Solutions Architect

Job content

We are delighted to be working with the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead on the recruitment of a new permanent Solutions Architect. This is a vital role, responsible for the design, build, testing, implementation, and on-going internal assurance of every element that makes up the IT infrastructure for the organisation, both in-house and in the cloud .

This includes the data centre, Servers, Firewalls, Routers, Switches, Firewalls, Proxy Servers, internal local networks, and the connections to external networks and Internet connections.

It also includes the design, understanding and approval of all third-party hardware (data centres, security services, cloud services) to provide the organisation with the necessary internal assurance against risk.

The role spans supporting the development of the IT strategy, translating business needs into IT solutions, through to operational running of systems, making sure the systems in use are understood and deliver business needs effectively, efficiently, and economically.

The role is responsible for the assurance that the risks of major failure or security compromise of all aspects of IT hardware used to deliver services are mitigated.

Service delivery accountabilities

Enterprise Architecture

Conduct research, investigations and communicate the emerging trends in the IT industry relating to architecture and strategy to ensure that our approaches and processes remain current and appropriate and judge their potential impact on the Council.

Innovate to apply new and emerging technologies to the requirements of the Council, initiating and leading defined research and development projects and initiatives and presenting conclusions to relevant stakeholders.

Provide support on significant strategic IT investments, such as major change programmes, strategic reviews, significant systems replacements and deployment of new technologies.

Work closely with development teams, third parties and technology suppliers to ensure architectures are applied and evolve to meet continued business requirements.

Provide Enterprise Architectural and security advice to the corporate leadership team as well as leading and or coordinating architectural, strategic or research activities for programme and project boards.

Capacity Management: Ensure that adequate IT capacity exists to meet required levels of service and that IT management is correctly advised on how to cost effectively match capacity and demand. Oversee and coordinate implementation and maintenance of the capacity management process and activities throughout the IT infrastructure. Analyse capacity and performance issues to determine ways to improve capacity and performance at acceptable cost levels

Systems Design & Implementation: Responsible for requests for customised operational solutions. Consults with services and colleagues to identify solution requirements. Coordinates solution build activities.

Release & Deploy Management: Implements one or more IT changes, upgrades, releases or installations. A key function is to ensure that proper testing occurs for all changes released into the production environments managed by the Council.

Evaluation: responsible for the evaluation of processes on a regular basis. This includes identifying areas where the targeted process metrics are not reached, and holding regular benchmarking, audits, maturity assessments and reviews.

As the Solutions Architect, you will bring the following essential skills:

A strong technical and service competence with extensive experience of leading an enterprise IT team.

Experience of modern architectural patterns and approaches.

Relevant Professional Qualifications, Including Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect.

Proven technical experience working at senior level in at least two disciplines such as, enterprise architecture, information architecture, application architecture, networking, infrastructure architecture.

Able to capture market and environmental trends, business strategies and objectives, and identifies the business benefits of alternative strategies.

Experience in conducting feasibility studies, producing high-level business models, and preparing business cases.

Experience of leading the creation and review of a systems capability strategy that meets the strategic requirements of the business.

Experience in enterprise-wide architecture and processes that ensure that the strategic application of change is Embedded in the management of the organisation, ensuring the buy-in of all stakeholders.

Experience in compliance between business strategies, enterprise transformation activities and technology directions, setting strategies, policies, standards, and practices.

This role offers hybrid working, with just one day a week in the Maidenhead office.