Senior Solution Architect

JOB TITLE: Solutions Architect

SALARY: £90,440 - £106,400

LOCATION(S): Manchester

HOURS: Full-time – 35 hours per week

WORKING PATTERN: Our work style is hybrid, which means spending at least two days per week or 40% of your time in our Manchester office (this is non-negotiable).

About this opportunity…

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Solutions Architect to design, develop and enhance the bank's telephony channel. In this role, you'll be essential in creating and delivering the development ecosystem through DevOps standard methodologies, empowering teams to introduce changes gradually and consistently to customers. You will work in cross-functional environments, collaborating closely with software, quality, and security engineers.

Ensuring our products meet the quality and standards our customers expect. We seek a skilled professional with a consistent track record in large-scale implementations and deep technical proficiency to lead our future telephony strategy, including the use of emerging technologies and closer integration with digital channels. You will provide scalable, modern solutions including incorporating new technologies. The Group comprises multiple Customer Relationship Channels, with Telephony being a key component of our strategy. You will play a critical role in aligning with the overall strategic direction including close integration with other channels such as Digital.

We need someone who can dive deep into existing solutions, bring new ideas, and drive continuous improvement as we transition to cloud-native technologies. You'll challenge the status quo and push boundaries by working closely with the DevOps COE and the wider engineering community. Join us as an innovator as we enter the next phase of our transformation journey. We're looking for passionate and curious technology specialists with innovative minds who can leverage our new architecture and support the evolution to a full micro-service application, driving change, improving operational efficiency, and delivering at pace.

About us…

We’re on an exciting journey to transform our Group and the way we’re shaping finance for good. We’re focusing on the future, investing in our technologies, workplaces, and colleagues to make our Group a great place for everyone. Including you!

What you’ll need…

• Technical Proficiency - Deep expertise in cloud platforms, enterprise software, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies such as AI.

• Systems Thinking & Architecture - Ability to model complex systems, apply design and implementation patterns, and build scalable, secure, and resilient architectures.

• Analytical & Problem-Solving - Strong analytical skills to assess business needs, identify gaps, and deliver innovative, data-driven solutions.

• Secure & Compliant by Design - Embeds security and compliance principles into architecture and development, ensuring alignment with regulatory and risk frameworks.

• DevOps & Quality Engineering - Practical experience with DevOps or Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), including automation, CI/CD, and quality assurance practices.

• Leadership & Mentorship - Leads cross-functional teams, drives delivery, coaches others, and fosters a culture of continuous improvement and development.

• Business Acumen in Financial Services - Understands financial services operations and aligns technology strategies with business goals and customer needs.

• Innovation & Strategic Foresight - Anticipates future trends, drives change initiatives, and shapes technology roadmaps to deliver long-term value.

It would be great if you had any of the following…

• Infrastructure as Code & Cloud Engineering - Hands-on experience with tools like Terraform, Chef, Puppet, and Ansible, combined with exposure to cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS, Azure, or ICP/OCP.

• CI/CD & Deployment Automation - Skilled in building and managing CI/CD pipelines, with experience in day-to-day deployment and release activities to ensure smooth, incremental delivery to production.

• Containerisation & Platform Engineering - Proficient with container technologies (e.g. Docker), orchestration tools (e.g. Kubernetes), and service mesh frameworks (e.g. Istio), with a strong interest in diverse programming languages and modern engineering practices.

About working for us…

Our focus is to ensure we're inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms. We’re committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace and believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation and creativity. We’re actively seeking to build a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and thinking approaches and would like to encourage applications from under-represented groups from candidates of all ethnicities, cultures and identities, and from candidates that identify as neurodiverse. As a disability-confident employer, we are committed to support you in showcasing your best self; so, if you’d like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know!

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes…

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%

• An annual bonus award, subject to Group performance

• Share schemes including free shares

• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping

• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top

• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

Ready for a career where you can have a positive impact as you learn, grow and thrive? Apply today and find out more!