Role: Solutions Architect Location: Leeds (Hybrid) Salary: £75,000 Take ownership of Application Architecture Modernisation and Cloud Adoption for a leading Financial Services Organisation. We're supporting a leading Financial Services organisation on a multi-year evolution of its core platforms and technology landscape. This role offers a rare opportunity to step in as the Architect, taking full ownership of architectural direction, governance, and process across the business. You'll operate across both technical depth and enterprise-level thinking, helping the organisation move from a predominantly on-prem Microsoft estate towards a more modern, API-led and cloud-ready architecture, at a pace that aligns with business risk and regulatory requirements. What You'll Be Doing This is a broad, high-impact role where you'll combine hands-on technical decision-making with strategic architectural leadership: * Own the Architecture Function Act as the organisation's primary Architect, establishing architecture practices, governance, and processes, including involvement in and shaping of Technical Design Authority (TDA). * Technical Leadership & Decision-Making Work closely with Engineers and senior stakeholders to drive key decisions across areas such as APIs, authentication, integration patterns, and application design. * Application & Platform Architecture Lead the evolution of a core Microsoft-based platform, currently on-prem, introducing scalable, modern architectural patterns. * API & Integration Strategy Play a key role in shaping a more API-led ecosystem, including the potential introduction of an API Gateway and improved service-to-service communication. * Cloud Readiness & Transformation Support early-stage cloud adoption, helping define a pragmatic, low-risk path to Azure, balancing innovation with regulatory and operational considerations. * Collaboration Across Technology Partner closely with an established Infrastructure SME, ensuring a clear separation and alignment between infrastructure and application architecture. * Governance & Standards Introduce structure, best practices, and architectural governance across the technology landscape, ensuring consistency, scalability, and security. What You'll Bring * Strong Engineering Background Previous hands-on development experience (ideally within the Microsoft stack), with the credibility to engage deeply with engineering teams. * Architectural Experience (Solution or Enterprise) Able to operate both tactically and strategically, with a clear understanding of how solutions fit within a wider enterprise context. * Microsoft-Centric Expertise Strong knowledge of .NET, C#, SQL Server, and designing within Microsoft-based environments. * API & Integration Knowledge Experience designing or working with API-driven architectures, authentication models, and modern integration patterns. * Cloud Awareness (Azure Preferred) Exposure to cloud architecture and migration concepts, even if the majority of experience to date is within on-prem environments. * Governance & Stakeholder Engagement Comfortable setting up architectural processes, contributing to design authorities, and influencing both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Why Apply * Be THE Architect Take true ownership of architecture within the organisation, with the autonomy to define standards and direction. * Make a Visible Impact Play a central role in shaping how technology evolves across a key, business-critical platform. * Blend Strategy and Hands-On Influence Stay close to engineering while influencing enterprise-wide decisions. * Transformation Without Chaos Join a business that is committed to modernisation, but taking a considered, pragmatic approach to cloud and change. This role is ideal for an experienced Solutions Architect who wants to step into a lead, high-ownership position, balancing hands-on technical influence with the opportunity to build and mature an architecture function from the ground up.

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