Solution Architect

Job Description – Solution Architect

About Hiscox:

At Hiscox we care about our people. We hire the best people for the work, and we’re committed to diversity and creating a truly inclusive culture, which we believe drives success. We embrace hybrid-working practices, balancing the ability to work remotely with the culture and energy we experience when we are face-to-face in our offices.

Position: Solutions Architect
Reporting to: Lead Architect
Location: London – Hybrid (2 days in office)

Role Overview: Hiscox is seeking an experienced Solution Architect to join Hiscox Re & ILS, a business unit providing reinsurance and third-party capital management services. The successful candidate will have a strong sense of ownership, proactivity, and pride in their work. They will use their experience on a range of large and small change initiatives, providing architectural oversight to delivery and producing architecture deliverables that suit the size and nature of the change.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Taking full ownership for the design and delivery of modern solutions that are secure, scalable, performant, resilient, compliant, cost-effective, and commercially viable.
2. Engage with, assist, and empower Agile delivery teams across the whole lifecycle of a change initiative, from requirements gathering through to BAU.
3. Deliver architecture deliverables (HLDs/MLDs, diagrammatic artifacts) that are suitable for the change in question using consistent templates and approved tooling.
4. Work with the Lead Architect to mature the architecture practice, helping to embed architecture principles, standards, and strategies into Agile team planning and deliveries.
5. Working closely with business domain experts and product owners to understand problem statements and value realisation opportunities.
6. Engagement with a range of colleagues from deeply technical staff to senior business colleagues from across the enterprise.
7. Collaborating closely with vendors to ensure their suitability and the suitability of their product(s).

Skills/Experience:

1. Strong, demonstrable knowledge of solution architecture, its constituent phases/layers, and the importance of architectural process.
2. Experience of on-premise, cloud and hybrid solution design: Windows and Azure PaaS experience strongly preferred.
3. Experience of producing architecture deliverables and artifacts required.
4. Experience in conceptual and logical data modelling with the ability to clearly represent complex ideas graphically.
5. Experience with Software Delivery Lifecycles and DevOps practices preferred.
6. Understanding of TOGAF, Zachman, Kotusev or similar EA frameworks preferred.
7. Understanding of Agile (Scrum) is necessary, SAFe knowledge also useful.
8. First-hand experience with Confluence, Teams, LucidChart and Jira preferred.
9. Experience of team leadership and mentoring preferred but not essential.

Rewards: On top of a competitive salary, we also offer a wide range of benefits.

• 25 days annual leave plus two Hiscox days
• 4 week paid sabbatical after every 5 years of service
• Company and personal performance related bonus
• Contributory pension
• Money towards gym membership
• Christmas gift
• 4 x life insurance