Strategic Lead Architect — Secure, Scalable Solutions

Skipton Building Society; Skipton; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 98,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual discretionary bonus

Leave entitlement: 25 days + bank hols

Pension contribution up to 10%

Staff mortgages & discounted products

Flexible working

Private medical insurance & wellbeing

Cycle-to-work & gym discounts

Home and Tech voucher (Currys/IKEA)

Job summary

Skipton Building Society is seeking a Senior Lead Architect to provide strategic technical leadership across Technology and Security. The role combines deep technical expertise with strong communication to influence senior stakeholders and partner organisations.

The position offers hybrid working, typically three days a week at head office in Skipton with two days remote, and includes a generous rewards package and career development opportunities within a member-owned mutual.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading solution architecture across complex enterprise technology environments.
• Deep expertise in architecture frameworks, governance, best practices and delivering secure, scalable solutions.
• Strong knowledge across cloud, infrastructure, data, security and software engineering, with Azure experience highly desirable.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery, translating business goals into practical technology outcomes.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to influence senior decision-makers and technical teams alike.
• Excellent communication skills, able to simplify complex technical concepts, risks and trade-offs for diverse audiences.
• Collaborative and pragmatic approach, with a passion for mentoring others, driving continuous improvement and solving complex challenges.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of secure, scalable and resilient solution architectures from concept through to implementation.
• Provide technical leadership, governance and architectural assurance across solution design, integration and delivery.
• Define and maintain architecture roadmaps, standards and design principles that support business and technology strategy.
• Partner with senior stakeholders, engineering, product and security teams to shape technology decisions and outcomes.
• Evaluate design options, change requests and technical risks, providing clear recommendations and governance oversight.
• Mentor and support technical teams, promoting consistent application of architecture best practice and building organisational capability.
• Collaborate with vendors, suppliers and subject matter experts to resolve complex challenges and support effective delivery, compliance and resource planning.

Skills

Solution architecture

Architectural governance

Cloud & Azure

Leadership &Stakeholders

Security architecture

Mentoring & coaching

Communication

Job description

Skipton Building Society is seeking a Senior Lead Architect to provide strategic technical leadership across Technology and Security. The role combines deep technical expertise with strong communication to influence senior stakeholders and partner organisations.

The position offers hybrid working, typically three days a week at head office in Skipton with two days remote, and includes a generous rewards package and career development opportunities within a member-owned mutual.