Senior Lead Architect

Hours: 35 hours per week. hybrid 3 days in head office per week Closing Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026

Are you a strategic technical leader who can see the bigger picture, simplify complexity, and bring people with you? We’re looking for a Senior Lead Architect to provide technical leadership and architectural direction across our Technology and Security domains. This is a key role for someone who can combine deep technical expertise with strong strategic thinking, excellent communication skills, and the confidence to influence senior stakeholders, technical teams and external partners. This is a brilliant opportunity for someone who enjoys working at the point where technology, business outcomes, risk, security and delivery all come together. At Skipton, we’re founded on fairness. We exist to do right by our members - and we believe that starts with doing right by our people. So whoever you are and whatever you bring, there’s a place for you here and a genuine plan for where you go next.

What You’ll Do

• Every day at Skipton is innovation day. Join our Technology team and you’ll discover that we’re constantly focused on real challenges as we build the tools that get things done for our members - quicker than you imagine.
• You’ll lead the design, governance and delivery of solution architectures from early idea through to implementation and service transition.
• You’ll help shape roadmaps, guide technical teams, challenge where needed, and make sure our architecture decisions are aligned to business priorities, security expectations, regulatory requirements and long-term technology strategy.
• Lead the design and delivery of secure, scalable and resilient solution architectures from concept through to implementation.
• Provide technical leadership, governance and architectural assurance across solution design, integration and delivery.
• Define and maintain architecture roadmaps, standards and design principles that support business and technology strategy.
• Partner with senior stakeholders, engineering, product and security teams to shape technology decisions and outcomes.
• Evaluate design options, change requests and technical risks, providing clear recommendations and governance oversight.
• Mentor and support technical teams, promoting consistent application of architecture best practice and building organisational capability.
• Collaborate with vendors, suppliers and subject matter experts to resolve complex challenges and support effective delivery, compliance and resource planning.

We work in a hybrid way, balancing flexibility with collaboration. For this role, you'll typically spend three days a week in our Skipton office, with the remaining two days working from home.

What You’ll Need

• Proven experience leading solution architecture across complex enterprise technology environments.
• Deep expertise in architecture frameworks, governance, best practices and delivering secure, scalable solutions.
• Strong knowledge across cloud, infrastructure, data, security and software engineering, with Azure experience highly desirable.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, translating business goals into practical technology outcomes.
• Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills, with the credibility to influence senior decision-makers and technical teams alike.
• Excellent communication skills, able to simplify complex technical concepts, risks and trade-offs for diverse audiences.
• Collaborative and pragmatic approach, with a passion for mentoring others, driving continuous improvement and solving complex challenges.

What’s In It For You

Your work matters. And the way we reward you matters, too. At Skipton, we offer pay and benefits that really do make life better, together with a genuine thank you for making a difference.

• Annual discretionary bonus scheme
• 25 days standard annual leave + bank holidays + rising 1 day per year of service to a max of 30 days
• Matching employer pension contribution (up to 10% per annum)
• Colleague Mortgages and access to Skipton products and services at discounted rates
• Flexible working to help balance your commitments
• Private medical insurance, health and wellbeing app, volunteering opportunities, cycle-to-work scheme, discounted gym memberships
• Lifestyle perks such as a Home and Tech voucher, which can be used at Currys, and IKEA

About Skipton

Our story began in 1853 in Skipton, North Yorkshire. Today, you’ll find us across England and Scotland, from Aberdeen to Plymouth. We help over a million members put down roots, save for what matters, and feel good about their money. As a mutual, they own us, so everything we do is for them. You'll feel that same fairness and purpose in how all 2,500 of our colleagues work together, too It all means that life at Skipton is more exciting than you imagine.

What it's like to work here

Life at Skipton We talk and we listen to each other. And we make decisions as a team. That way, you get all the support you need to do work that works for everyone. For most of our roles there's the option of blended working, which means we mix working from home and meeting in person. The right balance depends on your role, and what works best for you, your manager, and your team.

We also value what everyone brings to Skipton. And we create a fair place where you can be yourself. Our colleague networks play a big role in this. They connect people with similar life experiences and make our workplace warm, friendly, inclusive and welcoming. It’s not just our members who are important to us. You are, too. Lots of organisations talk about wellbeing, but they don’t always back it up. As a mutual, we put people first. And that includes the people who work here. So, when we say we care about your wellbeing, we mean it. Wellbeing isn't just one thing. It’s about feeling good, having energy, and being able to be yourself and perform at your best. That’s why we offer help for your mental and physical health across five key areas. What’s more, it’s help that you can actually use too - not just read about.

Not just another building society. Not just another job. We're the fourth biggest building society in the UK and what makes us a bit different is that we're a mutual organisation. We don't have shareholders; we're owned by our members. Our colleagues say Skipton's a great place to work, and you could be one of them, bringing with you new ideas on how we can keep customers at the heart of what we do. Whatever your background, and whatever your goals, we’ll help you take the next step towards a better future. Why? It’s just the way we are. We care about sustainability and look to the long-term for both colleagues and customers. And we know that when we build better futures as individuals, we build better futures for a business.

You don't need to tick every box - we look for people who care about our members and who want to grow at the same time. The rest can follow.

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