Product Architect

at  Financial Conduct Authority

Product Architect
Salary: National ranging from £57,600 to £88,500 and London from £63,300 to £97,300
Are you interested in joining a team at the forefront of operations, managing products and services that provide content, communication and collaboration tools to the wider FCA team?
The team/department
End User Computing is a pivotal team that provides change and run for a broad range of application and infrastructure serves. We work in small cross-functional, self-organising and autonomous teams. We are a team that is passionate about delivering value, whilst having fun.
Our Content, Communication and Collaboration team within EUC provides product ownership, analysis, and service management for a range of tools including SharePoint, MS Teams and Exchange/Outlook. We engage regularly with frontline business areas, as well as our DevOps teams and suppliers, adding variety into every day. We’re now looking for an experienced Product Architect to join us!
What you will be doing (the role)

The Product Architect will be responsible for the design and architecture of our Collaboration and Communication services, including email (Exchange Online), Unified Communications (Microsoft Teams), Document and Records Management (SharePoint Online). You will work with high profile programmes of work to introduce new services and have oversight of the product roadmap and debt for the platforms and systems.

• Provide technical leadership and oversight for EUC services
• Ensure architecture changes adhere to the FCA’s strategic direction and are taken through the relevant governance, including the appropriate level of security approval
• Work effectively with the FCA’s partners and suppliers in ensuring a quality service
• Contribute to the product group’s roadmap for its services, proactively identifying and driving through new changes and services to deliver business benefit
• Work closely with SharePoint DevOps team to deliver high quality, value for money, compliant solutions using Agile methods
• Attend wider architectural forums participating in discussions, reviewing decision papers, and generally contributing to the thriving architectural community

If you are an architect with excellent knowledge of Microsoft end user collaboration technologies and cloud services, we would be interested in hearing from you.

What you will get from the role

• Interesting and fast paced work with access to the latest tools, technologies, and training
• A friendly, inclusive environment and a supportive management team to help you be at your best
• A unique insight into regulated industries and the opportunity to protect millions of people
• We like to work smart, not long hours
• We don’t do micro-managing; we hire people because we believe they are brilliant in getting the job done

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash.

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are:

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Private healthcare with Bupa
• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)
• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary
• Income protection

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations.
The skills and experience you will have
Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Experience in architecting complex solutions, across a range of products and services with a particular focus on Microsoft collaboration technologies (Microsoft 365 and Azure)
• Experience of software development methodologies, architectural and design patterns
• SharePoint/M365 architecture experience

Essential

• Strategic and pragmatic thinker, focused on outcomes and the bigger picture with the confidence to engage constructively to challenge established approaches
• Commercially aware, the ability to understand supplier proposals and promote cost effective solutions
• Effective influencing and negotiating at all levels of management, including director level, communicating explicit and implicit trade-offs that impact the enterprise
• Credible technical leader, able to adapt style to build strong relationships with developers and senior leaders alike, collaborating across the organisation and use various techniques to facilitate innovation
• Experience of end-to-end life cycle management of IT services including, Service Design, Service Transition, and IT Service continuity
• Experience of SharePoint DevOps, working closely with cross-functional DevOps teams
• You’re proactive and comfortable using your initiative to deliver work and build relationships
• You can manage and prioritise your work and time well but know what to reach out to seek support from your peers

About the FCA
The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found
here.
The FCA’s Values & Diversity
Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.
The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our Lead Associate role.
Flexible working
We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking.
Multi-location
As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices. This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from.
Useful information
Applications for this role close at 23:59 on 24th October 2024
This role is graded as Lead Associate - Regulatory
Got a question?
If you are interested in learning more about the role please contact:
For internal applicants, please contact Michael Wood,
michael.wood@fca.org.uk
For external applicants, please contact Asha Gladis,
asha.gladis@fca.org.uk
What to expect from our interview process
The assessment process consists of an initial screening call with one our Recruitment Partners. If successful, you will be invited to attend a competency-based interview.
Application support
We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.
If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible.
Security Clearance/Vetting
The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting.
Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal, applications sent via email will not be accepted

The Product Architect will be responsible for the design and architecture of our Collaboration and Communication services, including email (Exchange Online), Unified Communications (Microsoft Teams), Document and Records Management (SharePoint Online). You will work with high profile programmes of work to introduce new services and have oversight of the product roadmap and debt for the platforms and systems.

• Provide technical leadership and oversight for EUC services
• Ensure architecture changes adhere to the FCA’s strategic direction and are taken through the relevant governance, including the appropriate level of security approval
• Work effectively with the FCA’s partners and suppliers in ensuring a quality service
• Contribute to the product group’s roadmap for its services, proactively identifying and driving through new changes and services to deliver business benefit
• Work closely with SharePoint DevOps team to deliver high quality, value for money, compliant solutions using Agile methods
• Attend wider architectural forums participating in discussions, reviewing decision papers, and generally contributing to the thriving architectural communit

What you will get from the role

• Interesting and fast paced work with access to the latest tools, technologies, and training
• A friendly, inclusive environment and a supportive management team to help you be at your best
• A unique insight into regulated industries and the opportunity to protect millions of people
• We like to work smart, not long hours
• We don’t do micro-managing; we hire people because we believe they are brilliant in getting the job don

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, should they meet the minimum criteria for a role.

• Experience in architecting complex solutions, across a range of products and services with a particular focus on Microsoft collaboration technologies (Microsoft 365 and Azure)
• Experience of software development methodologies, architectural and design patterns
• SharePoint/M365 architecture experienc