Lead Solution Architect, Director

Job Description Join our digital revolution in NatWest Digital X In everything we do, we work to one aim. To make digital experiences which are effortless and secure. So we organise ourselves around three principles: engineer, protect, and operate. We engineer simple solutions, we protect our customers, and we operate smarter. Our people work differently depending on their jobs and needs. From hybrid working to flexible hours, we have plenty of options that help our people to thrive. This role is based in India and as such all normal working days must be carried out in India. Job Description Join us as a Lead Solution Architect - We'll look to you to lead the solution architecture definition for your assigned change programme, in addition to delivering business outcomes for both customers and colleagues - You'll be driving technology innovation by identifying and evaluating emerging technologies and their potential impact on the bank - If you're ready for a new challenge and want to make a far-reaching impact through your work, this could be the opportunity you're looking for - We are offering this role at director level What you'll do As a Lead Solution Architect, you'll be architecting customer centric, high performance, secure and robust end to end digital products, solutions, and services that deliver business value while aligning to the bank's strategic target architecture. You'll be actively contributing to the growth of architecting capability and the community across the bank by sharing knowledge including best practices, proven solutions and key learnings, contributing to the community of practice, and building capability in others through coaching, mentoring and teaching. As well as this, you'll be: - Supporting the realisation of the Enterprise and Solution Architecture, working as part of development teams throughout the engineering development lifecycle - Providing technical guidance, resolving architectural impediments, and championing the adoption of architecture patterns and practices - Proactively influencing stakeholders to embed the reuse of digital capabilities, contributing to simplification and the realisation of the bank's strategic target architecture - Partnering and engaging with programme stakeholders and following the bank's data driven architecture method and framework to define and evolve the minimum viable solution architectures that deliver the programme objectives and business value - Promoting a DevOps mindset by working as part of development teams to embed architecture guidance in CI/CD pipelines - Undertaking design reviews of delivery programmes of high architectural significance or high architectural risk The skills you'll need To take on this role, you'll need expert knowledge of solution architecture frameworks, modern technologies such as Cloud, microservices and AI, agile architecture and DevOps practices, including a deep understanding of business use cases and emerging trends that drive organisational success. You'll bring extensive experience of defining and developing strategic solution architectures that align with organisational objectives. This will include experience of engaging with partners across the organisation to define architectures that deliver tangible business outcomes. You'll also demonstrate: - Proven experience in building platform capabilities, AI-Driven solutions - Experience of working in cloud-native environments - Experience of crafting compelling business cases and influencing senior stakeholders to secure investment for architecture initiatives - Exposure to large scale distributed systems is desirable - Extensive experience of overseeing and assuring the quality of architecture designs, with a focus on risk management and governance - Experience of conducting comprehensive architecture and design reviews to validate that solutions meet business needs and comply with architecture standards - Extensive people capability development experience, including mentoring, supporting professional development, encouraging knowledge sharing across architecture teams and promoting best practices