Lead Architect

BBC Group and Public Services; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

London weighting allowance

Bonus 15% OTE

Job summary

BBC Studios in London seeks a Lead Architect to shape architectural direction for a news/content-driven website and mobile app ecosystem used by millions daily.

You will enable teams to make sound decisions, balance autonomy with governance, and deliver scalable, sustainable platforms while aligning with business goals.

Qualifications

• Strong experience designing and evolving distributed systems.
• Deep understanding of architectural trade-offs (coupling, cohesion, consistency, scalability).
• Familiarity with evolutionary architecture practices (fitness functions, incremental change).
• Experience with modern engineering practices (CI/CD, observability, cloud-native systems).
• Proven ability to influence without authority across multiple teams.
• Strong facilitation skills - able to guide discussions and surface trade-offs.
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and complexity.
• Able to challenge constructively and build alignment across diverse stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate architectural thinking within teams rather than owning decisions centrally.
• Support engineers and tech leads in evaluating trade-offs (scalability, operability, cost, coupling, resilience).
• Encourage explicit decision-making through lightweight artefacts (ADRs, design narratives).
• Ensure decisions are made at the right level - pushing ownership to teams wherever possible.
• Set clear architectural direction through principles, patterns, and “sensible defaults”.
• Establish and evolve paved roads and golden paths that make good decisions the easiest decisions.
• Avoid heavyweight governance in favour of guidance and enablement.
• Work closely with Product, Engineering, and Delivery leadership to align Business goals, Product strategy, and Technology direction.
• Help shape decisions around build vs buy, platform vs product, and long-term investment.
• Coach and mentor engineers and tech leads in architectural thinking.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Architectural trade-offs

Evolutionary architecture

CI/CD and observability

Influence without authority

Facilitation

Ambiguity handling

Stakeholder alignment

Job description

JOB BAND: E
CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent, Full-time
LOCATION: London - TVC
DEPARTMENT: Engineering .com team
PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: £85,000 - £100,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. Plus London Weigting Allowance of £5,441 and a 15% bonus OTE. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

We're happy to discuss flexible working. If you'd like to, please indicate your preference in the application – though there's no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

WE ARE BBC STUDIOS

A globally renowned media company borne of the BBC. We make and distribute the world’s most sought-after TV, audio and digital content.

Our ambition is to be the home of the most powerful, entertaining, and inspiring stories for people all around the world.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The Lead Architect is accountable for creating the conditions in which good architectural decisions emerge across teams working on a news/content-driven website and mobile app ecosystem with a large number of daily users. Rather than acting as a central authority or approval gate, they shape technical direction, enable teams to make sound decisions, and ensure local choices align with broader system goals and organisational strategy.

The role should include introducing lightweight governance through principles, patterns, and reusable blueprints, providing coherence without unnecessary centralisation. Their purpose is to optimise the system as a whole, balancing team autonomy with architectural consistency, long-term sustainability, and the ability to evolve.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM

This is a high-impact role at the heart of how we evolve our technology and product operating model. You’ll work with senior stakeholders and engineering teams to simplify complexity, modernise our platforms, and deliver meaningful outcomes for the business.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT

• Facilitate architectural thinking within teams rather than owning decisions centrally
• Support engineers and tech leads in evaluating trade-offs (e.g. scalability, operability, cost, coupling, resilience)
• Encourage explicit decision-making through lightweight artefacts (e.g. ADRs, design narratives)
• Ensure decisions are made at the right level - pushing ownership to teams wherever possible
• Set clear architectural direction through principles, patterns, and “sensible defaults”
• Establish and evolve paved roads and golden paths that make good decisions the easiest decisions
• Avoid heavyweight governance (e.g. design authorities, approval boards) in favour of guidance and enablement
• Work closely with Product, Engineering, and Delivery leadership to ensure alignment between: Business goals, Product strategy, and Technology direction
• Help shape decisions around build vs buy, platform vs product, and long-term investment
• Coach and mentor engineers and tech leads in architectural thinking

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

• Strong experience designing and evolving distributed systems
• Deep understanding of architectural trade-offs (e.g. coupling, cohesion, consistency, scalability)
• Familiarity with evolutionary architecture practices (e.g. fitness functions, incremental change)
• Experience with modern engineering practices (CI/CD, observability, cloud-native systems)
• Proven ability to influence without authority across multiple teams
• Strong facilitation skills - able to guide discussions and surface trade-offs
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and complexity
• Able to challenge constructively and build alignment across diverse stakeholders

DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED

• Experience working in large-scale digital or media organisations
• Familiarity with modern product operating models and outcome-driven delivery approaches
• Exposure to financial planning, vendor management or commercial technology decisions

NEXT STEPS

We appreciate your interest in this position and understand how important this opportunity is to you. Due to the high volume of interest we may need to close the application period earlier than anticipated. This step is necessary to ensure we can provide a high level of attention and service to all applicants. Thank you for your understanding.

#BBCSTUDIOS

Disclaimer

This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.

Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Recruitment policy. This allows us to discuss any support you may need and assess any risks. Failure to disclose may result in the withdrawal of your offer.

Redeployment

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.

Information at a Glance

This is your BBC

At the BBC you can create and innovate in an inclusive environment while contributing to some of the world’s best loved content, and the BBC’s mission to inform, educate and entertain.

Find out more about BBC Studios

Life at BBC Studios

• A flexible 35-hour working week with 26 days annualleave (plus bank holidays) and the option to buy anextra five days.
• Defined pension (up to 10% employer contributions).
• Caring and parenting support, 24/7 remote GP access, life assurance and accident benefit.
• BBC Studios is a world leader in operating sustainably both on and off screen. Find out more about BBC Group’s science-based Net Zero targets here .
• Career development in a values-led purpose-driven culture.

Benefits may vary if you are joining on an FTC basis.

Learn more about life at the BBC and our values in our candidate pack.

Candidate pack

You belong

We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, so all our employees feel that they can belong, thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to join us. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

We welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.

Find out more about diversity, inclusion and belonging in our strategy below.

Disability confident

We are a disability confident employer. If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process, or to carry out this role, please contact us via email and we’d be happy to discuss: [e-mail]

BBC Group and Public Services, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, United Kingdom, W1A 1AA. BBC Studios Distribution Limited, company no: 01420028, registered address: 1 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London, United Kingdom W12 7FA.