Head of Architecture and Innovation

Key purpose

Reach’s new customer value strategy puts our customers and their experience at the heart of everything we do. 

We are looking for a Head of Architecture and Innovation to join our Engineering team.

This is a technical role for an experienced technology innovator and architect who is comfortable working with cloud based systems, platform engineering solutions and all classes of application stacks.   

The Head of Architecture and Innovation will be responsible for evaluating business needs and collaborating with and empowering teams to refine, define and deliver upon a roadmap  ensuring that we select the best solution leveraging software, hardware or infrastructure.

Our frontend stacks are either in vanilla JavaScript or React. Our supporting services are built with the appropriate tool as decided by the team. As some examples, we have services in Node.js running on AWS technologies such as AWS Lambda, DynamoDB and ECS. We are strong believers in Site Reliability Engineering principles and infrastructure as code, and we are continuously trying to improve in that direction.

Structure and reporting relationship

• Reports to the Director of Engineering

• Work with senior business and technical stakeholders. 

• Line management of our Solution and Infrastructure architect teams.

Job Dimensions

• A highly skilled technical leader capable of driving transformational change.

• Architectural responsibility and for all of the infrastructure and products that are part of the remit of the Reach plc Product function.

• AWS cost management and optimisation responsibility.

• An effective people leader with previous experience of managing senior technical employees.

• Deputise for the Director of Engineering when necessary.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities 

• An architect at heart who is passionate about cloud solutions and their benefits

• Will be involved in creating and executing strategies for scaling the business impact of infrastructure investments as well as architecting cloud solutions in AWS.

• Deploys AWS cost management and optimisation best practice to ensure we are utilising our budget effectively, including:

• Practice Cloud Financial Management.

• Expenditure and usage awareness.

• Management of demand and supply resources.

• Cost-effective resources

• Optimise over time.

• Line management for our Solution and Infrastructure Architects.

• Recruitment responsibility for the Architecture and Innovation function.

• Comfortable working across process design, applications design, data modelling, messaging technologies and infrastructure - able to see the “whole solutions landscape”.

• Translate business requirements into viable technical solution designs

• Evaluate and select appropriate technologies to support designs.

• Uphold Reach's policy around diversity and inclusion and work to ensure our values around non discrimination are upheld in everything we do.

• Ensure security principles are adhered to

• Help improve Data and Security governance for the systems we own

• Assist with the forecasting and management of operational budgets and project budgets

• Help shape the practices of the architecture function

Skills

• Excellent people management skills.

• Good software engineering knowledge

• Good infrastructure knowledge, especially AWS.

• A structured approach to architectural design

• Deep knowledge of industry best practice in the infrastructure and solutions architecture

• Ability to build and cost a solution from concept to detailed design

• Ability to manage and work with third party software suppliers and system to deliver the technical components of projects

• Delivers solutions in accordance with agreed scope, time, financial and quality measures

• Confident at managing multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.

• Experience or qualification in Agile product development and engineering

• Strong consultancy and interpersonal skills

• A self-starter with a can-do, will-do attitude

Qualifications & Experience

• An experienced architecture manager with proven expertise in AWS solutions.

• Experience delivering business critical, secure, enterprise systems, an enthusiastic innovator of next generation digital solutions, have experience in leading projects through the entire delivery lifecycle and be able to communicate at all levels

• Experience of Agile engineering and delivery methods

• Experienced with task automation and Infrastructure as a Service principles.