Hybrid Senior Integration Architect: Azure & Data Platforms

PACT Solutions; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Annual bonus

Enhanced pension

Enhanced parental leave

Job summary

PACT Solutions is a specialist management and digital transformation consultancy focused on UK higher education. We seek a Senior Integration and Solution Architect to own data integration across partner programmes and define the integration framework and standards.

You will lead architectural direction, guide solution design and support teams to apply reusable approaches using Azure Integration Services and related technologies.

Qualifications

• Significant experience as an Integration Architect or similar senior role.
• Strong integration architecture capability including API design, messaging patterns, asynchronous processing, event-driven integration and data contracts.
• Ability to define architectural principles, standards, patterns and reusable components across multiple systems and teams.
• Hands-on experience with Azure Integration Services, particularly Azure Service Bus, APIs and related Azure services.
• Strong Python and/or .NET development capability, with experience building or assuring production-grade integration services.
• Ability to design secure, scalable and maintainable integrations, with observability, error handling, resilience and supportability.
• Experience facilitating architecture workshops, communicating trade-offs and influencing senior stakeholders.
• Experience reviewing and assuring technical designs, documentation and engineering outputs.
• Desirable: experience in higher education; integrating SIS, ERP, CRM, VLE; Azure DevOps, CI/CD, source control and automated testing; consultancy or transformation environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the integration architecture for assigned partner programmes and shape the target-state integration landscape.
• Define and evolve integration principles, reference architectures, patterns, standards and reusable components.
• Translate business, data and operational requirements into clear solution architectures, design decisions and roadmaps.
• Set the approach to API design, data contracts, message design, asynchronous processing, error handling, security, observability and resilience.
• Assess architectural options and technical trade-offs, providing clear recommendations to partners and delivery teams.
• Design practical, scalable and maintainable integrations using Azure Integration Services, including Azure Service Bus, APIs and related Azure services.
• Provide architectural assurance at design, build, test and deployment points, ensuring solutions conform to agreed standards.
• Review technical designs, code and documentation to improve consistency, quality and long-term supportability.
• Support resolution of complex integration issues and design risks focusing on root cause and sustainable outcomes.
• Lead architecture workshops, discovery sessions and design forums with senior stakeholders.
• Build trusted relationships with stakeholders up to Head of Service and senior manager level.
• Explain complex technical concepts in clear business language and challenge decisions creating avoidable risk.
• Work with programme, product, data and technical delivery colleagues so architectural decisions are understood and actionable.
• Develop PACT’s integration framework, methodologies, standards, reusable assets and propositions.
• Coach consultants and engineers in sound integration design and engineering practice.
• Contribute to internal knowledge sharing and continued development of PACT’s Data Integration capability.

Skills

Integration architecture

Solution architecture

API design

Data integration patterns

Stakeholder engagement

Consulting leadership

Tools

Azure Service Bus

APIs

Azure DevOps

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

PACT Solutions is a specialist management and digital transformation consultancy focused on UK higher education. We seek a Senior Integration and Solution Architect to own data integration across partner programmes and define the integration framework and standards.

You will lead architectural direction, guide solution design and support teams to apply reusable approaches using Azure Integration Services and related technologies.