Solutions Architect

Culina Group is seeking a highly skilled Solutions Architect (SAP Specialist) to join our IT Department at our Rugby site. This role could be based from a number of our midlands based sites including, Rugby, Corby, Banbury or North in Warrington depending on your home location.

About the Role

As a Solutions Architect, you will be responsible for collaborating with third-party vendors to ensure the design, development, and implementation of robust solutions, primarily in SAP, align with the strategic goals and requirements of the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Translate business strategy into solutions architecture which defines & develops IT solution/application strategies to enable Culina Group goals
• Lead solutions design and develops and implements architectural principles, standards, policies and governance [Enterprise Architecture Design]
• Orchestrate solutions delivery and delivers advisory services and assurance to programmes/projects, driving prioritisation of enterprise wide initiatives – ensures deliveries underpin, enable & realise business benefits [Technical Solution Design]
• Analyse and evaluate technology whilst driving continuous improvements [Architecture Authority]
• Understand business drivers and business capabilities (future and current state) and determines corresponding enterprise system designs and change requirements to drive the organization's targeted business outcomes.
• Understand emerging technology trends and disruptions and the practical application of existing, new, and emerging technologies to enable new and evolving business and operating models.
• Translate business and technical requirements into an architectural blueprint to achieve business objectives and documents all solution architecture design and analysis work.
• Analyse the technology industry, competitors and market trends, and determines their potential impact on the enterprise.
• Provide deliverables like standard definitions, reference models and architecture designs to help the architecture review board (ARB) assess the impact of new and ongoing technology investment on the business and IT estate.
• Act as a consultant on a broad range of technologies, platforms and vendor offerings to drive targeted business outcomes.
• Lead evaluation, design and analysis for the implementation of a solutions architecture across a group of specific business applications or technologies based on enterprise business strategy, business capabilities, value-streams, business requirements and enterprise standards.
• Create architectural designs to guide and contextualize solution development across products, services, projects and systems (including applications, technologies, processes and information).
• Create reference architectures focused on detailed design principles, decision points, detailed APIs, major systems and dependencies between business and IT.
• Analyse the business-IT environment (run, grow and transform the business) to detect critical deficiencies, legacy and technical debt, and recommends solutions for improvement (systems of record, differentiation and innovation).
• Design and direct the governance activities associated with ensuring solutions architecture assurance and compliance.
• Define the principles, guidelines, standards and solution patterns to ensure solution decisions are aligned with the enterprise's future-state architecture vision.
• Facilitate the evaluation and selection of software product standards and services, as well as the design of standard and custom software configurations.
• Support product managers in EOL (end of life) product decisions to maintain, refresh or retire products, services or systems (including applications, technologies, processes and information).
• Develop a roadmap for the evolution of the enterprise application portfolio from future to current state (as defined by the solutions architecture).
• Monitor the current-state solution portfolio to identify deficiencies through aging of the technologies used by the application, or misalignment with business requirements.
• Identify the organisational impact (for example, on skills, processes, structures or culture) and financial impact of the solutions architecture.
• Work closely with the product owners and product managers to ensure a robust architectural runway that can support future business requirements throughout the product lifecycle.
• Provide consulting support to application architects within agile teams to ensure the project or product is aligned with the overall enterprise architecture.
• Consult with application and infrastructure development projects and products to fit systems or infrastructure to architecture and identify when it is necessary to modify projects to accommodate the solutions architecture.
• Support a community of practice (CoP), guiding and helping agile teams, product owners, and application architects to align with the overall enterprise architecture governance and assurance.

Requirements

To apply for the role of Solutions Architect (SAP Specialist), you will possess the following skills, experiences and qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information-technology, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent experience
• Minimum of five years of design and implementation experience in IT, with a deep knowledge in a minimum of two of the following technical disciplines: application development, application programming interfaces (APIs), middleware, database management and cloud technologies
• Good experience of IT Architecture (and underlying frameworks such as TOGAF) including the development (and ensuring adherence to) architecture principles and standards
• Solid understanding of product management, agile principles and development methodologies and capability of supporting agile teams by providing advice and guidance on opportunities, impact and risks, taking account of technical and architectural debt
• Good understanding of strategic and new and emerging technology trends, and the practical application of existing, new and emerging technologies to new and evolving business and operating models
• Experience working in a relevant industry is helpful, but not required.
• Experience developing architecture blueprints, strategies and roadmaps
• Experience delivering presentations to senior-level executives and technical audiences

About Us

Culina Group is a leading provider of logistics and supply chain solutions. We are committed to delivering exceptional service and value to our customers, and we are seeking a highly skilled Solutions Architect to join our team.

Benefits

• Annual Leave – Competitive holiday entitlement of 25 days + 8 bank holiday.
• Company Bonus – We do our best work to succeed together. When we achieve our goals you'll be rewarded through our bonus scheme
• Private Medical Cover – This gives you peace of mind, you have choice, flexibility and speed of access to the most clinically appropriate care via Bupa
• Car Allowance
• Pension scheme – we want colleagues to enjoy a comfortable retirements so we offer a great contribution of 5% employee and 8% employer
• Life Assurance - x4 your annual salary
• Wellness - Via our Employee Assistance Programme we offer immediate access to a confidential telephone counselling and legal information service that operates 24 hours a days, 365 days a year
• Eye Care Vouchers - We can provide you with substantial savings with free eye tests and discounts on prescription glasses
• Reward & Recognition - We recognise that employees have gone the extra mile via Employee of the month and year, special recognition and long service awards.
• Everyday discounts - via our benefit platform you will have access to over 50 retailer discounts for everyday savings