Lead Retail Solution Architect - IBM I-Series (AS400) To Cloud

Adecco; City Of London; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment agency seeks a Lead Retail Solution Architect to shape the technological strategy in London. The role focuses on driving architectural transformation and mentoring teams through a product-centric approach. Candidates should have extensive experience with IBM i-series and modern architectural paradigms. Competitive salary offered between £75,000 to £80,000 per annum, requiring on-site presence in West London.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a Lead Solution Architect or similar senior architecture leadership role.
• Proven track record of driving architectural transformation towards product-driven architectures.
• Deep expertise in enterprise integration and hybrid architecture.
• Strong understanding of modern architectural paradigms.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the enterprise-wide architecture strategy.
• Establish an architectural vision aligned with commercial objectives.
• Design integration patterns between cloud platforms and IBM i-series systems.
• Champion modernization of legacy environments.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior technology leaders.
• Mentor and coach solution architects and engineers.

Skills

Enterprise integration

Hybrid architecture

Domain-driven design

Event-driven architecture

Microservices

API-first approach

Leadership

Communication and influencing

Tools

IBM i-series (AS400)

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

Overview

Lead Retail Solution Architect - IBM i-series (AS400) to Cloud

Location: West London - 5 days on-site

Salary: £75-80,000 per annum

My client is looking to recruit an accomplished Lead Solution Architect to drive a pivotal transformation in their technology organisation. This is a strategic and highly influential role, where you will define the architectural vision, enable product teams, and bridge modern cloud-native platforms with core enterprise systems including deep integration with IBM i-series (AS400) environments and distributed operations.

Role

As Lead Solution Architect, you will shape the organisation\'s technical strategy, mentor architects and engineers, and influence decision-making across technology and business domains. You will lead the transition from a technology stack-oriented delivery model to a product-centric, outcome-driven architecture, ensuring scalability, resilience, and alignment with business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the enterprise-wide architecture strategy supporting the transition from stack-centric IT to product-led, outcome-focused delivery.
• Establish an architectural vision aligned with commercial objectives, customer experience goals, and operational scalability.
• Design and govern integration patterns between modern cloud platforms, distributed retail/wholesale sites, and IBM i-series (AS400) systems.
• Champion modernisation of Legacy environments, enabling core enterprise capabilities (pricing, inventory, fulfilment) to be consumed via APIs and event-driven interfaces.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior technology and business leaders, shaping product strategy through architecture.
• Define and embed architecture principles, standards, and guardrails to support autonomous product teams.
• Lead initiatives to transition delivery teams to product-aligned operating models, creating scalable architectural patterns and platforms that accelerate delivery.
• Ensure non-functional requirements including security, observability, resilience, and performance are embedded in product and platform design.
• Oversee architectural governance in a way that enables delivery rather than constrains it.
• Mentor and coach solution architects and senior engineers, raising the overall architectural maturity.
• Play a leading role in architecture forums, communities of practice, and design reviews.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a Lead Solution Architect, Principal Architect, or similar senior architecture leadership role.
• Proven track record of driving architectural transformation, ideally moving from stack- or project-centric models to product- and outcome-driven architectures.
• Deep expertise in enterprise integration and hybrid architecture, including hands-on experience with IBM i-series (AS400) and distributed retail/wholesale site operations.
• Strong understanding of modern architectural paradigms: domain-driven design, event-driven architecture, microservices, API-first.
• Experience shaping and scaling architectures on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Exceptional communication and influencing skills with C-level, business stakeholders, and engineering teams.
• Strong leadership experience guiding teams through large-scale technical and organisational change.
• Exposure to platform engineering, DevOps, or data architecture.