Principal Enterprise Architect

NatWest Group; City of Edinburgh; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial institution in the UK is looking for a Principal Enterprise Architect to define and implement an enterprise-wide operating model. The role involves leading teams to develop secure and sustainable digital solutions while engaging with stakeholders at all levels. Ideal candidates will have strong expertise in enterprise architecture frameworks and excellent communication skills.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in enterprise architecture frameworks, Cloud, microservices, platform architecture.
• Proven ability to design and operationalise target operating models to foster collaboration.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of conveying complex concepts to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead the definition and implementation of an enterprise-wide target operating model.
• Cultivate strong relationships with stakeholders, including C-level executives.
• Lead teams to architect customer-centric digital products and solutions.

Skills

Enterprise architecture frameworks

Cloud computing

Microservices

AI

DevOps

Agile methodologies

Composable architecture principles

Job description

Join us as a Principal Enterprise Architect

Overview

• We’ll look to you to lead the definition and implementation of an enterprise-wide target operating model that enables agile delivery, composable architecture, and iterative development across business and technology domains.
• You'll lead the creation and evolution of a strategic enterprise architecture roadmap, ensuring investment decisions are guided by architectural priorities and deliver measurable business value.
• With valuable exposure, you’ll cultivate strong relationships and proactively engage with key stakeholders, including C-level business and technology executives, vendors and partners, and industry thought leaders

What you'll do

As a Principal Enterprise Architect, you’ll be leading teams of architects and engineers to architect customer centric, high performance, secure, robust and sustainable end to end digital products, solutions, and services that deliver business value while aligning to the bank’s strategic target architecture.

You’ll be actively contributing to the growth of architecting capability and the community across the bank through thought leadership, knowledge sharing, contributing to the community of practice, and building capability in others through coaching, mentoring and teaching.

As well as this, you’ll be:

• Leading architecture and design reviews of solution architectures within delivery programmes of high architectural significance or risk
• Inspecting and verifying that proposed designs meet business needs, and are compliant with Architecture Council approved architecture principles, standards, and patterns
• Assuring investment alignment with business and digital strategies through making explicit recommendations and influencing investment decisions
• Chairing architectural design authorities and review boards to evaluate proposed solutions and help ensure alignment with strategy, architecture principles, and standards
• Recruiting, mentoring, and developing teams of highly skilled architects, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and technical excellence
• Continuously researching and evaluating emerging technologies, architecture patterns, and industry best practices to identify threats to current architecture and opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage

The skills you\'ll need

To succeed in this role, you’ll need deep expertise in enterprise architecture frameworks, Cloud, microservices, platform architecture, AI, DevOps, agile methodologies and composable architecture principles, with a strong understanding of iterative and incremental delivery models.

You’ll have a proven ability to design and operationalise target operating models that foster cross-functional collaboration, rapid innovation, and scalable, modular technology solutions.

You’ll bring proven experience of leading the definition and development of strategic target architectures that align with organisational objectives. This will include extensive experience of engaging with partners across the organisation and wider technology industry to define architectures that deliver tangible business outcomes.

You’ll have excellent communication skills with the ability to clearly communicate complex technical concepts to colleagues up to senior leadership level

You’ll also demonstrate

• The ability to drive architecture-led investment decisions, influencing senior stakeholders to prioritise initiatives that align with the strategic roadmap and enterprise architecture vision.
• A track record of leading architecture governance, facilitating agile decision-making, and mentoring teams to adopt best practices in composable and iterative solution delivery.
• Extensive experience of leading the oversight and assurance of architecture designs, with a focus on risk management and governance
• Experience of leading initiatives that promote best practices, support professional development, and encourage collaboration across architecture teams