Solution Architecture Practice Lead

at  Primark

Our Technology teams are right at the heart of what we do. Surrounded by some of the best Architects in the industry, you’ll bring your own ideas to the business - helping to shape the experience of our customers as part of a forward-thinking team.
As the Solution Architecture Practice Lead within Primark’s Architecture Team, you will be responsible for driving the practice of solution architecture across our organisation. Reporting to the Chief Architect, you will provide strategic direction, thought leadership, and mentorship to solution architects, enabling them to deliver high-quality and scalable technology solutions.
You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, ensuring alignment with business goals and driving innovation through effective solution design. Additionally, you will manage the resource allocation and development of solution architects, optimizing their performance and ensuring the successful delivery of architectural solutions.
If you are passionate about technology, possess excellent leadership and architectural skills, and have a strong background in solution architecture, you will be an ideal fit for this role.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

In your role, you’ll collaborate with different people across a range of skill sets. Here’s a flavour of your day-to-day:

• Lead the solution architecture practice and establish standards, frameworks, and guidelines aligned with Primark’s technology strategy.
• Provide strategic guidance and mentorship to solution architects and foster the reuse of components, patterns, and techniques within a composable architecture framework.
• Manage the resource and task allocation of solution architects and drive the development and maintenance of solution architecture artifacts.
• Conduct solution reviews and ensure compliance with architectural standards and best practices.
• Stay up to date with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in solution architecture and advocate for their adoption within Primark.
• Represent the solution architecture practice as part of the architecture leadership team and be the owner of any architectural and project risks and/or issues.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, business stakeholders, enterprise architects, vendors, partners, and security and information risk functions to define, align, communicate, and implement solution architecture.
• Build, manage, and mentor a high-performing team focused on delivering the technology strategy for Primark and fostering a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing among solution architects.
• Share an engaging and inspiring vision with the team and provide clarity and a sense of direction to enable working towards common goals and build talent and succession plans for the team.

Here at Primark, we want everyone to feel valued – so please bring your authentic self to work, of course with some other key experience and abilities for this role in particular:

• Proven experience as a senior solution architect or a similar role, with a strong track record of designing and delivering complex technology solutions.
• Solid understanding of solution architecture principles, frameworks, and best practices, with hands-on experience in solution design.
• Demonstrated experience in leading and developing a team of solution architects.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• In-depth knowledge of modern software architectures, including microservices, APIs, cloud computing, and data analytics.
• An affinity for the mission and vision of the Technology function and a passion to play a key role in shaping and achieving the success of the function.
• Creative and analytically minded, with a passion for turning data into storytelling and actionable insights.
• Creates trusted relationships and collaborates across multi-functional teams to successfully drive business objectives.
• Excellent attention to detail and an ability to analyse and interrogate high volumes of data as well as demonstrating an ability to focus on higher level overview.
• Proven ability in managing sensitive matters whilst ensuring all Primark information remains confidential to the business