Solution Architect

Salary: Up to £70,000 per annum dependent upon experience

Contract Type: Permanent – Full Time

Security Level: SC

Location: Gatwick – 2 Days per week office attendance required

Visa Restrictions: This position does not offer visa sponsorship

Closing Date: Sunday 2nd August 2026

Interview Date: W/C Monday 10th August 2026

We are the UK's aviation and aerospace regulator and recognised as a world leader in its field. Our activities are diverse, enabling the aviation industry to meet the highest safety standards, and we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the constantly evolving aviation environment.

As a Solutions Architect, you will translate business and technical requirements into solution designs that address complex problems and deliver measurable outcomes. You will act as the primary architecture partner for assigned business areas or service area, helping shape technology roadmaps and ensuring delivery aligns with CAA strategy, enterprise architecture principles and long-term operational outcomes.

• Develop and maintain solution architectures based on functional and non-functional requirements, ensuring designs address business outcomes and align with organisational strategies, principles and standards.
• Act as the architecture partner for assigned business areas or service area, building domain understanding and supporting technology roadmap development with Product Managers and business stakeholders.
• Design end-to-end architectures and assure designs produced by internal teams, suppliers or third parties, ensuring compliance with architecture, security, accessibility and service standards.
• Promote reuse of platforms, services, patterns and capabilities to reduce duplication, technical debt and delivery risk.
• Participate in architecture governance, including design reviews, decision records, standards development and architecture assurance processes.
• Contribute to agile product teams where required, providing technical leadership, defining work packages and guiding architecture decisions.
• Produce architecture artefacts, models and diagrams using approved EA tooling.
• Manage technical risks, document key decisions transparently and provide architectural input into procurement and supplier engagement.
• Maintain awareness of emerging technologies, architectural patterns and industry trends, assessing their relevance to CAA challenges and opportunities.
• Design application and integration architectures where required, including secure integration patterns, API strategies, cloud-native principles and modern development approaches.

• Broad architectural knowledge across multiple domains, with the judgement to draw on specialist expertise where required.
• Experience translating business and technical requirements into pragmatic, secure and supportable solution designs.
• Experience working across waterfall, agile, product-centric or service-oriented delivery environments.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to build trusted relationships, communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences, and influence without direct authority.
• Understanding of architecture principles, governance and assurance, and how to apply them proportionately in delivery.
• Experience with Microsoft technologies, including Azure, Entra , Dynamic CRM, Power Platform, web technologies and SQL Server.
• Knowledge of Dev Sec Ops  and CI/CD concepts.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills applied collaboratively and inclusively.
• Ability to obtain and maintain SC security clearance
• Experience supporting product operating models, value stream design or business transformation initiatives.
• Experience working within a regulated environment.
• Experience with business capability modelling, value stream mapping or enterprise architecture practices.
• TOGAF certification or practical experience.
• Experience using EA tools such as iServer or equivalent architecture repositories.
• Experience with Azure Dev Ops tools for source control, CI/CD and backlog management.
• Experience working to GDS framework and service standards.
• Experience with modern application development approaches, including .NET, Azure services, APIs and modern web frameworks.
• Experience with secure data integration, identity, certificate-based trust, cryptographic services or location-based technologies.

Demonstrates behaviours aligned with organisational values by being outcome-focused, ethical, collaborative, and adaptable. Takes ownership of decisions using evidence-based approaches, delivers value-centred solutions, and prioritises results that support strategic goals. Acts with integrity and self-awareness, continuously developing skills and capabilities. Builds strong relationships through clear, inclusive communication, knowledge sharing, and constructive feedback, while influencing and negotiating effectively. Embraces change with flexible thinking and drives continuous improvement through innovative approaches that enhance…