Solution Architect – Component Designer Assurance & AI

Barclays UK; Knutsford; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading company as a Solution Architect and drive innovation in their digital landscape, focusing on designing comprehensive solutions to complex challenges. Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure technology risks are balanced with effective business delivery. This role requires expertise in cutting-edge technologies and a commitment to excellence in service.

Qualifications

• Experience with open-source tools: ELK, Grafana, Prometheus.
• Hands-on experience with Apache Spark, Airflow, Flink.
• Knowledge of DevOps tools (Jenkins, CI/CD) is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Designing and developing solutions to complex business problems.
• Applying workload placement strategies to maximize cloud benefits.
• Incorporating security principles into designs.

Skills

Building high-scale observability solutions

Middleware technologies

Data Structures

Network fundamentals

Agile methodologies

AI engineering

Job description

Join us on a transformative journey as a Solution Architect - Component Designer Assurance & AI, where you'll spearhead the evolution of our digital landscape, driving innovation and excellence. You'll harness cutting-edge technology to revolutionize our digital offerings, ensuring unparalleled customer experiences.

Operational Support Systems (OSS) & Tools is a newly formed functional unit in the Network Product domain at Barclays. The Barclays OSS & Tools Engineering team is responsible for the design, build, and operation of the underlying OSS infrastructure and toolchain across cloud, data center, campus, and branch networks, essential for running the Barclays Global Network at scale.

To be successful as a Solution Architect, you should have experience with:

Essential Skills

• Building high-scale observability solutions using open-source tools like ELK, Grafana, Prometheus, Nagios, Telegraf, and others.
• Hands-on experience with middleware technologies (Kafka, API gateways, etc.) and Data Engineering tools/frameworks like Apache Spark, Airflow, Flink, and Hadoop ecosystems.
• Understanding of network fundamentals, Data Structures, scalable system design, and the ability to translate information into structured solutions for wider product and engineering teams.

Some other highly valued skills may include:

Desirable Skills

• Knowledge of DevOps tools, GitOps, CI/CD, configuration management, Jenkins, build pipelines, and source control systems. Working knowledge of cloud infrastructure services: compute, storage, networking, hybrid connectivity, monitoring/logging, security, and IAM.
• Programming experience in high-level languages like Python, Java, Golang, and expertise in NetDevOps automation and AI engineering (GenAI/AgenticAI), API service development.
• Proficiency in Agile methodologies (Scrum/Kanban), backlog and workflow management, and SRE-specific reporting (MTTR, deployment frequency, SLOs).

You may be assessed on key skills relevant for success, such as risk and controls, change management, business acumen, strategic thinking, and technical skills.

Location: Knutsford

Purpose of the role

To design, develop, and implement solutions to complex business problems, collaborating with stakeholders to understand their needs and create balanced, effective solutions that consider technology risks and business delivery.

Accountabilities

• Designing and developing solutions as products that can evolve, meeting business requirements with modern software engineering practices and automated delivery tools.
• Applying workload placement strategies to maximize cloud benefits like elasticity, serverless, and containerization.
• Incorporating security principles into designs to meet resiliency expectations.
• Balancing risks and controls to deliver business and technology value.
• Using standard solutions where applicable, and contributing to their evolution where necessary.
• Supporting operational teams with fault finding and performance issues using available tooling.
• Assessing solution impact in terms of risk, capacity, and cost, including project change and ongoing run costs.
• Developing architecture inputs to comply with governance processes, including design artifacts for architecture, privacy, security, and records management.

Vice President Expectations

• Contributing to strategy, requirements, and recommendations for change, managing resources, budgets, and policies.
• Leading or managing teams, defining roles, planning for future needs, and guiding performance and development.
• Demonstrating leadership behaviors: Listen & be authentic, Energize & inspire, Align & develop.
• Providing technical guidance, leading complex assignments, and coaching less experienced team members.
• Advising stakeholders, managing risks, and strengthening controls.
• Understanding organizational functions to support business goals.
• Collaborating across areas to stay aligned with business strategies.
• Building trusting relationships with stakeholders through influencing and negotiation.

All colleagues are expected to embody Barclays Values: Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence, and Stewardship, and demonstrate the Barclays Mindset: Empower, Challenge, Drive.