Senior Technical Architect

Vmlenterprisesolutions; Manchester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

WPP Enterprise Solutions is seeking a permanent Principal Technical Architect within its Commerce & Technology division to lead architecture for cloud-based, agentic AI platforms. You will own design standards, governance, and high‑availability implementations, partnering with clients and internal teams to shape growth opportunities.

In this role you will stay close to code, drive reviews, champion IaC, CI/CD, and automation, and mentor engineers to maintain a strong quality bar across

Qualifications

• Senior/Principal architect with agency/consultancy background.
• Hands-on AWS/serverless experience required.
• Experience leading workshops and guiding clients through technical discovery.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical governance and architecture across cloud engagements.
• Design AWS-based agentic AI platforms and reusable patterns.
• Engage clients, run workshops, and identify growth opportunities.
• Review code, ensure quality, and drive automation / IaC practices.
• Mentor engineers and raise technical bar across the account.

Skills

Leadership

Governance

Client engagement

Hands-on delivery

Cloud architecture

Tools

AWS

Serverless

IaC

CI/CD

Job description

Who We Are

WPP Enterprise Solutions designs, builds, and operates the growth systems that competitive businesses rely on. In a world where Al is reshaping how companies drive growth, we lead clients in business transformation and marketing modernization, connecting strategy directly to execution. Our 12,000 experts in engineering and platforms, commerce, consulting, content transformation, CRM, and CX work within a unified global operating unit across 40+ markets. WPP Enterprise Solutions works alongside best-in-class partners including Adobe, AWS, Braze, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Shopify, as well as innovators in AI, to deliver growth solutions tailored to the needs of our clients' businesses. VML, part of WPP, supports WPP Enterprise Solutions by helping brands activate transformation through creativity and experience.

We are looking for a permanent Principal Technical Architect.

Our Commerce & Technology division helps leading global brands deliver digital experiences. As clients transition from AI experimentation to production-grade, autonomous agentic platforms (systems that plan, reason, act, and transact), we are seeking a Principal Technical Architect. Serving as the senior technical authority on our AWS and cloud engagements, you will own the design and quality of robust, scalable applications.

In this outward-facing, energetic leadership role, you will architect enterprise-grade cloud applications with a strong focus on agentic AI platform components -including orchestration, memory, tool integration, identity, guardrails, and observability - as well as emerging Agentic Commerce. Alongside driving technical strategy, you will actively partner with clients, lead dynamic workshops, participate in governance, and collaborate with commercial teams to identify and shape new growth opportunities. Balancing strategic vision with hands-on delivery, you will stay close to the code, prove technical solutions through rigorous code reviews, and mentor engineering teams to establish a high bar for quality, automation, and operational best practices.

What you’ll be doing

• Technical Leadership & Governance: Act as the account's senior authority on complex cloud architectures (esp. AWS serverless). Establish technical governance, design standards, and manage risk, non-functional requirements (NFRs), and technical debt.
• Agentic AI & Commerce Innovation: Design AWS-based agentic AI platforms (orchestration, RAG, memory, guardrails, and MCP). Establish reusable patterns and advise clients on emerging Agentic Commerce standards (ACP, AP2, A2A, and secure payment models).
• Client Engagement & Account Growth: Build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, translate complex concepts, and facilitate technical discovery workshops. Proactively identify, shape, and pitch technical solutions to drive account growth.
• Hands-on Engineering & Delivery: Provide hands-on technical ownership by proving solutions, reviewing code, and designing robust API/integration patterns. Champion a quality-first mindset using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), CI/CD, and automation.
• Capability Building: Mentor engineers and architects, share knowledge on emerging technologies, and raise the overall technical bar across the account and practice.

What we want from you

• Leadership & Consulting: Senior/Principal architect with experience in digital agencies or consultancies, skilled at leading development teams, guiding clients through workshops, and identifying business growth opportunities.
• AWS & Serverless Architecture: Deep hands-on expertise in designing, documenting, and delivering resilient, high-availability enterprise