Lead Solution Architect

Southern Water; Worthing; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Southern Water is seeking a Lead Solution Architect to lead the architecture function across the organisation. The role provides line management for Solution Architects, owns resource allocation across initiatives, and ensures architectural consistency with enterprise direction.

The position emphasizes governance, delivery assurance, and collaboration with programme, product, and engineering stakeholders. This is a hybrid role based in Durrington with substantial architectural leadership

Qualifications

• Significant IT Architecture experience across multiple initiatives.
• Experience leading architecture teams and practice development.
• Strong governance and design assurance capabilities.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Solution Architecture function across the organisation.
• Establish and embed consistent solution architecture practices aligned with Enterprise Architecture.
• Line manage Solution Architects and drive capability development.
• Own allocation of architects across initiatives and manage demand/capacity.
• Ensure quality artefacts (HLDs, Impact Assessments) and governance for designs.
• Lead governance forums and build strong stakeholder relationships.

Skills

Solution Architecture

Leadership

People Management

Governance

Stakeholder Management

Design Authority

Risk Management

Vendor Management

Communication

Architecture Methods

Job description

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: Competitive depending on skills and experience

Closing Date: 2026-09-01

Job Title: Lead Solution Architect

Location: Durrington (Hybrid)

The Lead Solution Architect is accountable for the leadership, quality, and effective deployment of Solution Architecture across the organisation. The role ensures that architecture support is aligned to demand, consistently delivered to a high standard, and aligned with Enterprise Architecture direction through effective governance and decision-making.

This role provides line management for Solution Architects, owns resourcing across initiatives, and drives capability development and architectural consistency across all solution architecture activity and technical governance. This role ensures delivery alignment to enterprise architecture strategy and roadmaps through governance and assurance.

Solution Architecture Leadership

• Lead and manage the Solution Architecture function across the organisation
• Establish and embed consistent solution architecture practices, standards, patterns, and ways of working, aligned with Enterprise Architecture direction
• Act as the final delegated authority for solution design, assuring quality, consistency, and alignment with Enterprise Architecture direction

People Management & Capability Development

• Line manage Solution Architects, including performance, development, and engagement
• Coach and mentor architects to improve capability and influence
• Identify capability gaps and support recruitment and development plans

Demand & Resource Management

• Own allocation of Solution Architects across initiatives
• Work with demand management to ensure early visibility and engagement
• Ensure adequate architecture coverage for intake, assessment, shaping, and delivery
• Manage capacity planning and resolve resource conflicts

Architecture Delivery & Assurance

• Ensure quality and consistency of architecture artefacts (e.g. HLDs, Impact Assessments, Solution Options)
• Act as a quality gate for solution designs prior to governance
• Ensure alignment to architecture principles, patterns, and standards

Governance & Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead solution architecture and technical governance forums, ensuring timely, high-quality decisions and clear outcomes
• Act as the escalation point for solution-level design decisions, providing final delegated decisions where appropriate and escalating exceptions for resolution
• Build strong relationships with programme, product, engineering, and business stakeholders

Skills & Competencies

The candidate must have significant skills & competency in IT Architecture which include the following:

• Solution Architecture – Leads the development and assurance of solution architectures across multiple initiatives.
• Leadership - Provides leadership for the Solution Architecture practice, setting delivery priorities, assuring quality, and enabling effective governance in line with Enterprise Architecture direction.
• People Management – Manages, develops, and mentors Solution Architects, supporting performance, growth, and retention.
• Enterprise IT Governance – Applies governance to architecture decisions, ensuring consistency, compliance, and reuse.
• Systems Design – Reviews and assures system designs for quality, scalability, and supportability.
• Stakeholder Relationship Management – Builds and maintains effective stakeholder relationships.
• Decision Making & Design Authority – Makes timely, well-evidenced architecture decisions, balancing risk, cost, delivery, and strategic alignment.
• Architecture Assurance & Risk – Assures solutions against principles and non-functional requirements (e.g. security, resilience, performance), identifying and managing design risks and technical debt.
• Commercial & Vendor Management – Evaluates vendor/third-party solutions and commercial options, assuring fit, value, and contractual alignment to architecture standards.
• Communication & Governance Facilitation – Leads governance discussions, communicates complex technical topics clearly, and drives decisions to documented outcomes.
• Methods and Tools – Defines and embeds architecture methods, standards, and tooling.

Knowledge

• Strong experience in Solution Architecture leadership within complex environments
• Proven ability to manage and develop high-performing architecture teams
• Experience in demand management, capacity planning, and resource allocation
• Strong understanding of architecture governance and design assurance
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Experience working across projects, platforms, and product-based delivery models
• Software design (Utilities, regulated industries)
• Data & Analytics
• Integration & service orientated design
• Software delivery (Waterfall, Agile)
• Security architecture and secure-by-design principles (e.g. identity, data protection, threat modelling)
• Cloud and platform concepts (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS), including landing zones, networking, and cost/performance trade-offs
• Service management and operability (monitoring, incident/problem management, support model, SLAs/SLOs)
• Risk, compliance, and regulatory considerations relevant to utilities, including auditability and traceability of design decisions
• Knowledge of solutions used within the Utilities / Water sector

Onsite a minimum of 2 days per week in Durrington office.