Solution Architect

Enables enterprise-wide responses to change (planned or unplanned) by providing a comprehensive, enterprise-wide view/ strategy for a subset of areas within architectural domains. Acts as a 'motivator for change', finding opportunities for transformation and innovation, targets to build maturity, while also identifying risks.

Role Responsibilities & Key Accountabilities:

- Supports cross-program, and cross-group Architecture strategies, opportunities, and problem resolution within a given domain, also setting enterprise direction within their domain
- Provides input and mentorship regarding the creation of guardrails within a given domain (standards, policies, patterns, best practice etc)
- Acts as a consultant and trusted advisor, establishing and maintaining an ecosystem of contacts within business units, regulatory bodies, even customers, to understand business activities and business drivers, as well as business vision and strategy
- Updates and maintains the key Architecture artifacts (reports, roadmap and other domain artefacts) in a timely manner to enhance inventories
- Conducts horizon scanning, looking for emerging technology within a given domain, as well as social, environmental and behavioural trends that would have a positive impact
- Audits compliance with domain guardrails (over and above day to day governance and assurance carried out by federated solutions architects) and resolves any issues
- Understands relevant vendor strategies, product roadmaps, and customer preferences
- May mentor and train more junior colleagues.

Qualifications & Experience:

- Professional qualification or equivalent, such as TOGAF
- Knowledge of architectural frameworks, techniques and practices used in enterprise and solution architecture
- Some customer and matrix management experience.

Key responsibilities
- Work with Business Stakeholders, Product Owner, other functional teams, Business Analysts to understand functional and non-functional requirements
- Assist other architects in crafting cloud solutions such as AWS and Azure
- Review and enrich solutions
- Build end-to-end solution & design covering all involved systems, data, integration, security and requirements
- Identify architecture exceptions during definitions of target and transitional architectures
- governance processes agreed with CT Architecture Team - alignment to defined principles, policies, technology, information and process standards
- Produce and maintain architecture documentation including Solution Architecture Document, Data Flow Diagram, Coordinated Architecture diagram etc
- Review solution individually with key reviewers e.g. Security, Privacy etc
- Present solution in various forums (like Design Integrity Forum, Architecture Committee, Architecture Review Board) and with different teams like Security, Privacy.
- Help project team to size & estimate project implementation and identify resources and abilities needed for delivery of solution
- Ensure the proposed solution aligns with the business outcome Ensures all solutions Corporate Technology and enterprise solution standards, align with overall roadmap, have good quality documentation, and
- all relevant governance steps

Leadership responsibilities

Individual Contributor

Critical Work Output:

- A fully articulated Solution Architecture Document that includes
- Details on end to solution from a conceptual, logical and physical level
- Security features and settings
- System Integration details
- DR/BCP details
- Risks and mitigations

N.B. The role holder will be Accountable for the delivery of this document but is encouraged to work with Domain Authorities to complete sections outside the role holder's expertise.
- Capturing approvals for the solution architecture through the LSEG Governance processes

Impact

This role sets the technology direction of the overall project and therefore can influence cost and timelines to the assigned projects.

Meaningful metrics
- Completion of Solution Architecture Document to agreed timelines
- Successful 'sign off' of the Solution as described in the Solution Architecture Document from the relevant collaborators and review boards within the agreed timelines of the plan

Technical/job functional knowledge
- Experienced in architecting, delivering and supporting software-based systems coordinated across a variety of IT infrastructures
- Knowledge of:

- Azure hosting capabilities and services
- AWS hosting capabilities and services
- Architecting for non-functional requirements, e.g. performance, network capacity, security
- Databases
- SaaS solutions
- Infrastructure concepts to support business continuity and operations e.g. performance, disaster recovery
- Familiarity with networking and security concepts
- Ideally, experience or knowledge of
- On-premise to Cloud migration projects Integration projects as a result of corporate acquisitions & mergers
- Onboarding SaaS solutions
- Appreciation of InfoSec practices as applied in a regu