Managing Architect

at  Nationwide

As the Managing Architect, you will be a core part of the Leadership team for the Chief Technology Office (CTO). You will be accountable for leading a technical architecture domain (applications, infrastructure or data) on behalf of the CTO. You will actively champion the creation of technical architecture assets needed to ensure the effective delivery of strategic change. You will understand and manage the technical risks across your domain, bringing SME knowledge relevant to your specific area.
As a member of the Technical Design Authority (TDA), you will act as the gateway to the TDA, escalating items of broader enterprise significance or where clear direction is needed to enable effective delivery. You will bring strong, effective and constructive challenge to pragmatically close outstanding architectural questions and ensure delivery programmes impacting your domains are aware of the relevant CTO-owned controls.
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a team at a time of real change, where you will be at the heart of driving this agenda, and able to make a real impact.
At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.
For this job you’ll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you’ll spend 40% of your working time, based at either our or Swindon, London or Northampton office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.
If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

ABOUT YOU

We are looking for someone with outstanding leadership qualities and extensive experience in technical architecture. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of leading the definition and delivery of architecture dimensions of Solution Architectures at enterprise scale, along with significant business experience at a senior management level. You should be a conceptual and strategic thinker, able to work at an executive level to define strategy, influence, and lead change.

KEY QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS INCLUDE:

• Acknowledged SME in technologies relevant to a particular technology domain.
• E2E Architecture Delivery experience in complex change projects, including both package and bespoke software solutions.
• Professional qualification or appropriate length/depth of aligned work experience.
• Sound understanding of the project lifecycle with excellent analytical skills and creative thinking.
• Established leader with previous Senior Management experience in leading, coaching, and setting the pace of reporting teams.
  Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.

Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.

• Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct with good intent and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
• Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
• Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.

We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.

In addition to the above, in this role, you will be responsible for contributing to the development and execution of enterprise architecture roadmaps, managing technical risks, and collaborating with various stakeholders to ensure the successful delivery of strategic outcomes. You will also lead and develop teams, build strategic relationships, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. Additionally, you will solve complex problems of strategic nature, assess implications of tactical solutions, and work on long-term planning to support the society’s goals.

Key responsibilities include:

• Contribute to medium to long-term enterprise architecture roadmaps.
• Build a domain execution plan detailing material technical architecture concerns impacting change execution over 12-24 months.
• Oversee management of technical risks across the domain, including resilience, performance, capacity, technical debt, and obsolescence.
• Collaborate with other Managing Architects, Senior Engineers, Enterprise Architects, and CIO portfolio Architects to close cross-cutting technical architecture concerns.
• Influence and stakeholder manage up to ExCo level to ensure the Technical Architecture informs the strategic investment plan and solutions delivered through transformation.
• Lead and develop teams of Senior Architects and Architects to deliver architecture outcomes and to meet individual career aspirations.
• Lead the ongoing evolution of the architecture capability to continuously improve to meet the ongoing needs of the Society.
• Develop strategic relationships with external parties to ensure the definition and delivery of architecture is future-proofed and in line with industry best practice.
• Create a capability and culture supporting and complementing the innovation agenda.
• Solve complex problems of strategic nature with significant impact on the success of Nationwide.
• Assess implications of tactical solutions and articulate the impact and organisational risks and architecture debt resulting from deviation from the strategic direction.
• Process content-rich problems and represent architecture solutions with options easily consumed by a wide audience via an executive summary.
• Work on a 2-5 year horizon with decisions impacting the next 10+ years.
• Lead the definition and/or oversee the implementation of strategic technology architectures underpinning the society plan and delivery of critical strategic outcomes.
• Align timing to programme inception and delivery, reducing technical debt and laying strategic foundations for the corporate plan and digital society.