Lead Technology Architect
Southern Water
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Job summary
Southern Water is seeking a Lead Technology Architect to shape strategy and provide architectural leadership across IT and operating technology domains. The role sits in the Digital Architecture team and collaborates with the wider Digital Directorate and business stakeholders.
The post combines strategic direction with hands-on governance, ensuring secure, scalable, and cost-effective solutions across infrastructure, cloud, networking, security, and OT integration.
Qualifications
- Extensive IT architecture experience across IT and OT.
- Experience in infrastructure, cloud, security, and OT integration.
- Ability to participate in governance forums and design authorities.
- Line management experience.
Responsibilities
- Translate business and digital objectives into actionable architecture strategies and roadmaps for infrastructure, cloud, security, and OT.
- Guide solution designs that meet business needs with scalable, secure, and maintainable systems.
- Define infrastructure patterns and domain roadmaps for hybrid cloud, identity management, endpoint management, and virtualization.
- Participate in architecture governance forums and design authorities to ensure alignment and assurance.
- Act as senior advisor to solution architects and platform teams, supporting programme delivery.
- Engage with stakeholders to ensure architectural direction is understood and aligned with business goals.
Skills
Education
Job description
2026-09-01
The Lead Technology Architect is a pivotal role within the Digital Architecture team, responsible for shaping strategy and providing architectural leadership across Southern Water's IT and OT technology domains.
Technology Architecture is responsible for shaping and governing Southern Water's core technology landscape across infrastructure, cloud, networking, security, operational technology and data. The Lead Technology plays a strategic leadership role in defining technology direction, guiding platform evolution, and ensuring architectural alignment with business goals and digital ambitions.
The role provides architectural oversight across foundational platforms and infrastructure services, collaborates with cross-functional teams to deliver secure, scalable, and cost-effective solutions, and influences strategic decisions through governance forums and design authority. It acts as a key advisor on technology matters, enabling business outcomes while managing complexity and risk across IT and OT environments.
This role is accountable for delivering architectural leadership across Southern Water's core technology domains, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and enabling secure, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. Working within the Digital Architecture team and in collaboration with the wider Digital Directorate and business stakeholders, the role contributes to the following key outputs:
Translating business and digital objectives into actionable architecture strategies and roadmaps for infrastructure, cloud, security, and operational technology.
Shaping and guiding solution designs that meet business needs while ensuring technical integrity, scalability, and supportability.
Defining and evolving infrastructure patterns and domain roadmaps, including hybrid cloud, identity management, endpoint management, and virtualisation.
Participating in architecture forums and design authorities to provide governance and assurance across technology domains.
Monitoring emerging technologies and evaluating their relevance and impact on Southern Water's digital landscape.
Acting as a senior advisor to solution architects and platform teams, influencing key decisions and supporting programme delivery.
Engaging with technical and non-technical stakeholders to ensure architectural alignment and shared understanding of technology direction.
The role will have direct reports, which will require line management and appropriate support for performance, development and retention.
The candidate must have significant skills & competency in IT Architecture which include the following:
Leads the design of technology solutions across infrastructure and cloud domains, ensuring alignment with strategic goals.
Defines and evolves infrastructure patterns and services to support scalable and resilient platforms.
Develops and maintains strategic technology roadmaps aligned to business and digital objectives.
Applies governance to architecture decisions, ensuring consistency, compliance, and reuse.
Reviews and assures system designs for quality, scalability, and supportability.
Evaluates emerging technologies and trends to inform strategic direction and innovation.
Provides technical leadership across architecture domains, setting direction and priorities.
Manages and develops a team of architects, supporting performance, growth, and retention.
- IT Architecture
- Windows Server, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP
- Cloud Platforms - Azure, hybrid cloud models
- Identity & Access - Entra ID, Azure AD, SSO, MFA
- Collaboration Tools - Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint
- Endpoint Management - Intune, SCCM
- Virtualisation & Load Balancing - VMware ESXi/NSX, F5, VMware ALB
- Linux Environments - Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- Operational Technology Integration - IT/OT interfacing, secure-by-design awareness
- Software design (Utilities, regulated industries)
- Data & Analytics
- Integration & service orientated design
- Software delivery (Waterfall, Agile)
- Knowledge of solutions used within the Utilities / Water sector
- TOGAF
- Relevant BCS qualifications
Onsite a minimum of 2 days per week in Durrington office.
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