Technical Architect
Department: Engineering
Based at: Salford Quays
We’re looking for a Technical Architect to take complex high-level designs and manage them through build — designing out the detail of our most complex server-side and cloud solutions, and getting hands-on through delivery to make sure what gets built achieves the product goals set out by our clients across finance and retail to health and sport.
As a Technical Architect you’ll turn a solution’s shape into a detailed design a delivery team can build, own the cloud infrastructure decisions behind it, and take on the infrastructure problems the team can’t get past. On our larger engagements you’ll work in collaboration with a Solution Architect; on smaller ones there might not be one and the design is yours from the first conversation.
You’ll work with the engineers who’ll build it — Lead Server Engineers, Technical Leads and their teams — so the design is understood, challenged and owned rather than handed down, and you’ll be the person clients bring their hardest technical questions to.
What you’ll be working on
You will provide the overarching technical steer for the overall architecture, making high-stakes decisions that ensure scalability and resilience. As a primary client-facing lead, you will bridge the gap between complex business requirements and elegant technical solutions, while fostering a high-performance culture through mentorship and the evolution of our agile engineering standards.
- Act as the primary technical consultant for major clients. Consulting on early client engagements, translating business goals into technical strategies and building deep-rooted professional trust.
- Take high-level designs and produce the detailed designs - occasionally producing the high-level designs where needed.
- Identify, adapt and document design and patterns for a solution, including the risks and document how they will be mitigated.
- Own non-functional requirements, covering security, performance, resilience, observability and the running cost of what you build.
- Own cloud infrastructure decisions across compute, storage, identity, governance, networking and security — and own the problems when they land.
- Manage and coordinate the technical dependencies coming from clients and third parties.
- Champion and evolve agile methodologies and DevOps cultures, identifying bottlenecks in the delivery lifecycle and implementing systemic improvements.
- Lead by example by contributing to mission-critical code, setting the gold standard for clean, maintainable, and high-performance engineering.
- Support bids and pitches as the technical expert, including the specifications that let bid teams estimate honestly.
- Drive the technical discovery phase for new large-scale engagements, performing feasibility studies and defining MVP boundaries.
What you’ll bring to the team
You are a seasoned technologist with a track record of delivering complex, large-scale applications. Your expertise extends beyond code; you are a strong communicator who thrives in client-facing environments and possesses the strategic mindset required to navigate the challenges of global enterprise digital transformation.
- Deep, practical AWS or Azure experience of modern large-scale solutions across compute, storage, identity and governance.
- A deep understanding of cloud networking.
- A deep understanding of cloud and application security.
- Strong experience in Node.js and TypeScript or .Net.
- A strong grasp of Domain-Driven Design.
- Knowledge of modern architectural patterns and the ability to articulate the pros and cons of each clearly.
- The ability to articulate architecture to technical audiences of varying ability, to get a team and a client pulling in the same direction, when faced with challenges your instinct is “yes, if” rather than “no”.
- Experience within a multi-disciplined team, and the ability to make sure standards are carried out by others rather than merely documented.
- Passionate about learning new technologies, comfortable with change and facilitating discussions about technologies and systems you aren’t familiar with.
- An empathetic communicator, comfortable with clients and stakeholders — including difficult conversations around deadlines and budgets.