Supporting the business and our divisional offices, our Head Office functions cover all departments from our Executive Board through to our support functions such as Group Design and Technical, HR, Health and Safety, IT, Sales and Marketing, Commercial, Procurement, Group Finance, Corporate Affairs, as well as Legal and Company Secretariat. We also have a specialised function – Barratt Partnerships.
While the work varies from team to team, our key requirements don’t: you must be well organised, extremely helpful and resourceful, and able to use your initiative. You’ll understand that what you do is important, and impacts on your team, the department, and the wider business.
The Solution Architect has proven ability to understand business need, and is accountable for the design and delivery of high quality solutions in their domain. Equally able to work at both an enterprise and a detailed level, they will use their excellent communication skills to help design and deliver appropriate end-to-end solutions that could span across multiple lines of business.
With experience in the design, delivery and management of multiple technologies on large and/or potentially complex programmes and products. They will be seen as the technical expert on the projects and products they are accountable for, and as a natural problem solver they will have the ability to both roll up their sleeves and get other subject matter experts involved as required.
Reporting to the Lead Architect you will take ownership for the architecture in their domain by both contributing and aligning to the overall IT architecture strategy and ensuring that designs are taken through the Design Governance process and approved on time.
You will be expected to:
- Assess ideas, scope and feasibility of proposed new and enhanced business capabilities
- Support the Head of IT Architecture and Lead Architect to produce Architecture Roadmaps including advising on architectural aspects of sequencing, phasing, dependencies, constraints and deliverability of the roadmap
- Liaise with other Architects to gain their expertise, input and estimates where required
- Assist in the production and validation of estimates for Roadmaps and Projects, ensuring that all design components have been included and the costs represent best value for money. This includes validation of designs/estimates provided by third parties
- Provide advice on key design decisions arising from the requirements/epics/user stories that drive high cost/complexity versus business value, and propose adjustments and/or alternative solutions to deliver maximum value
- Support the Lead Architect through the creation and maintenance of Architecture Standards, Patterns, and Building Blocks to drive solution re-use, delivery pace, quality assurance and cost efficiency
- Define the Outline Solution Architecture, and ensuring all key design decisions are identified and prioritised
- Define High Level Designs ensuring they meet agreed business requirements/epics/user stories, align with Strategy and Architecture, whilst being cost effective, deliverable and supportable
- Ensure any divergence from Architecture Principles, Roadmaps & Standards are agreed with the Head of IT Architecture, and any ensuing technical debt is captured in the Technical Debt Register
- Be accountable for the technical delivery of your projects by taking ownership for the end-to-end design, ensuring that detailed design and development follow the High Level Design
- Review detailed designs and the solution at key points during the project to ensure that the integrity of the end-to-end integrated design has been maintained
- Recommend alternative approaches if specific difficulties are encountered during solution delivery, i.e. where a modification of the design is required or where an alternative approach is more efficient
- Advise on testing of non-functional, operational and technical requirements, review results and assist with analysing and resolving defects where required
- Assist the resolution of technical issues promptly to help keep the project on track
- Build strong relationships with peers in the business and IT
- Inspire team members to continually improve ways of working by setting high standards for solution design and ensuring compliance
- Build and maintain relationships with existing suppliers and potential future suppliers to build awareness of technology opportunities, supplier roadmaps and industry best practices
- Regularly investigate and keep abreast of industry trends in Construction and Technology, ensuring that your knowledge is kept relevant and up to date