CYS - GCAP Joint Venture Headquarters - Solution Architect (On-Premises)

Job Description :

Leonardo is a global industrial group, among the main global players in Aerospace, Defence and Security that realises multi-domain technological capabilities in Helicopters, Aircraft, Aerostructures, Electronics, Cyber Security and Space. With over 60,000 employees worldwide, the company has a solid industrial presence in Italy, the UK, Poland and the US. It also operates in 150 countries through subsidiaries, joint ventures and investments. A key player in major international strategic programmes, it is a technological and industrial partner of governments, defence administrations, institutions and companies.

Within the GCAP Joint Venture, in the GCAP Technical Leadership UO, we are looking for a Solution Architect (On-Premises) for GCAP HQ in Reading (UK).

The Solution Architect (On-Premises) is responsible for defining secure, scalable, and efficient On-Premises solutions that support the foundation services of the Secure Digital Platform.

Operating under the Product Owner (On-Premises) and in close collaboration with delivery, architecture, and security teams, this role ensures that On-Premises solutions meet both current operational demands and future strategic needs.

The Solution Architect will define On-Premises architecture patterns, evaluate new On-Premises services, and guide implementations that are robust, cost-effective, and aligned with enterprise standards and compliance requirements.

Key Capability Accountabilities and Objectives

• Design and evolve the target architecture for On-Premises hosting, ensuring alignment with enterprise-wide On-Premises hosting strategies and architectural principles.
• Translate business and technical requirements into secure, scalable, and reusable On-Premises hosting solutions (e.g., physical servers, storage systems, and networking equipment).
• Define and maintain architecture patterns, blueprints, and reference implementations to enable consistent and efficient deployment of On-Premises hosting.
• Provide hands‑on architectural guidance to engineering and operations teams during design, build, and deployment phases.
• Act as a key liaison between Product Owners, Technical Leads, Cybersecurity, and Enterprise Architects to ensure hosting solutions address functional and non‑functional requirements.
• Ensure all On‑Premises solutions comply with internal policies, regulatory standards, and cybersecurity frameworks (e.g., NIST, ISO 27001).
• Contribute to the On‑Premises Product roadmap by identifying technical enablers, dependencies, and risks.
• Lead evaluations and selection of On‑Premises technologies and third‑party services that enhance the On‑Premises capabilities.
• Participate in incident response and problem resolution related to architecture‑level hosting issues, ensuring root causes are addressed in future designs.
• Engage with infrastructure, security, and platform teams to drive infrastructure‑as‑code adoption, automation, and resilience.

Objectives

• Deliver secure, reusable, and scalable On‑Premises solutions that form the foundation for digital services across the enterprise.
• Ensure On‑Premises solutions align with enterprise architecture standards, business needs, and the broader Secure Digital Platform strategy.
• Reduce technical debt and operational overhead by promoting standardisation, automation, and architectural consistency across On‑Premises infrastructure

Seniority : Senior (5-10 anni).

Essential Skills, Experience and Qualifications :

• 5+ years of experience in solution architecture with a strong focus on On‑Premises solutions
• Demonstrated success in designing, implementing, and evolving On‑Premises environments for enterprise‑scale organisations
• Strong knowledge of On‑Premises services, networking, identity, and access management (IAM), and cost optimisation strategies
• Strong knowledge of monitoring tools (e.g., Nagios, Zabbix, SolarWinds)
• Understanding of secure‑by‑design and compliance‑by‑design principles in On‑Premises environments
• Experience integrating On‑Premises solutions with enterprise systems and platforms
• Ability to influence stakeholders and effectively communicate architectural decisions and trade‑offs to technical and non‑technical audiences
• Experience working in Agile and DevSecOps delivery environments
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• High ethical standards when handling confidential information

Desiderable Skills, Experience and Qualifications :

• Networking Certifications (Cisco Certified Network Associate, Professional, or CompTIA Network+.)
• ITIL Foundation or relevant service management certification
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) or similar
• TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) and related certifications
• Experience working within highly regulated industries (e.g., Aerospace & Defence, Financial Services)
• Ability to mentor developers and engineers on On‑Premises architecture best practices
• Proficiency in managing and optimizing relational databases (e.g., Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL) and NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB)

Language Skills : English C1.

Citizenship : Italian.