Solution Architect

Lloyds Banking Group; Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services organization in Leeds seeks a Solution Architect to design and deliver technology solutions to enhance their People Platform. You will collaborate with diverse teams and drive innovations, particularly in AI capabilities. The role requires strong analytical skills, and hands-on experience with cloud platforms like GCP and Azure. The company values diversity and inclusion, offering a robust benefits package and a hybrid work model.

Benefits

Pension contribution up to 15%

Annual performance-related bonus

Share schemes including free shares

Discounted shopping benefits

30 days' holiday plus bank holidays

Generous parental leave policies

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with major cloud platforms (GCP and Azure).
• Proven ability to introduce AI capabilities into enterprise solutions.
• Experience in defining and documenting solution designs.

Responsibilities

• Define and document solution designs, integration needs, and architectural decisions.
• Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships.
• Champion innovation by exploring AI-driven opportunities.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Cloud platforms (GCP, Azure)

Jira

Confluence

AI capabilities

Job description

The purpose of the Solution Architect is to design and communicate the technology solutions with an architectural significance that deliver our key outcomes or epics, They create the designs to meet our quality, resilience and technical objectives. They contribute to the definition of the solution architecture forward look. WORKING PATTERN: Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of our time, at one of our office sites We're shaping our People Platform to bring our People Strategy to life, helping our colleagues thrive and succeed. You'll work closely with Platform Labs, Feature Teams, Product Owners, Enterprise Architects and Engineers to design and deliver solutions that shape the People Platform. As part of our Solution Architecture team, you'll lead across a diverse technology landscape - from traditional on-premise applications to a growing suite of SaaS solutions (many handling highly confidential data with robust controls). We're pioneering AI-driven tools, creating colleague-focused experiences through Workday Extend, and supporting major enterprise-grade implementations. As a Solution Architect, you'll:

Key Responsibilities

• Define and document solution designs, integration needs, and architectural decisions.
• Establish a solid baseline for building, implementing, and running effective technology applications.
• Apply architectural standards and patterns while enabling frequent, incremental improvements to deliver value.
• Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships, including third-party suppliers and internal teams, ensuring alignment between a technical and non-technical audience.
• Champion innovation by exploring and evaluating AI-driven opportunities, identifying use cases that enhance colleague experience.

Key Skills and Qualifications

• Analyse and clearly articulate issues, dependencies, and recommendations to stakeholders.
• Contribute to technical design risks and drive them through to resolution.
• Assess software and infrastructure risks and recommend remediation options.
• Conduct research and trend analysis to inform architectural choices and shape strategic direction.
• Hands-on experience with Jira and Confluence for effective collaboration and delivery tracking.
• Practical experience with major cloud platforms (GCP and Azure), leveraging their capabilities to design scalable solutions.
• Comfortable creating and discussing solution designs with both engineers and business stakeholders.
• Proven ability (or readiness) to introduce AI capabilities into enterprise solutions, balancing innovation with compliance and security.

At Lloyds Banking Group, we're driven by a clear purpose; to help Britain prosper. Across the Group, our colleagues are focused on making a difference to customers, businesses and communities. With us you'll have a key role to play in shaping the financial services of the future, whilst the scale and reach of our Group means you'll have many opportunities to learn, grow and develop.

We keep your data safe. So, we'll only ever ask you to provide confidential or sensitive information once you have formally been invited along to an interview or accepted a verbal offer to join us which is when we run our background checks. We'll always explain what we need and why, with any request coming from a trusted Lloyds Banking Group person. We're focused on creating a values-led culture and are committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the customers and communities we serve. Together we're building a truly inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference.

Like the modern Britain we serve, we're evolving. Investing billions in our people, data and tech to transform the way we meet the ever-changing needs of our 26 million customers. We're growing with purpose. Join us on our journey and you will too.

About working for us

Our focus is to ensure we're inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We want our people to feel that they belong and can be their best, regardless of background, identity or culture. We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative. And it's why we especially welcome applications from under-represented groups. We're disability confident. So if you'd like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know. We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:

Benefits

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual performance-related bonus
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days' holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies