Customer Solution Architect

Irish Life; London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Solution Architect to lead the architectural evolution of its customer services. This role involves collaborating with product teams to define technology roadmaps and implement solutions that enhance customer experiences. The ideal candidate will possess a strong background in agile methodologies and financial services, with expertise in Salesforce and integration design. Join a dynamic team focused on driving change and innovation in a customer-centric environment, where your contributions will directly impact the organization's success.

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Life assurance

Income protection

Flexible working arrangements

Personal and professional development opportunities

Bonus scheme

Qualifications

• Experience in solution architecture within financial services.
• Proven track record in agile, product-centric technology development.
• Strong interpersonal skills for effective communication.

Responsibilities

• Oversee end-to-end solution architecture for customer service products.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to drive operational efficiencies.
• Design reliable solutions ensuring alignment with business goals.

Skills

Solution Architecture

Agile Methodologies

Salesforce Financial Services Cloud

Genesys Cloud

Data Integration Design

Financial Services Knowledge

Technical Governance

Customer Journey Mapping

Education

Degree in IT or equivalent experience

TOGAF or BCS Certification

Tools

Salesforce

M-Files Document Management

AS400

IBM iSeries

Job description

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

What we're building

We are looking for a Solution Architect to join our Architecture team and collaborate closely with our Customer-Focused Engineering product teams. In this role, you will define and deliver technology roadmaps and solution architectures, driving their successful implementation. This is a unique opportunity to lead the technical evolution of CLUK’s customer services business line, a shared service across our products, while shaping our CRM-based distribution services. By developing reusable solution components, you will play a key role in driving business growth, accelerating digital transformation, and enhancing customer experiences.

Job summary

As a Solution Architect, you will work closely with the Customer Services Product delivery team, sharing responsibility for all aspects of project activities and deliverables.

• Oversee and maintain the end-to-end solution architecture for customer service products, guiding projects through all stages, including design, development, integration, and operational ownership.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to promote the reuse of architectural and technological components.
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.

The ideal candidate will have a recognised background in agile, product-centric technology development and digitally focused solution architecture, with experience in customer-centric functions and a strong understanding of the associated capabilities and applications.

A solid knowledge of Financial Services, including core administration systems, is highly desirable, along with expertise in the data and integration design dependencies required to deliver efficient service operational processes. Additionally, the candidate will have a proven track record of defining solutions and work packages, delivering change initiatives, and achieving strategic objectives. They will excel in designing and implementing robust architectural solutions within complex system landscapes, leveraging extensive experience with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, Genesys Cloud, M-Files document storage, Microsoft infrastructure, Azure capabilities and innovative customer service solutions while demonstrating the ability to seamlessly integrate diverse vendor systems.

You will design reliable solutions to support operations, security, and risk management, ensuring they align with business goals and architectural standards. You will also balance fast delivery with the need to avoid long-term technical challenges.

In this role, you will collaborate with a range of stakeholders to promote the reuse of architectural and technological components and services, effectively communicating with both technical and non-technical audiences.

As part of the architecture practice, you will define and implement reference architectures, standards, and design patterns, embedding them within the Enterprise Architecture framework. Additionally, you will empower engineering teams to operate confidently and autonomously within established guardrails and standards.

Reporting to the Customer Domain Principal Architect, contributing to the architecture practice and supporting the organisation’s customer-focused transformation goals, we are seeking a customer-focused, solutions-driven architect with a proven ability to lead and drive change. Join us to shape the future of our customer services and distribution teams.

Duties/Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an evolving end-to-end solution architecture for customer products, covering design, modelling, coding frameworks, integrations, and operational ownership.
• Ensure alignment with architectural governance, standards, and design patterns, while addressing non-functional requirements such as scalability, security, and supportability.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across business lines to drive operational efficiencies, promote the reuse of architectural components, and ensure effective communication with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Provide oversight and guidance to Solution Architects, technical SMEs, and engineering leads, leveraging existing platforms and capabilities to design and deliver solutions.
• Work with Data Architects, Principal Architects, and other Solution Architects to ensure systems align with the organisation’s data and technology architecture.
• Analyse technical issues and create practical designs, developing new components, capabilities, and patterns as needed.
• Participate in design and code walkthroughs, providing peer reviews and guidance on design patterns, technical issues, and architectural best practices.
• Maintain a forward-looking view of the technology landscape, identifying opportunities for innovation and improvement in the customer ecosystem.
• Establish and direct proof-of-concept initiatives, making recommendations on technology adoption and innovation.
• Collaborate with security and risk functions to ensure solutions meet organisational security standards and principles.
• Take ownership of the platform solution architecture for Canada Life UK, ensuring successful delivery of projects and resolution of architectural or delivery risks throughout the lifecycle.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with business and technology stakeholders, including senior leaders, product owners, project managers, engineering leads and business analysts.
• Proven experience in delivering change within a dynamic, multi-vendor environment using agile methodologies.
• Skilled in creating effective designs that meet user needs, system requirements, and organisational goals, while reviewing and improving patterns, standards, and roadmaps.
• Extensive knowledge of financial services systems and architecture, with expertise in enabling CRM within complex application ecosystems.
• Hands-on experience in delivering change within a dynamic, multi-vendor environment supported by an agile framework.
• Solution architecture experience, ideally within a leading financial services organisation.
• Expertise in designing solutions using Salesforce (preferably Financial Services Cloud) with voice enablement through Genesys Cloud.
• Recognised proficiency in customer and customer service technologies, with the ability to apply knowledge of architectural patterns, technology components, and vendor products, particularly within the financial services sector.
• Demonstrable experience with a range of customer and financial services technologies (e.g., AS400, IBM iSeries, policy administration systems, payment systems, email/SMS gateways, marketing execution platforms, live Chat, M-Files Document Management, voice channels, and social platforms) and their integration with CRM systems.
• Strong understanding of technical governance, with the ability to participate in or deliver service assurance.
• Proven experience as part of an architecture team, contributing to the development of solutions aligned with a broader strategic vision.
• Knowledge of customer and adviser data definitions and modelling as applied to solution design within Salesforce, the wider customer ecosystem and its application to integration design.
• Experience in customer journey mapping would highly desirable.

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in I.T.
• TOGAF or BCS Certification (Desirable)

Benefits of working at Canada Life

We believe in recognising and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that’s regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with, income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance. We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.

How we work at Canada Life

Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us. We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers and community and helping others to build better futures. Our blueprint behaviours shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others. Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together and find a way forward.

We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology and workplaces. That’s why we offer a range of training, flexible working and opportunities to grow and develop.

Diversity and inclusion

Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us. We are proud of the progress we’re making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus.

“At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all.” Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK

We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We’re happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for you.