party partners and vendors is highly desirable.
• Experience of developing Architectures within ‘agile’ delivery methodologies is preferable.

Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.

• Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct with good intent and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
• Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
• Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.

We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• A personal pension – if you put in 7% of your salary, we’ll top up by a further 16%
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
• Life assurance worth 8x your salary
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Wellhub – Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness.
• Access to an annual performance related bonus
• Access to training to help you develop and progress your career
• 30 days holiday, pro rata
• Individual healthcare cover

What makes us different

Nationwide is the world’s largest building society. With over 15 million customers, we have a relationship with almost a quarter of the UK’s population. We’ve got the scale to compete with the big banks, but we’re not a bank.

As a building society, we’re owned by our members – that’s our customers who have their current account, mortgage or savings with us. It means we can do things differently to deliver our Purpose – Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society.

When you work at Nationwide, you can experience that difference for yourself. You’ll be part of a high-performing, purpose-driven organisation that offers rewarding career experiences and a highly competitive range of benefits to match. You’ll also be joining us at an important time as we seek to reach more and more people in the UK. We want everyone in the UK to know that they don’t have to bank with a bank. They can choose a modern mutual instead.