Chief Architect

Key accountabilities

• Understand how the tool sets and applications of client-side estate are and will be used by future or current customers
• Create and articulate a clear plan to transform the collection of production systems and software into a secure, scalable and futureproof platform
• Shape and evolve the product estate transformation plan and manage all key business leaders’ and stakeholders. To be able to elicit the key points from a complex situation from a multi-stakeholder environment and to be able to frame the crucial arguments and to structure a suitable solution design to overcome the challenges / problem 
• Advise the CTO and technology executive team on, and contribute to, the overall product strategy. Excellent communication skills in oral, written and visual representations
• Work with the CTO to consider commonalities, what to switch off and what to link up in a more coherent way
• Act as a thought leader, identifying opportunities for innovation and championing changes to technology
• Ensure product and technology roadmaps are aligned with both the product teams and engineering teams
• Establish with the CTO either a portable single cloud end-state or a multi-cloud end-state (and everything in between) recognising the potential concerns of retailers
• Enable the development of appropriate processes and decision making that result in a customer-centric, business-led and commercial architecture capability
• Lead and inspire a team of architects, supporting and coaching them as they step up to this ambitious transformation. Create an effective practice and establish ways-of-working between the architects and the Product Managers and Engineers
• To be the custodians of the Non Functional Requirements, to validate that the solution design decisions taken will enforce and strengthen the non functional characteristics of the systems.
• Manage risk effectively, provide visible and consistent leadership on Values and Code of Business Conduct and act where you see issues. Protect our team by ensuring they have the skills and training needed

What we expect from you

• Bachelor’s Degree or MSc in a Technology / Science related degree
• Experience of platform business models and platform led transformation
• Significant native public cloud application and solution design experience
• Significant Application and Solution architecture design experience
• To have managed a team of architects – to have built an architecture practice
• To have had significant hands-on integration and migration experience
• Experience of transformation of significant product portfolio
• Strong stakeholder management experience