Senior Solutions Architect - Cloud-Native, API-led & AI

Virgin Active; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Virgin Active membership

Discounts across Virgin brands

Pension with 3% contributions

Dental and Healthcare Insurance

Mental health support (Health Heroes)

Salary Finance access

Job summary

Virgin Active is seeking a Senior Solution Architect to lead the architecture of its digital ecosystem across mobile, web, data platforms and integrations. This hands-on role collaborates with Product, Engineering, Data, Marketing and IT to set technical direction and solve complex challenges.

You will design secure, scalable cloud-native solutions, oversee Azure architecture, and guide teams toward API-led, event-driven patterns while balancing delivery with long-term architectural goals.

Qualifications

• Significant software engineering experience in senior technical roles.
• Experience leading architecture across mobile, web, backend, data platforms.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Azure, cloud-native architecture, distributed systems and microservices.
• Experience designing API-led and event-driven solutions.
• Experience integrating third-party platforms and services at scale.
• A good understanding of security, identity, privacy and data architecture.
• Hands-on experience with C#, .NET, CI/CD and modern DevOps practices.
• Experience introducing AI or machine-learning capabilities into digital products.
• Strong technical judgement and the ability to balance scalability, maintainability, cost and delivery.

Responsibilities

• Own the target architecture and technical roadmap across Virgin Active’s digital ecosystem.
• Define architectural standards for applications, APIs, integrations, data, security and cloud infrastructure.
• Design secure, scalable solutions across mobile, web, backend services, data platforms and third‑party systems.
• Lead the design of complex features spanning multiple products and technical domains.
• Create reference implementations and work directly with engineers to solve complex technical challenges.
• Guide our transition towards a cloud‑native, API‑led and event‑driven architecture.
• Work with our Group Chief of AI to support the safe and effective introduction of AI into member experiences.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Data, Marketing and IT teams to align technical solutions with business priorities.
• Lead architecture reviews and communicate technical decisions, risks and trade‑offs clearly.
• Provide technical guidance to engineers and help strengthen architectural capability across the team.
• Oversee Microsoft Azure architecture, including networking, identity, security and infrastructure.
• Establish standards for reliability, observability, testing, CI/CD and production readiness.
• Balance long‑term architectural goals with technical debt, cost and delivery priorities.
• Provide technical oversight for third‑party platforms, vendors and external delivery partners.

Skills

Software engineering

Solution Architect

Azure cloud

API-led design

DevOps CI/CD

Security & privacy

Stakeholder mgmt

Communication

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Azure Functions

API Management

Service Bus

Event Grid

Logic Apps

CI/CD

Job description

Virgin Active is seeking a Senior Solution Architect to lead the architecture of its digital ecosystem across mobile, web, data platforms and integrations. This hands-on role collaborates with Product, Engineering, Data, Marketing and IT to set technical direction and solve complex challenges.

You will design secure, scalable cloud-native solutions, oversee Azure architecture, and guide teams toward API-led, event-driven patterns while balancing delivery with long-term architectural goals.