Solution Architect

Description:

In Team Digital, we’re planning for a future where the technology solutions we co-create and design enable us to achieve our goal of protecting our greatest natural resource and allowing our customers, communities and the environment to thrive.
As a team, our vision is to create an everyday digital experience for the people we serve - our customers - by putting them at the heart of everything we do. As part of our award-winning team, you’ll help the business become an intelligent, connected organisation to deliver our digital transformation and turnaround.

What you’ll be doing as a Solution Architect
The solutions architect provides the necessary leadership, analysis and design tasks related to supporting the development of technology solutions to ensure that solutions meet business needs and align with architectural governance and standards. They create deliverables for managing the organisation's portfolio of "to be" and "as is" solutions — including systems (applications, processes, information, and technology), digital services, and shared application services and components to enable and drive targeted business outcomes.

As well as designing solutions, you’ll also play your part in driving forward the adoption and maintenance of our enterprise repository which holds all our IT design and reference information.

Interpret business needs.

Understand the problem space: delivery of solution architectures and designs through their full lifecycle
Maintaining alignment with IT/industry standards and company strategy
Understand the business drivers and business capabilities (future and current state) and determine solution designs to drive the targeted business outcomesAssess and apply solution designs across systems

Creates architectural designs to guide and contextualise solution development across products, services, projects, and systems, including applications, technologies, processes, and information
Provide solution architecture deliverables including current and target state architecture, standard definitions, reference models, architecture designs and patterns
Facilitate the evaluation and selection of solution options, software product standards and services, as well as the design of standard and custom software configurationsProvide solution guidance.

Being recognised as a trusted adviser to business stakeholders and being able to quickly “map” the business needs to application functionality/features
Supports product managers in product decisions to maintain, refresh or retire services, or systems, including applications, technologies, processes, and informationMaintaining and improving our architecture repository

Use your experience on projects to suggest, and in some cases implement, changes to our modelling environment to better support the needs of our various stakeholders; this may require an amount of software engineeringBase Location: Clearwater Court - Hybrid
Working Pattern: 36 hours per week / Full Time

What you should bring to the role
We want to bring together a team of brilliant tech minds with game-changing ideas. We’re looking for people who will help us re-imagine the way we work and the way we get things done:
A truly digital mindset
Open to collaboration
Open to risk
Open to new ways of doing things
Obsessed with data
Obsessed with excellence
People who think and behave differently to the way we do. People who don’t want to just be another cog in the machineEssential Experience & Qualifications

Strong experience leading IT solutions development in at least two IT solution development disciplines, including technical, application development, middleware, database management or cloud development
Designing end-to-end solutions across systems which are scalable, extendable, and adaptable to change using waterfall and agile delivery methods
Being able to consult on a broad range of technologies, platforms, and vendor offerings to drive targeted business outcomes
Practical experience using an architecture framework such as TOGAF or ArchiMate.
Educated to degree level or equivalent in a STEM subjectDesirable Experience & Technical Skills & Qualifications

Experience using an architecture modelling tool such as Bizz design, Sparx, Lean IX, CACI MooD, Orbus
Experience with programming in a high-level language
Some exposure to process modelling, for example in BPMN
Certification in an architecture framework (e.g. TOGAF or ArchiMate)What’s in it for you?

Competitive salary up to £90,000 per annum
Annual Leave
26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (Plus bank holidays) 
Car Allowance
Annual Bonus
Private Medical Health Care
Contributory pension – Defined Contribution - Maximum of 12% -2x employee contribution
Personal Medical Assessments – Open to all once a year
Wider benefits scheme including our benefits hub, which is packed full of offers and information to save you money and support your wellbeing.Who are we?
At Thames Water, our purpose is crystal clear - to deliver life’s essential service so our customers, communities and planet can thrive.

Water is life’s great leveller. Every living thing needs it, every single day. From people to plants, birds to bees, farms to factories, we all need it to thrive, and we’re committed to taking care of it for us all.

But keeping water flowing is becoming harder. From scorching summers to wetter winters, extreme weather affects everything from our pipes to our local rivers. We need to keep millions more kettles boiling, public services operating, washing machines spinning, showers running and more, so every drop is more precious than ever. Are you ready to play your part?

Working at Thames Water
At Thames Water, we recognise that people are at the heart of our business. To help us succeed in providing life's essential service, we need a range of skills and capabilities, representative of society throughout our business.

We seek to attract and retain a cultural mix of people who can offer different but complementary attitudes, values, talents, and knowledge. We understand the importance of appreciating and harnessing the unique skills, experiences, backgrounds, and differences that each individual brings.

Our over-arching diversity and inclusion aim is to ensure Thames Water is a diverse and inclusive great place to work. We encourage applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process.

Find out more about working at Thames Water.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business, meet colleagues and earn some extra money along the way.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment