Technical Solutions Architect

TST Poland; Glasgow; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech consultancy in Scotland is seeking a Technical Solutions Architect to lead architecture development and ensure coherent enterprise architecture across projects. The candidate will engage in non-functional and technical discussions, advise on governance, and serve as a subject matter expert throughout the project lifecycle. Strong experience in technical delivery and collaboration with various stakeholders is essential for this role. Competitive compensation and opportunities for professional development are offered.

Responsibilities

• Ensure enterprise architecture models are developed consistently.
• Lead architecture development assignments and promote technical innovation.
• Collaborate with the Project Manager to understand business requirements.
• Advise and participate in governance arrangements for architecture.
• Serve as subject matter expert for technical delivery.

Job description

Responsibilities

There is a mandatory requirement for the Technical Solutions Architect to be involved in and consulted on all non-functional, architectural and design-led discussion and decision-making. The Architect is responsible for:

• Ensuring that enterprise architecture models are developed in a consistent and coherent manner within the Projects and EPF Programme and ensuring effective reuse/reapplication of materials to support wider coherence with the programme architecture where practical.
• Leading the architecture development assignments across Projects and the Programme, including identifying and promoting technical innovation to solve business challenges by working closely with the client (business and technical staff) and alongside staff from other suppliers.
• Working with the Head of Technology Transformation and Business Solutions Analyst to understand business requirements and technical project inter-dependencies, collaborating with the Project Manager to resolve them and translate business requirements into options papers, implementation assessments and solution designs adhering to the Enterprise Architecture, feeding into the EPF Programme.
• Advising on and participating in governance arrangements to ensure the architecture delivers the desired benefits, including defining and managing the process for selecting new technologies and removing redundant technologies.
• Serving as a subject matter expert for technical delivery on projects within the scope of the EPF Programme and architectural frameworks, methods and tools, acting as a central hub on all technical designs for other technology teams and external stakeholders.

Deliverables/Outputs

EARLY ENGAGEMENT PHASE:

Engagement must take place at the earliest opportunity within the project delivery.

Artefacts:

• Contribution to Business Case preparation
• Non-Functional Requirements document consistent with Digital Division standard NFRs standalone and as input to ITT
• Options Paper

TENDER PHASE:

Engagement Architect responsible for NFRs engages via Procurement in tender responses and information requests via procurement in respect of suppliers scoring of the ITT responses.

Artefacts:

• Feedback responses collated by procurement
• Individual scoring spreadsheets with detailed constructive analysis/criticism of responses providing reasoning behind scores which can be used to feed back to tenderers.

DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION PHASE:

Engagement Collaboration between supplier, project team & stakeholders. Production/review of the following artefacts:

Artefacts:

• Designs High Level and Low Level Design documents showing how and where within the environment the service will be hosted or how we connect to the solution (if cloud hosted, etc.)
• Options Paper pros, cons, costs, effort, etc. (e.g. if there are multiple options where systems should be hosted)

Other common diagrams produced/reviewed by the Technical Solutions Architect during the Design & Implementation stage include:

• High Level Context Diagram
• Integrations Diagram
• Deployment / Physical Design Diagram
• Traffic / Data Flow Diagrams
• Server Build request forms
• Task raised to support build requirements from the design
• Briefing papers where technical considerations/changes need to be conveyed, raised and agreed with senior management and business stakeholders. The format deconstructs technical details to promote higher level understanding suitable for non-technical staff.

Technical Solutions Architects contribute to the following Project Deliverables:

• Failover/continuity documentation (Project Deliverable). Aspects of this will be present in design documentation but greater detail will be required. This is a project deliverable with a contribution from the Technical Solutions Architect.
• Project Plan (Project Deliverable) - input into the steps required to build and deliver the documented design, including any cutover/BRC/go-live activities, plus any decommissioning.
• High level presentations/overview of the solution, tailored to the audience, such as the business or technical teams.