Lead Technical Architect

About

The Role Hippo is a rapidly growing digital consultancy passionate about building and delivering transformative digital solutions for a diverse range of Public and Private sector clients. We are recruiting for a Lead Technical Architect to join our Hippo Herd. We work at the intersection of strategy, design, and technology to solve complex problems and create lasting value. Our collaborative and agile culture empowers our teams to make a genuine impact.

As a Lead Technical Architect, you will be a leader and trusted advisor, responsible for shaping the architectural vision and technical strategy for both our clients and our internal practice. You will play an important role in making Hippo the best Consultancy out there, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team to deliver bespoke digital services that make a positive impact on society.

You will act as a Lead Consultant providing technical expertise in software engineering and architecture practices both internally and to our clients. Lead Technical Architects at Hippo are experts in their field, leaders of people and teams, who define architectural standards and influence C-suite level stakeholders.

Our solutions empower our customers to build and support secure, scalable, and well-engineered systems beyond traditional boundaries. We leverage deep data insights and continuous innovation to deliver awesome platforms that allow our customers to understand and get the most from their data and digital services. The Lead Technical Architect will be a key player and implementer in this mission.

Your Role in a Nutshell Help define and evangelise the architectural vision, standards, and best practices across the entire Hippo Digital delivery practice.

Serve as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders, including C-level executives, to guide their long-term technical strategy. Lead complex and strategic technical engagements, providing architectural oversight and quality assurance. Mentor and coach our team of technical architects and senior engineers, helping them grow their skills and impact. Drive pre-sales and business development activities, leading the technical response to bids and shaping new opportunities.

Contribute to Hippo Digital's thought leadership through public speaking, writing, and community engagement. Act as a technical authority, making and communicating key architectural decisions that impact multiple projects or clients. Skills and experience that you need Essential Experience Extensive, senior-level experience as a Technical Architect, with a proven track record of leading large-scale digital transformations.

Demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing complex architectures across major Public Cloud platforms, including multi-cloud strategies. Deep, strategic understanding of Cloud-native technology stacks, with hands-on experience in Kubernetes and advanced CI/CD tooling. Exceptional skills in Infrastructure-as-Code, with extensive experience using Terraform for complex deployments. Proven ability to influence and communicate effectively with C-suite and executive-level stakeholders. Expert-level knowledge of Security, Networking, and governance principles in a cloud context.

Experience in a consultancy environment, including contributing to pre-sales, proposals, and business growth. Mastery of working in an Agile environment and leading teams to success.

Desirable Experience Evidence of leading architecture-led digital transformations within the Public Sector.

What makes us great

Alongside working with some of the most talented people out there and on-top of a competitive salary, which we’re transparent about from the outset, you can also expect a range of benefits:

Contributory Pension Scheme (Hippo 6% & Employee 2%)25 Days Holiday plus UK Public Holidays Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts

Critical illness cover

Life assurance and death in service cover

Volunteer days Cycle-to-work scheme for the avid cyclists

Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme

Season ticket loans

Financial and general wellbeing sessions

Flexible benefits scheme with options of:

Private health cover

Private dental cover

Additional company pension contributions

Additional holidays (up to an extra 2 days)
Wellbeing contribution

Charity contributions

Tree planting

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hippo At Hippo, we’re dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace that works for everyone. We understand that having a diverse team unlocks our capacity for innovation, creativity and problem solving. Only by building a community of diverse perspectives, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds can we create an environment where all can contribute and thrive.

We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and people with disabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process that reflects our workplace culture. We are a…