Principal Architect

Phoenix Group; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Phoenix Group is seeking 3 Principal Architects for their Business & Enterprise Architecture team, based in various UK locations. This role involves strategic alignment of IT capacities with business objectives, overseeing the execution of complex projects, and managing enterprise architecture frameworks such as TOGAF. The company offers a competitive salary, flexible working arrangements, and a supportive culture focused on inclusion.

Benefits

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Excellent pension

12x salary life assurance

Career breaks

Income protection

3x volunteering days

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of TOGAF and Zachman frameworks.
• Proven experience creating and aligning roadmaps.
• Ability to provide actionable recommendations for investments.

Responsibilities

• Align IT capabilities with business strategies and oversee execution.
• Formulate strategy and articulate IT architecture evolution.
• Manage technology portfolio for visibility into technology estate.

Skills

Enterprise architecture frameworks

Process mapping

Consultative advice

Stakeholder management

Job description

We have an incredible opportunity to join us here at Phoenix Group for x3 Principal Architects to join our Business & Enterprise Architecture team.

Job Type: Permanent

Location: This role could be based in either our Birmingham, Telford, London or Edinburgh offices with time spent working in the office and at home.

Flexible working: All of our roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about Phoenix Flex here.

Closing Date: 27/06/2025

Salary and benefits: £70,000- £95,000 plus an indicative bonus range of 30%-60%, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more.

Who are we?

We want to be the best place that any of our 6,600 colleagues have ever worked.

We’re Phoenix Group, we’re a long-term savings and retirement business. We offer a range of products across our market-leading brands, Standard Life, SunLife, Phoenix Life and ReAssure. Around 1 in 5 people in the UK has a pension with us. We’re a FTSE 100 organisation that is tackling key issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050, and we’re not done yet

The role

The Principal Architect plays a key role in aligning IT capabilities to business strategies and overseeing execution. The Principal Architect role owns the definition, planning and governance of the Target States, associated Roadmaps and transition states across a given scope. Scope may be a major or complex programme of work, a technology architecture domain or a Value Centre - providing solution oversight, ensuring solutions delivery is executed in line with published roadmaps and standards.

Principal Architect role owns the definition, planning and governance of the Target States, associated Roadmaps and transition states across a given scopeincluding:

• Formulation of strategy and setting direction - Design, plan and articulate the planned evolution of the IT Architecture for the given scope

• Building and maintaining relationshipswith business leaders, product managers and product owners

• Facilitate innovation- Identify technology enabled innovation opportunities that enable business strategies

• Orchestrating the delivery of business outcomes - Provide consultative advice, adapted to stakeholder context, and Influence and guide AOP investment decisions.

• Guiding Execution - Working closely with, supporting and guiding the solution architects working across Change and Engineering Delivery

• Proactive Application Portfolio Management- Managing the data that provides visibility into our technology estate, the positioning of technology.

What are we looking for?

• A strong understanding of enterprise architecture frameworks (e.g., TOGAF, Zachman) with the ability to leverage this knowledge and drive strategic alignment and ensure efficient enterprise architecture practices.

• Demonstrable experience of working closely with strategic 3rd parties to ensure solutions are architected in alignment with group architectural blueprints and roadmap

• Comprehensive experience of developing roadmaps and transition States which enable the Target State to be realised in a controlled but timely manner

• Extensive experience in providing consultative advice, adapted to stakeholder context, and provide actionable recommendations to influence and guide technology investment decisions.

• Proficiency in process mapping and optimization techniques.

• Proven experience of driving execution of change to deliver the strategy outcomes, reduce risk, contain cost, improve agility and accelerate time to value

We want to hire the whole version of you.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

If you require any adjustments to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can help you to be at your best.

Find out more about #LifeAtPhoenix #LI-GJ1

Guide for Candidates: thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates

Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us