Solutions Architect

Canopius; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Discretionary bonus

Pension

Health insurance

Dental cover

Job summary

Canopius is seeking a Senior Solution Architect to translate business needs into cohesive, scalable technical solutions. You will shape the enterprise architecture, drive transformation programmes, and mentor delivery teams within a hybrid working model.

You will mentor, lead architectural reviews, and collaborate with senior stakeholders to ensure alignment with enterprise standards, resilience and security requirements while delivering end-to-end design across complex ecosystems.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Solution Architect across digital applications, software engineering, microservices, cloud and BPM.
• Strong understanding of architectural concepts, methodologies and approaches.
• Hands-on exposure to Azure cloud technologies (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).
• Excellent design, modelling and documentation skills (UML, BPMN).
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication, with ability to present data clearly.
• Experience guiding design and evolution of large-scale, integrated technology solutions.

Responsibilities

• Provide solution architecture leadership across business transformation initiatives.
• Translate business requirements into cohesive technical solutions with enterprise dependencies.
• Architect enterprise-scale programmes including development, re-engineering and integration strategies.
• Ensure compliance with internal standards and external regulatory requirements.
• Document architecture across transformation projects and the estate.
• Communicate trade-offs, risks and opportunities to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Mentor teams through pairing, design reviews and knowledge sharing.
• Engage stakeholders across regions to drive collaboration and alignment.
• Lead planning and estimation, breaking work into deliverable increments and identifying dependencies.

Skills

Solution Architecture

Architectural concepts

Azure cloud (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS)

UML/BPMN modelling

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

End-to-end architecture

Agile delivery

Problem clarification

Leadership/mentoring

Tools

Bizzdesign Horizzon EA Platform

Job description

Job Description

At Canopius, our Architecture and Design team is responsible for ensuring that technology investments are coherent, scalable and aligned to our enterprise strategy. We define the target architecture and design the solutions that enable the organisation to achieve its strategic and business goals, avoiding fragmented, point solutions that increase cost and complexity. We are building an interoperable technology estate that allows the business to respond quickly and innovatively to changing requirements and, in turn, provides external market advantage.

This role is an opportunity to apply your expertise in solution architecture, cloud and integration to translate business requirements into cohesive technical solutions, both discretely and with an eye on enterprise-level dependencies. You will contribute to key business transformation programmes, working closely with senior business and technology stakeholders and leveraging modern technologies. As a senior member of the team, you will also act as a role model to other staff across our delivery functions, providing guidance and support.

The ideal candidate is an experienced solution architect looking for a new challenge who is enthusiastic about embedding technology that is aligned to enterprise standards to accelerate change within our industry. You should have the ability to understand business problems and design efficient, reliable solutions tailored to our unique challenges, while maintaining a high degree of technical excellence and good architectural practice. You should be comfortable collaborating and working as part of a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team.

This role is central to delivering Canopius' technology vision through the design of new capabilities and the modernisation of our application and integration landscape. Alongside hands‑on solution design, the role provides architectural leadership across transformation initiatives, helping to establish a future‑focused, cloud‑native technology ecosystem.

Responsibilities

• Provide solution architecture leadership and direction across business transformation initiatives, ensuring solutions are aligned to our business strategy and target architecture.
• Develop a clear understanding of the requirements for a broad range of business initiatives and translate these into cohesive technical solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise‑level dependencies.
• Architect enterprise‑scale programmes, including new development, application re‑engineering, and integration strategies.
• Ensure solutions conform to internal technical architectural standards and principles, as well as external regulatory requirements.
• Document existing and proposed architecture across transformation projects and the existing estate.
• Communicate architectural solutions, trade‑offs, risks and opportunities to both technical and non‑technical audiences, managing expectations and influencing decisions with evidence‑based recommendations.
• Provide architectural guidance and solution oversight across multiple project teams, acting as a role model and mentor through pairing, early design reviews, peer review, constructive feedback and knowledge sharing, enabling others to solve problems independently.
• Communicate effectively at all levels, from delivery teams to senior leadership, building trusted relationships across all regions and business areas to drive collaboration, alignment and shared outcomes.
• Challenge requirements constructively and provide guidance on what is technically feasible, scalable and commercially viable.
• Drive delivery of complex, end-to-end design and solution work, seeking clarification of ambiguous requirements, looking beyond the immediate scope to ensure alignment with the wider estate, and proactively flagging the risk of technical debt.
• Lead planning and estimation activities, breaking complex work into deliverable increments, producing realistic estimates and highlighting dependencies, risks and non‑functional requirements (e.g. performance, resilience, security) early.
• Apply and evolve architecture and design standards (patterns, modelling conventions, naming, testing and deployment), determining when to introduce new patterns versus simplifying and reusing existing ones to keep the estate as common as possible and different only where necessary.
• Design solutions for production operation, including documentation, monitoring, alerting, logging, access and defined support responsibilities.
• Promote and drive adoption of modern engineering practices, AI technologies and automation opportunities across the team in a safe and reliable manner.
• Undertake other ad‑hoc duties as required.

Skills and Experience

• Proven experience as a Solution Architect, specifically around digital applications, software engineering, microservices, cloud and BPM.
• Strong understanding of architectural concepts, methodologies and approaches.
• Hands‑on exposure to Azure cloud technologies across IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
• Excellent working knowledge of design patterns and modelling notations such as UML and BPMN, with strong design and documentation skills.
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of technical architecture roles across all phases of the development lifecycle.
• Outstanding stakeholder management, client‑facing and communication skills, including excellent written and verbal communication and the ability to present data and findings to stakeholders in a clear yet impactful way.
• Proven experience of providing expert guidance and direction on the design and evolution of systems architectures.
• Track record of design and delivery of large‑scale, complex, integrated technology solutions.
• Proven ability to visualise, plan and execute the end‑to‑end of large deliverables, working effectively in cross‑functional agile squads as well as on solo or small projects.
• Able to clarify the problem and business value before exploring solutions, and to translate ambiguous business needs into solutions, communicating the time, effort, risk and value of different approaches.
• Strong planning and estimation skills, breaking complex work into deliverable increments, surfacing dependencies, risks and non‑functional requirements early, and balancing delivery momentum with a 'right first time' mindset to minimise rework.
• Track record of applying and evolving design and engineering standards, with the judgement to know when to introduce new patterns versus simplify and reuse existing ones to ensure consistency.
• Acts with integrity, accountability and reliability, with demonstrable curiosity and the ability to learn new tools, patterns and skills quickly, and to respond to incidents with a calm, structured approach.
• Experience of working with Bizzdesign Horizzon EA Platform is advantageous.
• Familiarity with specialty (re)insurance or Lloyd's market data such as bordereaux, delegated authority, underwriting and claims is advantageous.

About Us

Our benefits

We offer all employees a comprehensive benefits package that focuses on their whole wellbeing. This includes hybrid working, a competitive base salary, non‑contributory pension, discretionary bonus, insurances including health (family) and dental cover, and many other benefits to enhance financial, physical, social and psychological health.

About Canopius

Canopius is a global specialty lines (re)insurer. We are one of the leading insurers in the Lloyd’s of London insurance market with offices in the UK, US, Singapore, Australia and Bermuda.

At Canopius we foster a distinctive, positive culture which enables us to bring our whole selves to work to flourish as people, and build a business which delivers profitable, sustainable results.

Based in incredible new offices in the heart of the City of London, Canopius operates a flexible, hybrid working model and is committed to providing an environment that challenges employees to be their best and where everyone's unique contributions are recognised, valued and respected.

We are fully committed to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are made regardless of age, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, socio‑economic background, religion or beliefs, marital or caring status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We encourage and welcome applicants from all diverse backgrounds.

We make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and during employment. Please let us know if you require any information in an alternate format or any other reasonable adjustments.