Solution and Enterprise Architect (Technology Advisory)

Solution and Enterprise Architect (Technology Advisory)

Practice: Consulting, Technology Consulting / Advisory

Base Locations: Hybrid variable - London, Birmingham or Glasgow

Role overview

We are looking for Solution Architects and developing Enterprise Architects who want to use architecture as an advisory capability, not simply as a means of producing designs and artefacts. You will join our Technology Consulting practice, working alongside Business Consulting and delivery teams to help clients make better technology decisions and turn strategic intent into practical, achievable change.

This role is well suited to an experienced Solution or Application Architect, or an early Enterprise Architect, who is comfortable operating with clients, structuring ambiguous problems, comparing options and explaining technology choices in business terms. You will typically lead a defined architecture or advisory workstream, or provide client side architecture leadership within a wider engagement.

Our strongest demand is in the application and solution domain. You will need enough breadth to understand how applications interact with integration, cloud platforms, data, cyber security and infrastructure, while drawing on specialist colleagues where deeper expertise is required.

The kind of architect we are looking for

You can step back from the immediate design problem and ask what decision the client is really trying to make, what outcomes matter, what constraints are real, and which trade offs need to be surfaced. You are able to create sound architecture, but your value comes from judgement, communication, challenge and helping stakeholders move from ambiguity to a clear course of action.

Typical client engagements;

• Client side Solution Architecture or Enterprise Architecture roles within transformation programmes and strategic initiatives.
• Discovery and assessment work, framing business and technology priorities, developing solution options and comparing their value, cost, risk and delivery implications.
• Application and technology strategy, including application modernisation, rationalisation, integration choices and the adoption of new technologies.
• Cloud strategy and adoption advisory, including assessing cloud maturity, shaping principles and target direction, comparing migration or platform options, and understanding implications for the application estate. This is an advisory architecture role rather than a specialist cloud engineering or landing zone design role.
• Architecture assurance and proportionate governance, challenging designs and helping teams remain aligned to agreed principles, target architectures and strategic direction.
• Target architecture and roadmap development, connecting near term delivery decisions to longer term business and technology ambitions.
• Evaluation of technology products, platforms and vendor solutions, supporting investment and sourcing decisions.
• Technology input to operating model, transformation and business change work led jointly with Business Consulting colleagues.
• Advisory work relating to AI adoption, including identifying relevant use cases, assessing technology implications and helping clients move from experimentation toward responsible, scalable adoption.

What you will be doing;

• Lead a defined client team or workstream through ambiguity to a value based outcome. This may involve coordinating others, but does not require formal line management.
• Rapidly understand the client context, business objectives, stakeholder concerns and technology landscape, then structure the problem and identify the decisions that need to be made.
• Develop pragmatic architecture recommendations and options, balancing business value, user needs, technical quality, cost, risk, delivery feasibility and time to value.
• Create and communicate architecture outputs such as current and target state views, solution options, architecture principles, decision papers, roadmaps, investment recommendations, guardrails and high level solution designs.
• Translate business capabilities and change priorities into application and technology implications, working closely with business consultants, client architects, delivery teams, engineers and suppliers.
• Provide constructive challenge and assurance to solution designs and technology decisions, identifying material risks, dependencies, technical debt and opportunities for simplification.
• Keep governance lightweight and useful, providing enough control to protect strategic intent without creating unnecessary friction for agile and continuous delivery teams.
• Use AI thoughtfully in your own advisory work, for example to accelerate research, analysis, option generation and artefact creation, while applying appropriate judgement, validation and client controls.
• Recognise when deeper data, cyber security, cloud engineering or infrastructure expertise is required and bring the right specialists into the engagement.
• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders and communicate recommendations clearly to both technology and business audiences.

Contribution to the Technology Consulting practice

• Identify client pain points and potential opportunities, help qualify them with account or practice leadership, and proactively contribute to proposals and client presentations.
• Contribute to the development of Technology Advisory propositions, methods, reusable assets and thought leadership, taking responsibility for developing part of a practice capability.
• Manage your own workstream responsibly, including time, expenses, risks and the commercial implications of delivery decisions.
• Take an active role in maintaining your own utilisation and helping colleagues identify relevant opportunities where appropriate.
• Share your skills and experience with others through mentoring, buddying, peer review, feedback and informal coaching.
• Work across Technology Consulting, Business Consulting and wider NTT DATA teams to bring the best combination of expertise to client problems.

What you'll bring:

We are interested in evidence of capability and advisory potential rather than a fixed number of years in role. You are likely to bring many of the following:

• Practical experience as a Solution Architect, Application Architect or developing Enterprise Architect, with responsibility for shaping solutions rather than only documenting designs.
• Experience of application centric architecture across more than one solution area, ideally including modernisation, integration, digital platforms or technology enabled transformation.
• A consulting mindset, with the ability to structure ambiguous problems, form hypotheses, compare options, challenge assumptions and turn analysis into a clear recommendation.
• Strong written and verbal communication, including the ability to explain complex technology topics in clear business language and present confidently to senior stakeholders.
• Critical thinking and architecture assurance skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and distinguish important risks from incidental detail.
• Working knowledge of modern application architecture, APIs and integration, cloud enabled application patterns, cloud adoption considerations, DevOps, agile delivery and contemporary software engineering practices. You should be able to advise on cloud direction and trade offs without needing to be a specialist cloud platform engineer.
• Experience creating architecture models and decision artefacts. Familiarity with tools such as Sparx Enterprise Architect and notations such as UML or ArchiMate is useful, but we value clarity and purpose over tooling.
• Commercial awareness and an understanding of how architecture choices influence delivery cost, risk, pace and longer term maintainability.
• Curiosity about AI and emerging technology, with the ability to discuss where AI may create value, what technology implications it introduces, and where specialist data, security or engineering input is needed.
• A collaborative style and the ability to influence without relying on formal authority.

Useful additional experience

• Professional services or technology advisory experience, or equivalent experience operating in a client facing internal consultancy or architecture function.
• Digital transformation, application modernisation, cloud strategy or adoption, platform replacement, vendor evaluation or technology roadmap work.
• Exposure to AI enabled products, generative AI adoption or AI related technology decision making.
• Familiarity with TOGAF or other architecture frameworks. Certification can be useful, but is not essential where equivalent practical experience can be demonstrated.

What success looks like at this level

• You can take responsibility for a defined client outcome and make progress even when the starting point is unclear.
• You combine enough architecture depth to be credible with enough breadth and judgement to know when to involve other specialists, and are developing broader enterprise thinking.
• Your outputs help stakeholders make decisions, not simply create more documentation.
• You contribute beyond your immediate assignment by supporting proposals, developing practice capability and helping colleagues grow.

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