Head of Architecture
Skills
C#AdoptionCalibrationCommandISO 27001ISO StandardsPayment Card Industry Data Security Standard
What the job involves
The main requirements, responsibilities and hiring steps.
Requirements
- Senior architect or principal engineer background on a complex multi-year platform
- Strong C# and .NET experience including framework and modern versions
- Deep Azure cloud experience
- SQL Server at scale
- RabbitMQ experience
- Redis experience
- CI/CD experience
- Ability to understand large codebases quickly by reading code
- Proven legacy decomposition experience using strangler patterns service boundaries and migration sequencing
- Experience operating in regulated environments such as PCI DSS ISO 27001 or Cyber Essentials
- Proven ability to influence without authority across multiple teams
- Experience running a forum guild or chapter model with measurable outcomes
- Strong written and verbal communication skills across technical and commercial audiences
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and developing their judgement
- Ability to define engineering standards integration patterns and cross-service contracts
Nice to have
- Regulated domain exposure
- Payments-adjacent experience
- Strong stakeholder presence
- Architectural pragmatism
- Security-minded
- Collaborative influence
- Mentoring focus
Day to day
- Lead the architecture function for a mission-critical transactional platform and define a clear long-term target state for the estate.
- Decompose complex legacy systems using practical patterns such as strangler fig approaches service boundary design and sequenced data migration.
- Shape engineering standards governance and cross-team decisions through influence not authority while guiding senior engineers and technical leads.