Principal Architect (12-month FTC)
- Location: Swindon / United Kingdom
- Salary: From £125,000 per annum
- Contract: Fixed Term Contract
- Reference: R00TR02640
- Closing Date: 11 October 2024
Description
(12-month Fixed-term Contract)
As the Principal Architect you will be a core part of the Leadership team for the CIO of Central Functions (CF). CF consists of three “value stream” areas 1. Finance (including Treasury) 2. Risk and Internal Audit 3. People (known externally as HR) and the technology that supports our Chief Operating Office. You will be accountable for the definition and delivery of the Architecture that supports our portfolio of work across all three value streams. You will provide thought leadership and architectural direction to our Architecture and Engineering teams.
You will drive the definition of technology roadmaps that support our business ambitions and align to our overarching technology strategy. You will lead the definition and assurance of end-to-end solution architectures for complex change, assuring both the quality and completeness of our solutions. This role will drive a culture of continuous improvement, with a focus on building architecture capability (including people) across all disciplines. This is a fantastic opportunity to join at team at a time of real change, where you will be at the heart of driving this agenda, and able to make a real impact.
At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.
For this job you'll be located at our nearest regional hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration events in one of our office sites. This is anticipated to be in Swindon or London. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.
If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.
What you’ll be doing
- Lead the definition, socialisation and implementation of Architecture and Engineering assets (technical strategy, implementation roadmaps, standards, patterns and guardrails) that are relevant to CF.
- Lead Architecture and Engineering governance across CF. Ensure that CF Architecture and Engineering remain inside the strategies, guardrails, and standards set by the Enterprise Architecture Board, Technical Design Authority, and Tooling Governance Board.
- Manage the technology metadata records associated with CF e.g. applications, software, hardware in use and ensure that these remain accurate and up to date.
- To lead and develop teams of engineers and architects to enable them to deliver their architecture outcomes and grow to meet their individual career aspirations.
- To construct and manage resource plans including a multi-year demand and supply view, with accompanying recruitment and retention plans.
- To agree and deploy suitable resources into the CIO team according to the resource plans and the forward delivery roadmap.
- To develop and build strategic relationships with external parties (software vendors, research companies, industry bodies, and strategic partners) to ensure the definition and delivery of architecture is future proofed and in line with industry best-practice.
- To influence and stakeholder manage up to ExCo level to ensure the architecture informs the strategic investment plan and the solutions delivered through transformation deliver to the strategic intent and minimise architecture debt.
- To ensure partners resources within their domain comply with Nationwide standards.
About you
- A solid engineering or architecture background, most likely based on degree level qualifications relevant to at least three of the following - Finance, Risk (Financial and Non-Financial), HR, and Procurement.
- Extensive experience leading large multi-disciplinary IT Teams.
- A practical understanding of the architecture and engineering requirements of a particular domains, and a proven ability to develop new architecture and engineering patterns to solve novel technology problems.
- Detailed understanding of Nationwide’s business objectives and strategies, its products and processes and its people strategies.
- Detailed knowledge of current and future technologies relevant to Nationwide’s system needs.
- Leadership and management skills appropriate for a large complex area.
- Expertise in Resourcing and Capacity management appropriate for a large complex area.
- Data, Process and Quality focussed.
- Strong influencing and relationship management skills.
Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.
- Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct with good intent and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
- Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
- Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.
We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.
The extras you’ll get
There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:
- A personal pension – if you put in 7% of your salary, we’ll top up by a further 16%
- Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
- Life assurance worth 8x your salary
- A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Wellhub – Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness.
- Access to an annual performance related bonus
- Access to training to help you develop and progress your career
- 30 days holiday, pro rata
- Individual healthcare cover
What makes us different
Nationwide is the world’s largest building society. With over 15 million customers, we have a relationship with almost a quarter of the UK’s population. We’ve got the scale to compete with the big banks, but we’re not a bank.
As a building society, we’re owned by our members – that’s our customers who have their current account, mortgage or savings with us. It means we can do things differently to deliver our Purpose – Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society.
When you work at Nationwide, you can experience that difference for yourself. You’ll be part of a high-performing, purpose-driven organisation that offers rewarding career experiences and a highly competitive range of benefits to match. You’ll also be joining us at an important time as we seek to reach more and more people in the UK. We want everyone in the UK to know that they don’t have to bank with a bank. They can choose a modern mutual instead.
What to do next
If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.
We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.
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