Head of Architecture

Head of Architecture

Department: Engineering

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Manchester, UK

Reporting To: Daniel Wardin

Interact provides enterprise-grade intranet software that connects over three million employees to leading global names like Levi's, Domino’s, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Technicolor.

Our team of customer-focused problem solvers are passionate about helping organizations to communicate better. We do this together by constantly working to improve every service and product we offer. With offices in Manchester, New York, Dubai, Tulsa, and Warsaw, we operate across North America, EMEA, and Australia.

Click on any of our vacancies and you’ll see one thing in common – they all begin with this message. Why? Because at Interact we treat everyone with the same respect and honesty. Whether you’re a developer fresh out of college or a seasoned salesperson, we live the motto that we uphold for our customers: our people are our most valuable assets.

We are excited to announce we are looking for a Head of Architecture at Interact Software. The Head of Architecture will lead the architectural vision, strategy, and execution, ensuring alignment between technical initiatives and business goals. In this role you will drive the evolution of our technical architecture, foster innovation while overseeing the design, development, and optimization of scalable, high-performance solutions across a platform used by millions of users globally.

You will be responsible for shaping the future direction of our systems, ensuring that both current and future needs are met through forward-thinking strategies, engineering excellence, and modern architectural practices. In this leadership role, you will lead and develop a team of Principal Software Engineers and Technical Architects, setting clear expectations, driving high performance, and fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement.

You will also oversee AI integration across the organisation—both within the core product and across the wider ecosystem—ensuring these capabilities are delivered securely, responsibly, and at scale.

You will communicate effectively between technical and non-technical stakeholders, drive governance, ensure architectural excellence, and guide teams toward successful and sustainable implementations. You will work closely with senior leadership to align architecture with business objectives and to deliver complex, high-impact features across the platform.

• Deep expertise in .NET and modern technical architecture, with the ability to operate hands‑on where needed. Proven experience leading teams of Principal Engineers and Architects in complex environments.
• Strong understanding of AI integration patterns (e.g. RAG, embeddings, vector databases), cloud‑native architectures, and scalable distributed systems. Experience overseeing AI‑enabled product capabilities at scale.
• Proven ability to drive high standards in system design, delivery practices, and operational performance across large‑scale platforms.
• Ability to define and execute long‑term architectural strategies while balancing short‑term delivery needs.
• Confident in making high‑stakes, complex decisions and leading teams through ambiguity and change
• Strong understanding of governance frameworks, risk mitigation, and architectural assurance in enterprise environments.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex technical concepts for non‑technical audiences and influence at executive level.
• Demonstrated track record of adopting emerging technologies and driving impactful innovation.
• Proven experience building, mentoring, and leading high‑performing engineering and architecture teams.
• Deep knowledge of modern software architecture patterns, including microservices, event‑driven systems, and cloud‑native design.
• Strong understanding of AI/ML concepts and integration approaches, including LLMs, RAG architectures, vector databases, and responsible AI practices.
• Expertise in scalable platform design, performance optimisation, and distributed systems used by high‑volume, global user bases.
• Solid understanding of security, compliance, data…