Lead Architect

Oliver Bernard; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Oliver Bernard is seeking a Lead Architect to define and drive the technical direction of a major media organisation's large-scale digital platforms. The role requires influencing engineering teams and creating environments where strong architectural decisions are made at the right level.

You will work across high-traffic web and mobile ecosystems, partnering with Engineering, Product and Delivery leadership to shape scalable, observable systems and modern platforms.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering background required.
• Expertise in modern cloud-native architecture.
• Experience leading multiple engineering teams and setting direction.

Responsibilities

• Set architectural direction across multiple engineering teams.
• Design and evolve large-scale distributed systems.
• Navigate trade-offs around scalability, resilience, coupling, cost and operability.
• Establish architectural principles, patterns, golden paths and sensible defaults.
• Promote lightweight governance with ADRs over heavy processes.
• Guide build vs buy decisions and long-term technology investments.
• Coach Tech Leads and Engineers in architectural thinking.
• Modernise and simplify complex technology platforms.

Skills

Cloud-native

Distributed systems

CI/CD observability

Tech leadership

Evolutionary architecture

Stakeholder influence

Architectural thinking

Job description

I'm working with a major media organisation that is looking to hire a Lead Architect to play a key role in the evolution of its large-scale digital platforms.

This isn't a traditional architecture role where you'll sit above engineering teams acting as an approval gate. My client is looking for someone who can set technical direction, influence engineering teams and create an environment where good architectural decisions are made at the right level.

You’ll be working across a high-traffic, content-driven web and mobile ecosystem, partnering closely with Engineering, Product and Delivery leadership.

The role will involve:

• Setting architectural direction across multiple engineering teams
• Designing and evolving large-scale distributed systems
• Helping engineering teams navigate trade-offs around scalability, resilience, coupling, cost and operability
• Establishing architectural principles, patterns, golden paths and sensible defaults
• Encouraging lightweight architectural practices such as ADRs rather than heavyweight governance
• Supporting decisions around build vs buy, platform vs product and longer-term technology investment
• Coaching Tech Leads and Engineers in architectural thinking
• Helping modernise and simplify complex technology platforms

I'm particularly interested in speaking with people who have:

• A strong software engineering/technical background
• Strong knowledge of modern cloud-native architecture
• Experience with CI/CD and observability
• An understanding of evolutionary architecture and incremental change
• Experience influencing technical direction across multiple engineering teams
• The ability to challenge senior stakeholders while building consensus
• Worked as a Lead/Principal Architect, Software Architect, Principal Engineer or similar

Experience within large-scale digital or media environments would be beneficial, but isn't essential.