Systems Architect

Overview SYSTEMS ARCHITECT Full time Remote WHO ARE WE? MISSION is a group of digital marketing and communications Agencies. Employing 900+ people across 27 locations and three continents, the Group successfully combines its diverse expertise to produce Work That CountsTM for our clients, whatever their ambitions. Creating real standout, sharing real innovation and delivering real business growth for some of the world's biggest brands. Role THE INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT TEAM You'll be joining a small, ambitious internal development team that designs, builds and maintains the software that powers our business. The team develops and enhances our in-house integration platform and dashboard suite, creating tools that make collaboration smoother, data clearer and processes more efficient across the organisation. Working closely with stakeholders, analysts, QA, suppliers and developers, you'll help deliver high-quality software that makes a real difference to how we work every day. THE ROLE We're looking for a Systems Architect to provide end-to-end architectural leadership across data, integration, and application domains. You'll ensure that systems are designed to deliver business value through scalability, security, and maintainability. Acting as the bridge between technical implementation and strategic goals, this role combines analytical thinking with deep technical expertise to guide the organisation's systems evolution. WHAT WILL I BE DOING? Working with business stakeholders to translate strategic requirements into well-defined, technically sound initiatives. Designing logical and physical architectures that align with business processes and data needs. Ensuring architectural decisions reflect operational realities, data ownership, and financial structures. Supporting cost modelling, licensing, and capacity planning to align technology spend with business value. Communicating technical concepts in accessible, business-focused language. Defining and maintaining the target systems architecture across Azure services. Designing end-to-end data flows from ingestion to analytics, ensuring performance, quality, and traceability. Leading architecture reviews to ensure consistent application of design principles. Championing modular, event-driven, and observable systems design. Setting non-functional requirements and validating design through proof-of-concept work. Acting as the escalation point for complex design and integration challenges. Guiding and mentoring development teams on architectural best practice. Contributing to technical documentation, standards, and reference materials. WHAT DO I NEED? Proven experience translating business requirements into clear technical architectures. Strong track record in designing and governing systems within Microsoft Azure (e.g. Data Lake, Azure Functions, integration services). Solid understanding of software engineering principles, particularly C#/.NET, CQRS, and service orchestration. Experience modelling complex systems at conceptual and logical levels. Strong knowledge of data modelling, lineage, and analytics pipelines. Excellent communication and facilitation skills across both technical and non-technical audiences. Desirable Experience with agile delivery and DevOps automation, including regression testing. Familiarity with ETL frameworks in hybrid data environments. Understanding of cost optimisation and performance tuning in Azure. Hands-on experience configuring, deploying, or scaling Azure workloads. Awareness of data mesh, event-driven architectures, or emerging analytics technologies. About You You're an analytical thinker with a passion for creating well-structured, scalable systems that deliver real business value. You enjoy collaborating across teams, simplifying complex ideas, and mentoring others to adopt best practices. With a strong eye for detail and a balance between technical depth and strategic understanding, you'll play a key role in shaping the organisation's technology landscape. Benefits AND IN RETURN... This is a great opportunity to join a progressive business. You will have autonomy to get the job done, with as much support as you need, when you need it. Generous Holiday Allowance - Start with 25 days of annual leave (plus Bank Holidays) and watch it grow to 29 days after just 2 years with us. Future-Proof Pension - Enjoy peace of mind with our company pension scheme, boosted by enhanced employer contributions after your first year. Health & Wellbeing Support - Access our Medical Cash Plan with contributions towards dental, optical, physio and more, plus an employee assistance programme. Drive the Future - Take advantage of our Electric Car Purchase Scheme via salary sacrifice. Exclusive Discounts - Unlock a huge range of savings on shopping, gyms, travel and more with our Employee Discount Platform. Travel Perks - Benefit from a UTC Travel membership. Learn & Grow - Outstanding training and career progression opportunities, with access to LinkedIn Learning and The Mission Group's LMS. Own a Piece of the Mission - Join our Share Purchase Scheme and invest in our collective success. Work Hard, Play Hard - Enjoy regular staff socials and team events. Festive Bonus Time - Company-wide Christmas closure (just 4 days taken from annual leave). Stay Active - Save money and stay fit with our Cycle to Work Scheme We believe that diversity of thought, background and experience makes us stronger. We are committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, neurodiversity, or socioeconomic background, feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Committed (Level 1) Employer. As a Disability Confident Committed Employer, we have committed to: ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible, communicate and promote vacancies, and offer an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria. We actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences. We're working to ensure equity is at the heart of everything we do, from recruitment and progression to how we support and celebrate our people every day. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know, we will do everything we can to support you.