Front Office Architect

DW Search; Greater London; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

DW Search is partnering with a leading global asset manager to hire a Front Office Architect to shape the technology supporting its investment teams.

The role sits between investment business and Technology, spanning investment research, portfolio construction, order generation and trading, and working closely with investment teams, Business Analysts, Engineers and other Architects to align initiatives with the platform strategy.

Qualifications

• Translate front-office investment requirements into technology and architecture direction.
• Help define the target architecture and technology roadmap across the investment platform.
• Assess existing applications and capabilities, identifying where technology should be invested in, modernised, consolidated or retired.
• Determine where proprietary technology provides genuine investment differentiation versus where established platforms should be leveraged.
• Work across research, portfolio construction, order generation and trading to ensure technology decisions consider the wider investment lifecycle.
• Identify opportunities to reduce duplication and build capabilities that can be reused and scaled across investment teams.
• Work with Domain Architects, Principal Engineers and engineering teams to shape detailed solution designs and delivery.
• Provide technical challenge around areas such as APIs, event-driven architecture, cloud, data and integration, ensuring architecture choices are driven by the requirements of the solution.
• Help shape the adoption of AI and agentic technology within investment workflows, particularly across investment research.
• Balance immediate business requirements with longer-term platform strategy, scalability and simplification.

Responsibilities

• Translate front-office investment requirements into technology and architecture direction.
• Help define the target architecture and technology roadmap across the investment platform.
• Assess existing applications and capabilities, identifying where technology should be invested in, modernised, consolidated or retired.
• Determine where proprietary technology provides genuine investment differentiation versus where established platforms should be leveraged.
• Work across research, portfolio construction, order generation and trading to ensure technology decisions consider the wider investment lifecycle.
• Identify opportunities to reduce duplication and build capabilities that can be reused and scaled across investment teams.
• Work with Domain Architects, Principal Engineers and engineering teams to shape detailed solution designs and delivery.
• Provide technical challenge around areas such as APIs, event-driven architecture, cloud, data and integration, ensuring architecture choices are driven by the requirements of the solution.
• Help shape the adoption of AI and agentic technology within investment workflows, particularly across investment research.
• Balance immediate business requirements with longer-term platform strategy, scalability and simplification.

Skills

Front Office Architecture

Asset/Investment Management

APIs

Cloud

Data Platforms

Stakeholder Management

AI in Investment Research

Job description

We're working with a leading global asset manager looking to hire a Front Office Architect to help shape the technology supporting its investment teams.

The role sits between the investment business and Technology, working across investment research, portfolio construction, order generation and trading.

You're closely with investment teams, Business Analysts, Engineers and other Architects to understand new initiatives, determine the right technology approach and ensure individual solutions fit into the wider direction of the investment platform.

The firm has a broad application estate combining established investment platforms with proprietary technology. A key part of the role will be understanding where technology genuinely provides differentiation, where existing capabilities should be leveraged and where solutions can be consolidated or reused rather than duplicated across investment teams.

What you'll be doing

• Translate front-office investment requirements into technology and architecture direction.
• Help define the target architecture and technology roadmap across the investment platform.
• Assess existing applications and capabilities, identifying where technology should be invested in, modernised, consolidated or retired.
• Determine where proprietary technology provides genuine investment differentiation versus where established platforms should be leveraged.
• Work across research, portfolio construction, order generation and trading to ensure technology decisions consider the wider investment lifecycle.
• Identify opportunities to reduce duplication and build capabilities that can be reused and scaled across investment teams.
• Work with Domain Architects, Principal Engineers and engineering teams to shape detailed solution designs and delivery.
• Provide technical challenge around areas such as APIs, event-driven architecture, cloud, data and integration, ensuring architecture choices are driven by the requirements of the solution.
• Help shape the adoption of AI and agentic technology within investment workflows, particularly across investment research.
• Balance immediate business requirements with longer-term platform strategy, scalability and simplification.

What we're looking for

• Strong experience within asset or investment management technology, ideally supporting front-office investment teams.
• Good understanding of investment workflows across research, portfolio management, portfolio construction and trading.
• Experience across technology strategy, architecture and roadmaps rather than being focused solely on individual solutions.
• Experience with major investment management, OMS or portfolio management platforms.
• Broad technical architecture knowledge and the ability to work credibly with senior Engineers and specialist Architects.
• Understanding of modern architecture concepts including APIs, event-driven systems, cloud and data platforms.
• Experience working across complex application estates involving modernisation, consolidation or platform transformation.
• Strong stakeholder skills and the ability to operate effectively between investment and technology teams.
• A pragmatic approach to architecture, focused on solving business problems rather than applying technical standards for their own sake.
• An interest in how AI is changing investment research and front-office workflows.