Lead Solution Architect- Bespoke Applications, Azure & Digital Modernization

Role family: Business Consulting / Solution Architecture

Technology focus: Azure, web, mobile, APIs, microservices and integration

Ideal Candidate

A customer-oriented Lead Solution Architect who combines broad architectural thinking with hands-on engineering credibility. The candidate should be able to navigate from business problem to solution strategy, defend choices with senior stakeholders, and guide multidisciplinary teams toward a secure, scalable, supportable and commercially viable outcome.

Role Purpose

Own end-to-end architecture and presales solutioning for bespoke application engagements, translating business needs into secure, scalable and delivery-ready solutions across modern user experiences, cloud-native platforms, integration and application modernization.

Role Summary

The Lead Solution Architect will provide technical and consulting leadership across complex bespoke application opportunities and transformation programs. The role combines customer-facing presales, application architecture, business and technical analysis, cloud-native engineering, estimation, migration planning and delivery governance. The successful candidate will shape pragmatic solutions that balance business outcomes, user experience, security, operability, cost, risk and delivery feasibility.

Application Solution Architect

• Lead customer discovery, architecture workshops, and solution definition from opportunity qualification through proposal, solution defence, and transition to delivery.
• Own end-to-end architecture across user experience, applications, APIs, integration, data, security, Azure cloud, DevSecOps, observability, and service management.
• Translate business and technical requirements into target architectures, modernization roadmaps, estimates, assumptions, dependencies, and delivery-ready artefacts.
• Assess legacy applications, technical debt, cloud readiness, and non-functional requirements; define rationalisation and migration strategies using the 6R approach.
• Design scalable web, mobile, microservices, event-driven, and cloud-native solutions, selecting technologies based on fit, maintainability, and delivery context.
• Lead RFI/RFP/RFQ solutioning, including technical proposals, effort and cost estimates, delivery models, presentations, proofs of concept, solution defence, and commercial clarifications.
• Guide design, development, migration, code reviews, testing, CI/CD, security, and resolution of complex engineering risks.
• Partner with sales, bid management, delivery, security, cloud, data, service, and commercial teams to ensure solutions are competitive, executable, and supportable.
• Establish architecture standards, reusable patterns, governance, and quality gates, and provide leadership through mobilisation and early delivery.
• Coach architects and engineering teams and contribute to reference architectures, accelerators, playbooks, and knowledge assets.

Core Technical Capabilities

• Application architecture: Layered and modular design, domain-driven principles, microservices, event-driven patterns, APIs, integration, and cloud-native design.
• Modernisation and migration: Application rationalisation, 6R assessments, technical-debt analysis, monolith decomposition, containerisation, migration sequencing, and roadmap development.
• Cloud and engineering: Azure hosting, serverless and container patterns, identity, data services, Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD, DevSecOps, automated testing, observability, SRE-aligned operability, and FinOps-aware decisions.
• Design and development: Responsive web and mobile solutions, accessibility, usability, design systems, coding practices, code reviews, testing strategy, and engineering-quality controls.
• Programming and frameworks: TypeScript, JavaScript, NativeScript, Angular, React, Flutter, Spring Boot, and Node.js.
• Analysis and delivery: Requirements elicitation, process and capability analysis, functional decomposition, NFR definition, dependency analysis, solution option assessment, backlog shaping, sprint planning, and Agile architecture governance.
• Architecture governance: Context, component, deployment, integration, data, security, and NFR views; decision records; traceability; architecture reviews; standards compliance; risk management; and handover criteria.

Leadership and Consulting Skills

• Excellent executive communication, presentation, facilitation, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical decisions in business terms.
• Strong analytical, estimation, troubleshooting, and structured problem-solving capability, with clear articulation of trade-offs.
• Customer-focused and commercially aware, with an understanding of how architecture choices affect cost, risk, schedule, scalability, serviceability, and competitive positioning.
• Collaborative and credible across matrix teams, cultures, and time zones, with the ability to influence without authority and manage competing priorities.
• Strong ownership, adaptability, resilience, quality orientation, and the ability to coach architects and engineers.

Experience and Qualifications

• Significant experience in application solution architecture, bespoke software engineering, technology consulting, or an equivalent customer-facing role.
• Demonstrated experience designing and modernising enterprise applications across web, mobile, API, integration, and cloud platforms.
• Experience leading architecture and solutioning across presales and delivery, including estimation, proposal development, and transition to implementation.
• Practical understanding of Azure solution patterns, security, resilience, integration, DevSecOps, operational readiness, and Agile delivery.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Relevant cloud, architecture, Agile, project-management, or engineering certifications are desirable.

Technology and Platform Exposure

Front end and mobile: Angular, React, Flutter, NativeScript, TypeScript, JavaScript, responsive design and accessibility.

Back end and APIs: Spring Boot, Node.js, REST/GraphQL APIs, microservices, event-driven services and API management.

Cloud and containers: Microsoft Azure, containers, Kubernetes, serverless services, platform services, hybrid integration and cloud governance.

Integration and Middleware: API gateways, messaging, event streaming, enterprise integration patterns and service-to-service security.

Engineering and delivery: Git-based engineering, CI/CD, automated testing, code quality, DevSecOps, Infrastructure as Code and environment strategy.

Operations: Monitoring, logging, tracing, alerting, resilience, backup/recovery, service readiness and support transition.