Chief Architect (Interim)
Global Transportation Company
London (On Site)
Contract | Competitive Day Rate
We are supporting a global Transportation organisation on the appointment of a Chief Architect (Interim) to lead a critical phase of its digital and technology transformation.
This is a high-impact leadership role, operating at the heart of the digital leadership team, with responsibility for shaping and delivering enterprise-wide architecture and engineering strategy in a complex, large-scale environment.
The Opportunity
This role blends strategic vision with Architecture & Engineering leadership, taking ownership of architecture as a true business enabler, not just a governance function.
You will be responsible for modernising legacy environments, accelerating digital capabilities, and embedding scalable, future-ready technology foundations. A key part of the remit will also involve enabling increased adoption of AI and emerging technologies, supporting innovation across operational and customer-facing functions.
With significant investment underway and strong executive backing, this is a unique opportunity to influence the direction of a globally recognised organisation at pace.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and own the end-to-end Architecture and Engineering strategy, aligned to wider business and technology objectives
- Provide leadership across enterprise, solution and platform architecture, alongside software engineering teams
- Define and implement architecture standards, guardrails and governance, ensuring consistency across delivery
- Drive adoption of modern practices including cloud, DevSecOps, APIs, microservices and Agile delivery
- Establish and evolve foundational capabilities that enable product teams to innovate at speed
- Act as a senior decision-maker on technology direction, standards and strategic design across the enterprise
- Develop and present technology roadmaps and business cases, influencing senior stakeholders on key trade-offs
- Build and maintain trusted relationships across business and technology leadership, acting as a strategic advisor
- Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing architecture and engineering leadership team
- Champion a culture of engineering excellence, innovation and continuous improvement
Scope & Scale
- Reporting to the Chief Information Officer
- Direct leadership of 5-10 senior leaders, with a dotted line to an overall team of 100+, and additional third-party resources
- Accountability for £10m+ Opex budget, with governance across a significantly larger technology spend
What We're Looking For
- Proven experience operating in a senior technology leadership role within a complex, global organisation
- Deep expertise across enterprise architecture and full-stack engineering, including modern digital platforms
- Strong understanding of cloud architectures, APIs, microservices, DevSecOps and scalable application design
- Experience leading architecture across application, data and infrastructure domains
- Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive enterprise-wide change
- Track record of leading and developing large, multi-disciplinary teams
- Experience working in Agile, product-centric environments (e.g. SAFe)
- Strong commercial awareness, including business case development and technology investment decisions
Leadership Profile
You will bring a combination of:
- Strategic thinking and technical depth
- Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills
- A collaborative, inclusive leadership style
- The confidence to challenge the status quo and drive change
- A passion for innovation, learning and continuous improvement
Why Apply
- Enterprise-wide impact within a globally recognised organisation
- Significant influence over technology strategy and investment
- Opportunity to shape modern architecture and engineering capabilities at scale
- Immediate start, with strong executive visibility and backing
