Chief Technology Architect / Principal Systems Architect / Enterprise Architecture Director

Role Description The Chief Technology Architect / Principal Systems Architect / Enterprise Architecture Director defines and leads the organisation’s technology and enterprise-architecture strategy. This role ensures that business capabilities, applications, data, cloud platforms, infrastructure, security, and integration patterns are designed as a coherent, scalable, resilient, and cost-effective technology ecosystem. The position works closely with executive leadership, Product, Engineering, Data, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Operations, Finance, Risk, and external technology partners. Responsibilities include developing architecture roadmaps, setting technical standards, evaluating major technology investments, guiding complex solution design, overseeing integration and modernisation programmes, and ensuring that technology decisions align with strategic business priorities. At leadership level, the role establishes architecture governance, decision-making frameworks, reference architectures, and technology-lifecycle standards. It leads and mentors architects and senior engineers, manages architectural risk and technical debt, and communicates technology strategy, trade-offs, investment needs, and transformation progress to senior stakeholders. Qualifications - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Technology, Engineering, or a related field. - Master’s degree, MBA, enterprise-architecture certification, or equivalent advanced technical experience is an advantage. - Significant experience in enterprise architecture, solution architecture, systems architecture, technology strategy, software engineering, cloud architecture, or a related field. - Proven experience defining and delivering enterprise-technology roadmaps, target architectures, modernisation strategies, and large-scale transformation programmes. - Strong understanding of enterprise applications, distributed systems, APIs, microservices, event-driven architecture, integration platforms, data architecture, and cloud-native design. - Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, hybrid-cloud, multi-cloud, or data-centre environments. - Strong knowledge of application architecture, infrastructure, networking, identity, cybersecurity, data governance, resilience, availability, and disaster-recovery principles. - Experience developing architecture principles, reference architectures, technical standards, design patterns, governance processes, and technology-selection criteria. - Ability to assess current-state technology landscapes, identify technical debt and risks, and develop practical migration, integration, and rationalisation plans. - Experience leading architecture reviews, technical design authorities, technology evaluations, proof-of-concepts, and major solution decisions. - Strong understanding of security-by-design, privacy, regulatory compliance, risk management, and operational resilience requirements. - Experience working with agile delivery, DevOps, CI/CD, containers, Kubernetes, infrastructure as code, automation, and platform-engineering practices is advantageous. - Ability to lead and mentor architects, engineers, analysts, and technical delivery teams across complex, matrixed organisations. - Strong commercial awareness, including experience evaluating technology costs, vendor proposals, investment cases, and delivery trade-offs. - Excellent executive communication, stakeholder-management, strategic-thinking, influencing, documentation, and problem-solving skills.