Head of Architecture London

The Head of Architecture will provide the Pay.UK Executive Team with strategic advice on technology-related transformation efforts and formulate a sustainable investment approach for future architectural improvements. The post holder will also

• Lead definition of the end-to-end architectural standards for the existing systems, along with the boundaries and interactions within the ecosystem to ensure security, stability and resilience while meeting end user needs through promotion of competition and innovation.
• Govern major architectural design changes across Pay.UK, i.e. Rules and Standards, Data, Cyber, Product Development and Strategy, along with Ecosystem Architecture, Strategy & Policy.
• Provide architectural advisory expertise internally, e.g. key change programmes of work, Operations, Assurance, etc., and externally (to the wider market and innovation community).
• Facilitate the transparency of the ecosystem standards & policies to the supplier market.

Key Accountabilities:

• Oversees and manages the Architecture team, including regular supervision of activities and associated continuous development, recruitment, performance management and salary review processes. Establishes and maintains best practice within the team.
• Provides architectural services across the wider Pay.UK organisation to BAU teams and projects as needed, responsible for tracking and effectively handling all demand for architecture services and resources.
• Creates, owns and communicates to stakeholders a single backlog for all Architecture work items.
• Develops Pay.UK's Architecture and technology vision and strategy, developing multi-year investment plans and defining the enterprise architecture to ensure alignment with long-term strategic goals.
• Assesses the fitness of the enterprise architecture and analyses potential future enhancements and innovations.
• Establishes, evolves, and launches a precise and transparent enterprise and solution architecture that, when required, coordinates the interactions, rules, standards, and processes throughout all services overseen by Pay.UK.
• Acts as custodian of all enduring architectural artefacts produced by change initiatives within Pay.UK and ensures all changes to these artefacts are governed appropriately.
• Oversees the development and maintenance of a central repository for all architecture artefacts along with the production of a set of Pay.UK architectural principles and standards for all technology design collateral, which all Pay.UK change programmes should adhere to.
• Establishes and operates the enterprise design authority which will complete representation across all areas impacted stakeholders, and not just from a technical Security and Standards perspective, to ensure impacts are considered end-to-end.
• Oversees and manages stakeholder engagement within Pay.UK, and externally, via stakeholder engagement, to ensure the Pay.UK enterprise architecture strategy and policy, as well as the enterprise design, adequately meets end user needs.
• Oversees and manages design changes across Pay.UK, i.e. Rules and Standards, Data, Cyber, Product Development and Strategy, as well as affected external stakeholders through a Pay.UK enterprise design authority.
• Proactively monitors the marketplace for technical innovation and ensures Pay.UK's architecture evolves to support developments in the payments industry. Combines insights and data internally across Pay.UK, stakeholder engagement and horizon scanning of the industry, leveraging from internal and external market analytics capabilities.
• Leads, develops and maintains the Pay.UK operating framework required to ensure the stability of the end-to-end ecosystem working closely with Operations, Data Management, Assurance and Risk who will operationalise the framework across the different layers of the enterprise architecture.
• Provides architectural advisory expertise and deployment of skilled architecture resources internally to key change programmes of work, and other internal capabilities as required, e.g. Operations, Assurance, etc.
• Establishes a diverse advisory council consisting of external specialists from various market sectors to offer valuable perspectives and direction, contributing to the strategic development of the payments ecosystem.
• Liaises closely with Pay.UK's suppliers to ensure all solutions and services provided by them align to the enterprise architecture.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

• Degree qualified in a relevant subject (BSc/BA in Business Administration). (Masters/ MBA preferred) or equivalent experience.
• Significant experience with recognised architectural frameworks, e.g. TOGAF, Zachman, etc., and in setting organisational standards.
• Significant and demonstrable experience as an Enterprise Architect within the Financial Services sector working on large and complex programmes across multiple teams.
• Significant experience with software, infrastructure, data and security architectural design, development, integration, and testing.
• Experience of stakeholder negotiation to align interests to overcome challenges with strategic intent and technical proficiency.
• Payments industry experience and an extensive knowledge of the technology marketplace, vendors and global trends.
• Good experience in short-term and long-range enterprise strategic planning, budgeting, systems analysis and design.
• Strategic development and execution coupled with a broad, enterprise-wide view of the business strategy, enabling technologies and governance.
• Demonstrable experience of structured approaches used in both Waterfall and Agile delivery.
• Software, infrastructure, data and security architectural design, development, integration, and testing.

At Pay.UK, we value diversity and inclusivity. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply, regardless of how closely their skills and experience match the requirements. We are committed to supporting accessibility needs and creating a welcoming environment for all employees.

About Us

Pay.UK maintains and develops the UK retail payment systems and standards that are core to the economy being able to function on a day-to-day basis.

From Bacs to Faster Payments and cheques - we act as the single operator for all UK retail payments. We put the needs of consumers and businesses at the heart of everything we do, working in the public interest to ensure that the systems the country relies on for its banking transactions are safe, open, innovative and resilient.

Our vision for the future is to enable a vibrant economy, with Pay.UK delivering the best-in-class payment infrastructure and standards for the benefit of consumers and businesses nationwide.

Benefits & Additional Information

• 12% Non-contributory pension
• Discretionary annual bonus
• 30 days annual leave (excluding bank holidays)
• Employee assistance programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Annual fitness subsidy of up to £500 per annum
• Working from home policy - minimum 40% in the office (eg. 2 days in the office over a 5 day working week)