Senior Solution Architect

2022 - Chief Operating Office; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 72,000 - 91,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services organization in the UK seeks a Chief Operating Officer with extensive experience in solution architecture, particularly in regulated financial environments. The role involves providing technical leadership, guiding migrations to new systems, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Ideal candidates will have strong stakeholder management skills and a deep understanding of core banking. This position offers a hybrid work model and competitive benefits.

Benefits

25 days holiday per year

Private medical insurance

Highly competitive pension

Performance-related bonus

Training and development opportunities

Flexible benefits scheme

Life assurance

Paid volunteering days

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience as a Solution Architect in complex environments.
• Knowledge of Core Banking concepts and platforms.
• Ability to design end-to-end enterprise solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead architectural direction for the Current Account and Savings migration.
• Provide technical leadership across Core Banking.
• Guide and mentor Solution Architect colleagues.

Skills

Solution Architecture

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Governance experience

Integration patterns

Job description

Business Unit: COO – Core Banking, Product & Channels
Salary range: £72,800 to £91,000 per annum DOE
Location: Hybrid with occasional travel to a UK Virgin Money Hub location when required
Contract type: Permanent

Overview

Our Team: Working in Core Banking is a big deal. We sit at the heart of Virgin Money, making sure the systems that power our Current Account and Savings products are always available, stable and ready to support our customers. As part of Products & Channels, we are accountable for the reliability, resilience and change delivery of the applications that run on our core account‑processing and mainframe‑based platforms.

You’ll play an important role in shaping how we run, maintain and evolve these platforms to meet customer needs, support regulatory change and enable the wider business strategy. The work we do ensures Virgin Money can serve millions of customers every day with accuracy, safety and confidence.

The Core Banking Team is also integral to the success of the Nationwide Building Society integration. We’re responsible for supporting the safe and seamless migration of Virgin Money’s Current Account and Savings customers onto NBS target systems, a major programme that requires precision, deep technical knowledge and strong partnership across the organisation. Our work ensures customers continue to access their money without disruption throughout this transition.

Joining the team means being part of a high‑performing and trusted group that takes pride in doing the difficult things exceptionally well: safeguarding the stability of our core systems, delivering complex change and underpinning many of the most critical services Virgin Money provides.

What you’ll be doing

• Providing senior technical leadership across Core Banking, acting as one of the most experienced solution architects supporting our core account‑processing and mainframe‑based platforms.
• Leading the architectural direction for the Current Account and Savings migration into Nationwide. You’ll ensure technical strategy, solution alignment and design governance across multiple delivery teams, while keeping the migration safe, accurate and in line with regulatory expectations and NBS target state.
• Guiding, coaching and mentoring Solution Architect colleagues and supporting capability development across the wider architecture community.
• Working closely with Product, Engineering, Operations and Programme teams to understand requirements and priorities, helping ensure solution designs balance business outcomes, technical integrity and platform reliability.
• Providing clear and authoritative technical advice to Project Managers, Technical Leads and senior stakeholders to support effective planning, sequencing and dependency management.
• Developing high‑quality high‑level designs that follow Group technical standards, architectural principles and governance frameworks, and ensuring they remain robust, secure, scalable and traceable.
• Owning designs throughout the delivery lifecycle, including assessing change requests and confirming technical impacts as delivery evolves.
• Leading design workshops and forums that bring together technical leads, project teams, third‑party suppliers and business SMEs to drive clarity and credible decision‑making.
• Influencing architectural decisions across complex multi‑system journeys, ensuring alignment across platforms and coherent end‑to‑end customer outcomes, especially where integration with NBS, Payments, Channels or wider Group systems is required.
• Acting as a key architectural representative for Core Banking in governance forums, risk assessments, migration readiness checkpoints and technical review boards.
• Contributing to Group architecture communities of practice and helping strengthen design standards, share patterns and build capability across the organisation.
• Leading internal improvement initiatives to enhance how we design, document, govern and deliver technical solutions so that Core Banking continues to support the organisation’s needs.

We need you to have

• Hands‑on experience as a Solution Architect, ideally in complex, highly integrated enterprise environments.
• Knowledge of Core Banking concepts and platforms, including account processing engines, customer ledgers, batch processing and high‑volume transaction systems.
• A proven ability to design end‑to‑end enterprise solutions with a clear understanding of integration patterns, data flows and operational considerations.
• Adept in providing senior technical leadership, influencing architectural direction and guiding colleagues without direct line management authority.
• Experience working in regulated financial services, with a strong grasp of resilience, compliance, risk and audit requirements.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues to non‑technical audiences.
• Strong governance and design assurance experience, ensuring solutions follow Group architectural standards and remain aligned throughout delivery.
• Confidence leading technical workshops and cross‑functional design forums to drive clarity, alignment and effective decision‑making.

It’s a bonus if you have but not essential

• Ability to contribute in large‑scale transformation, migration or platform consolidation programmes, ideally involving customer or product migrations.
• Knowledge of debit card processing flows, including authorisation, settlement and lifecycle events, and how these interact with Core Banking platforms.

The extras you’ll get:

• 25 days holiday per year, increasing over time to 30. Plus, an option to buy more, giving you even more choice.
• Private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance‑related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our flexible benefits scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

If we’re lucky to receive a lot of interest, we may close the advert early. Please ensure to submit your applications as soon as possible.

Say hello to Virgin Money

Virgin Money is so much more than just a bank. As part of theNationwide group,together we're the UK's first full‑service mutual bank serving millions of retail and business customers and all driven by our purpose: Banking but fairer, more rewarding and for the good of society. With us, you’ll be part of an organisation uniquely positioned to make a difference to the lives of customers, communities and broader society and embark on a collaborative, customer obsessed, and fun‑filled career journey. Embrace the weekdays, enjoy fantastic perks, and make a meaningful positive difference. Time to discover what it means to be part of the first mutual full‑service banking provider.

Be yourself at Virgin Money

At Virgin Money, we celebrate everyone. We have fun, think big, and relentlessly include each other, all in pursuit of our purpose: Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society.We’re committed to creating an inclusive culture where colleagues feel safe and inspired to contribute, speak up and be heard.

As a Disability Confident Leader, we're committed to removing any obstacles to inclusion. If you need any reasonable adjustments or support making your application, contact our Talent Acquisition team [e-mail]

Please note: If we receive a high volume of eligible applications, we may need to prioritise candidates whose skills and experience most closely align with the role, while still ensuring fair and equitable consideration for all applicants.