Senior Lead Architect

SBS Skipton Building Society; Skipton; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual discretionary bonus

Leave entitlement: 25 days + bank hols

Pension matching (up to 10%)

Employee mortgages & Skipton products

Flexible working

Private medical insurance & wellbeing

Job summary

Skipton Building Society is seeking a Senior Lead Solution Architect to own solution architecture across major change initiatives. You will explore options, assess trade-offs and create designs that align applications, data, integration, cloud, security and infrastructure.

The role involves providing direction to engineering teams and influencing design evolution to ensure practical, deliverable solutions. You will work with product, engineering, delivery and platform teams to translate business

Qualifications

• Substantial experience as a Solution Architect delivering complex solutions across applications, data, integration and cloud.
• Strong ability to guide engineering teams from design to delivery and manage cross-system decisions.
• Experience collaborating with product, engineering, delivery and platform teams.
• Familiarity with security, resilience, performance and regulatory needs.
• Ability to simplify complex problems and communicate decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Design end-to-end solutions for complex multi-system change from shaping to delivery.
• Produce architecture artefacts detailing integrations, data flows and decisions.
• Guide delivery teams and participate in architecture governance.
• Evaluate tech and supplier options, explain trade-offs, and propose actionable paths.

Skills

Solution Architect exp

Cloud-native design

Microservices

DevOps

Regulated industry

Job description

Hours: 35 hours per week. hybrid 3 days in head office per week Closing Date: Sun, 8 Nov 2026 As a Senior Lead Solution Architect at Skipton Building Society, you will take ownership of solution architecture across major change initiatives.

You will explore options, assess trade-offs and create designs that bring together applications, data, integration, cloud, security and infrastructure. You will provide enough direction for engineering teams to deliver confidently, remain involved as designs evolve and help resolve difficult cross-system decisions. You are likely to enjoy this role if you are an established Solution Architect who likes solving real delivery problems, drawing out how systems and services should work together and seeing designs through into implementation. It is not an enterprise architecture or technology strategy role; success comes from producing sound, usable solution designs and helping teams deliver them At Skipton, we're founded on fairness. We exist to do right by our members - and we believe that starts with doing right by our people. So whoever you are and whatever you bring, there's a place for you here and a genuine plan for where you go next.

What You’ll Do Every day at Skipton is innovation day. Join our Technology team and you’ll discover that we’re constantly focused on real challenges as we build the tools that get things done for our members - quicker than you imagine. This is a hands‑on solution architecture role for an experienced architect who wants to design and guide the delivery of complex technology change. You will work directly with product, engineering, delivery and platform teams to turn business needs into clear, practical and deliverable end‑to‑end solution designs. The focus is on shaping solutions, making design decisions supporting wider architecture community and staying close to delivery. Designing end‑to‑end solutions for complex, multi‑system change, from early shaping through delivery and operational readiness. Producing clear, proportionate architecture artefacts that communicate solution structure, integrations, data flows, key decisions and implementation guidance. Working alongside engineers, product owners, delivery leads and platform specialists to turn requirements into practical designs. Evaluating technology and supplier options, explaining trade‑offs and recommending an achievable way forward. Ensuring designs address security, resilience, supportability, performance and regulatory needs from the outset. Guiding delivery teams, responding to emerging constraints and maintaining the integrity of the solution as it is built. Reviewing significant solution designs and supporting other architects through constructive challenge, coaching and practical advice. Taking part in, helping to set and run architecture governance. We work in a hybrid way, balancing flexibility with collaboration. For this role, you'll typically spend three days a week in our Skipton office, with the remaining two days working from home.

What You’ll Need undefined

• Substantial experience as a Solution Architect designing and delivering complex solutions in a large organisation.
• A strong record of working closely with engineering and delivery teams, with the judgement to move between high‑level design and the detail needed to unblock delivery.
• Broad technical knowledge across applications, integration, application programming interfaces, data, cloud, security and infrastructure.
• Practical experience of modern engineering approaches such as cloud‑native design, microservices, event‑driven architecture, DevOps and continuous integration and delivery.
• The ability to simplify complex problems, create clear architecture models and explain decisions to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Confidence challenging constructively, balancing competing needs and making pragmatic recommendations.
• Experience in financial services or another regulated environment would be useful, but it is not essential.

What’s In It For You Your work matters. And the way we reward you matters, too. At Skipton, we offer pay and benefits that really do make life better, together with a genuine thank you for making a difference.

• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• 25 days standard annual leave + bank holidays + rising 1 day per year of service to a max of 30 days
• Matching employer pension contribution (up to 10% per annum)
• Colleague Mortgages and access to Skipton products and services at discounted rates
• Flexible working to help balance your commitments
• Private medical insurance, health and wellbeing app, volunteering opportunities, cycle‑to‑work scheme, discounted gym memberships

We’re here to make life better for our members.

About Skipton. Our story began in 1853 in Skipton, North Yorkshire. Today, you’ll find us across England and Scotland, from Aberdeen to Plymouth. We help over a million members put down roots, save for what matters, and feel good about their money. As a mutual, they own us, so everything we do is for them. You'll feel that same fairness and purpose in how all 2,500 of our colleagues work together, too It all means that life at Skipton is more exciting than you imagine.

What it's like to work here Life at Skipton We talk and we listen to each other. And we make decisions as a team. That way, you get all the support you need to do work that works for everyone. For most of our roles there's the option of blended working, which means we mix working from home and meeting in person. The right balance depends on your role, and what works best for you, your manager, and your team. We also value what everyone brings to Skipton. And we create a fair place where you can be yourself. Our colleague networks play a big role in this. They connect people with similar life experiences and make our workplace warm, friendly, inclusive and welcoming. It’s not just our members who are important to us. You are, too. Lots of organisations talk about wellbeing, but they don’t always back it up. As a mutual, we put people first. And that includes the people who work here. So, when we say we care about your wellbeing, we mean it. Wellbeing isn't just one thing. It’s about feeling good, having energy, and being able to be yourself and perform at your best. That’s why we offer help for your mental and physical health across five key areas. What’s more, it’s help that you can actually use too - not just read about.

Not just another building society. Not just another job. We're the fourth biggest building society in the UK and what makes us a bit different is that we're a mutual organisation. We don't have shareholders; we're owned by our members. Our colleagues say Skipton's a great place to work, and you could be one of them, bringing with you new ideas on how we can keep customers at the heart of what we do. Whatever your background, and whatever your goals, we’ll help you take the next step towards a better future.

Why? It’s just the way we are. We care about sustainability and look to the long‑term for both colleagues and customers. And we know that when we build better futures as individuals, we build better futures as a business.