Lead Solution Architect

The Lead Solution Architect oversees a team of permanent and contractor Solution Architects, and provides dotted‑line leadership to Digital Product Solution Architects to manage the Solution Architecture practice  role is responsible for ensuring consistent, high‑quality architectural delivery across all portfolio and product work streams. The postholder is responsible for resource and demand planning for their reports - balancing workload, forecasting capacity needs, and ensuring the right architectural skills are aligned to organisational priorities.

You will define, implement, and continuously refine the practice’s ways of working, establishing clear methodologies, standards, and processes. In addition, you will ensure robust technical governance and architectural assurance are consistently applied so that all solutions align with agreed technology standards, principles, and strategic direction. You will be able to perform the role of Solution Architect if needed and provide hands‑on guidance to mentor, coach and develop the team.

You are responsible for managing and developing the solution architects, supporting career growth, building their capability and performance management. Over time you will build succession and reduce single points of failure, and you will have the ability to lead, coach, and shape a high‑performing architecture community across both line managed and dotted‑line relationships.

Reporting to the Director of Architecture Services and embedded in a team of Enterprise and Solution Architects you will lead the Solution Architecture practice.

• Lead and develop the Solution Architecture (SA) team and wider ways of working/ SA practice (dotted line to Digital Product SA)
• Own solution architecture demand intake, prioritisation, capacity and resource planning and budgeting
• Ensure architectural governance, assurance, and compliance to standards/principles
• Define and improve practice ways of working, templates, and engagement model
• Triage demand, identify the need for solution architecture and provide early shaping/steer in line with demand and Enterprise Architecture guidance
• Potentially lead solution design for complex/high‑risk initiatives and assure wider delivery
• Influence stakeholders, drive alignment, document and evidence key technology decisions
• Build reusable architecture assets and continuously raise solution architecture maturity within the Press
• Manage contractor architects and ensure quality, value and knowledge transfer
• Own design artefacts such as the High Level Design (HLD), Non‑functional requirements (NFR’s) and design patterns, ensuring documentation is both useful and guides development and delivery.

We operate a hybrid working policy that requires a minimum of 2 days per week in the Oxford office.

To be successful in this role, you will ideally have/be:

• Proven leadership of solution architects or senior technology resource
• Proven experience in solution architecture within complex, multi‑team technology environments.
• Strong understanding of architecture frameworks, documentation, patterns and methods, applied pragmatically.
• Broad technical knowledge across cloud technologies, integration, data, security, and applications.
• Ability to produce and assure end‑to‑end solution designs including complex programmes
• Experience with architectural governance, including operating or contributing to Architecture Review Boards (ARB).
• Knowledge of technology standards and reference architectures and patterns, and how to use and enforce them effectively.
• Strong capability in project/programme delivery environments, including stage gates and risk management.
• Experience defining and embedding architecture ways of working, templates, engagement models, reusable architecture assets, patterns and reference designs
• Skilled in managing architecture demand and resource allocation, including capacity planning.
• Balanced strategic and pragmatic mindset, able to consider both long‑term direction and immediate delivery needs.
• Experience facilitating design clinics, communities of practice or technical forums.
• Excellent stakeholder communication and…