Principal Architect

Harvey Nash; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Harvey Nash, a global SaaS company in education technology, is seeking a Principal Architect to shape long-term technology direction across a multi-region environment. This senior IC role sits at the centre of a global technology function, reporting into the Global VP of Technology and Operations.

You will drive architecture governance, standards, and decision-making processes, aligning platform roadmaps with product strategy while enabling engineering teams across the UK and US to move faster

Qualifications

• Proven experience in senior architecture or technical leadership roles within SaaS or product-led environments.
• Strong background in software engineering and cloud-native design.
• Ability to define roadmaps and align technology with business outcomes.
• Excellent communication and collaboration across international teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve architecture principles, standards and governance across the organisation.
• Establish and lead architecture forums and decision-making processes.
• Drive consistency in tooling, design patterns and integration approaches.
• Ensure strong governance across security, scalability, resilience and observability.
• Provide oversight of key architectural decisions, risks and trade-offs.
• Promote pragmatic governance that supports delivery rather than slowing it down.
• Own and maintain the technical roadmap aligned to product and business strategy.
• Identify opportunities around AI adoption, platform scaling and modernisation.
• Highlight and prioritise technical debt and platform risks.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and guide adoption decisions.
• Balance regional requirements with global platform direction.

Skills

Senior Architect

Cloud-native

Distributed systems

APIs

Job description

A Global SaaS Company at the forefront of education technology is investing heavily in its next phase of platform and product evolution. With millions of users globally and a strong international footprint, the business is moving toward a more AI-enabled, platform-centric operating model.

As part of this journey, they are hiring a Principal Architect to play a pivotal role in shaping the long-term technology direction across a complex, multi-region environment.

The Opportunity

This is a senior, high-impact individual contributor role sitting at the centre of a global technology function. Reporting into the Global VP of Technology and Operations, you will provide architectural leadership across platforms, products and services, ensuring consistency, scalability and strategic alignment.

This is not a delivery role. Instead, you will focus on technical governance, architecture strategy and cross-functional alignment, enabling engineering teams to move faster and more effectively.

You will operate across UK and US technology teams, helping bring greater cohesion, consistency and shared best practice across an already well-established global platform.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Define and evolve architecture principles, standards and governance across the organisation
• Establish and lead architecture forums and decision-making processes
• Drive consistency in tooling, design patterns and integration approaches
• Ensure strong governance across security, scalability, resilience and observability
• Provide oversight of key architectural decisions, risks and trade-offs
• Promote pragmatic governance that supports delivery rather than slowing it down
• Own and maintain the technical roadmap aligned to product and business strategy
• Identify opportunities around AI adoption, platform scaling and modernisation
• Highlight and prioritise technical debt and platform risks
• Evaluate emerging technologies and guide adoption decisions
• Balance regional requirements with global platform direction

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Bring together SMEs across Engineering, Infrastructure, Security, Data, QA and Product
• Facilitate architectural discussions and drive decisions to clear outcomes
• Provide guidance on complex or high-impact initiatives
• Encourage reuse, standardisation and platform thinking

Global Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a key technical bridge between UK and US technology teams
• Ensure regional needs are represented within global platform decisions
• Build strong relationships with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Clearly communicate technical direction, risks and trade-offs
• Champion engineering quality and continuous improvement
• Contribute to evolving standards, governance and ways of working
• Support AI-driven development and innovation initiatives
• Mentor senior engineers and technical leaders across the organisation

What They’re Looking For

• Proven experience in senior architecture or technical leadership roles within modern SaaS or product-led environments
• Strong background in software engineering, distributed systems, APIs and cloud-native architectures
• Experience establishing and leading architecture governance and decision-making frameworks across multiple teams
• Ability to influence technical direction without direct line management responsibility
• Experience working within international or multi-region technology organisations
• Strong track record of defining technical roadmaps and aligning technology with business outcomes
• Confident communicator, able to translate complex technical concepts to different audiences
• Skilled facilitator, capable of driving alignment across diverse technical teams
• Solid understanding of security, scalability, resilience and operational best practice
• Exposure to or interest in AI-enabled platforms and development approaches

Key Context

• Newly created role as part of a broader technology evolution
• Individual contributor position with no direct reports
• Part of the senior technology leadership team
• Close collaboration with US-based counterparts as part of a “one team” global model
• Strong emphasis on bridging regional teams and improving alignment

Why This Role?

• Opportunity to shape architecture at a truly global scale
• High visibility role with direct access to senior leadership
• Influence long-term technology direction rather than day-to-day delivery
• Play a key role in enabling AI adoption and platform transformation
• Join a purpose-led organisation delivering impactful technology at scale