Platform Architect

Join us as a Platform Architect at Barclays where you'll spearhead the evolution of our Next Gen Tech. You'll harness cutting-edge technology to revolutionise our digital offerings, ensuring unparalleled experiences.

To be successful as a Platform Architect, you should have experience with:

• Enterprise-Scale Infrastructure Expertise: Experience in designing, implementing, and managing large-scale, complex infrastructure solutions that support enterprise-level applications and services. This includes a deep understanding of network architecture, operations, and scalability considerations.
• Cloud Computing Proficiency: Extensive knowledge and hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. This includes expertise in cloud architecture, migration strategies, and the ability to leverage cloud services to optimize performance, cost, and security.
• Hands-On Software Development Background: Experience of hands-on software development, with previous proficiency in multiple programming languages and frameworks.

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• DevOps and Automation: Proficiency in DevOps practices and tools, such as CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and infrastructure as code (Terraform, Ansible).
• Security and Compliance: Strong understanding of security best practices and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Collaboration and Communication: Excellent collaboration and communication skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including developers, operations, and business stakeholders.

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in the role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking, and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

Purpose of the role:

To design, develop, and implement solutions to complex business problems, collaborating with stakeholders to understand their needs and requirements, and design and implement solutions that meet those needs while balancing technology risks against business delivery, driving consistency.

Accountabilities:

• Design and development of solutions as products that can evolve, meeting business requirements that align with modern software engineering practices and automated delivery tooling. This includes identification and implementation of the technologies and platforms.
• Targeted design activities that apply an appropriate workload placement strategy and maximize the benefit of cloud capabilities such as elasticity, serverless, containerization, etc.
• Best practice designs incorporating security principles (such as defense in depth and reduction of blast radius) that meet the Bank’s resiliency expectations.
• Solutions that appropriately balance risks and controls to deliver the agreed business and technology value.
• Adoption of standardized solutions where they fit. If no standard solutions fit, feed into their ongoing evolution where appropriate.
• Fault finding and performance issues support to operational support teams, leveraging available tooling.
• Solution design impact assessment in terms of risk, capacity and cost impact, including estimation of project change and ongoing run costs.
• Development of the requisite architecture inputs required to comply with the bank's governance processes, including design artifacts required for architecture, privacy, security, and records management governance processes.

Vice President Expectations:

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures.
• If managing a team, define jobs and responsibilities, plan for the department’s future needs and operations, counsel employees on performance, and contribute to employee pay decisions/changes. Lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, aligning with strategic as well as tactical priorities while balancing short and long-term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviors to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviors are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energize and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.
• For an individual contributor, be a subject matter expert within own discipline and guide technical direction. Lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identifying the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialization to complete assignments. Train, guide, and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long-term profits, organizational risks, and strategic decisions.
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross-functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organization functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business-aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem-solving processes.
• Seek out, build, and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence, and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge, and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.