Head of IT Architecture

Your role at a glance
As the Head of IT Architecture, you will be a member of the Group Architecture Leadership Team and will be responsible for the delivery of IT Architecture services to Group Functions.

You will be responsible for designing and leading a practice that will support the Strategy to Delivery lifecycle for Group Functions. You will help to define the Group Functions technology strategy and ensure, through effective technology selection and design, that IT change aligns to the strategy, conforms to policies and standards, and contains the inherent characteristics of quality IT such as resilience, performance and operability.

What you'll be doing
- Acting as an ambassador and champion for IT Architecture across Legal & General by establishing highly effective and collaborative relationships with key stakeholders
- Overseeing an IT Architecture body of knowledge, which may include architectural and design frameworks, reference models, template and tools aligned with industry best practice
- Providing business partnering to internal Group customers, in collaboration with Business Architecture so that their strategic aspirations are considered in the change of portfolio
- Working with colleagues in Technology Governance to create and refine technology design standards that are implementable, ensuring the effective set-up and running of governance within IT Architecture
- Supporting the Group Chief Architect by advising on the wider Group Architecture team design, ways of working, culture and brand so that it is optimised to deliver against business and technology priorities
- Designing the IT Architecture practice and then building the capability of the team through effective management, coaching and role modelling that align to Legal & General’s key behaviours

What we're looking for
- Proven experience of building and leading an Architecture practice in a large organisation
- Hands-on experience of shaping large, complex and business-critical pieces of IT change and leading teams to successfully deliver them
- Expert in knowledge of IT Architecture, design and architecture patterns and IT standards and governance
- Exposure to and understanding of both existing and emerging technologies
- Broad experience of business and technology domains and acting as an integrator between them
- Strong communicator with excellent business relationship management skills
- The ability to work with ambiguity and across varying levels of detail

**Benefits**:
When you commit to Legal & General, we’ll commit to you too. That means we’ll recognise and reward your hard work, your performance and your contribution.

If you join us, you’ll get access to some great benefits, including private medical insurance, 30 days holiday (excluding bank holidays), a generous pension scheme, life assurance, and Income Protection. You'll receive a car allowance of 12% of your annual salary, and you can participate in our electric car scheme, which offers employees the option to hire a brand new electric car through tax efficient salary sacrifice. We’re also proud to offer competitive family leave.

You’ll have the opportunity to participate in our annual, performance-related bonus plan and valuable share schemes. And then there are the many discounts we offer that you can take advantage of - both for our own products and at a range of high street stores and online offerings.

About L&G
The brand with the brolly is choosing today to change tomorrow.

Since 1836, we’ve grown to become one of the world's largest asset managers, homebuilders, pension providers and insurance brands.

We’re all here to improve the lives of our customers, build a better society for the long term, and create value for our shareholders - helping to shape a better future for society and the planet.

We need people who share our ambitions, agility and entrepreneurial spirit to help us do it.

At L&G, you’ll find a balance that helps you be your best. Empowered by hybrid working, we’re supported by technology and workplaces that enable us to work effectively wherever we are. We come together in offices to collaborate and connect, and use time at home for individual, focused activities. And, when we achieve great things, we celebrate our success and reward strong performance.

Today, there’s over 10,000 of us, working towards our mission, with plenty of opportunities to grow your career as we grow L&G. Will you join us?

About the business area
Helping over ten million people around the world manage their savings, retirement plans and life insurance requires a lot of people behind-the-scenes. It’s up to us in **L&G Group functions** - which includes our tech and digital teams, Group Finance, HR, Risk and Corporate Comms to provide the essential support services that all areas of the business need, here in the UK and overseas. Simply put, we enable everyone at Legal & General to do what they do best. That means we’re helping to impro