- Day rate: £750-800 per day (inside IR35)
- Location: London, hybrid with 1-2 days a week on-site, plus occasional EU and global travel
- Contract length: 6 months initial, likely to extend
I'm working with a specialist technology consultancy that's embedding a Senior Solution Architect into a tier 1 global bank's data centre transformation programme. The programme is moving from application assessment into migration execution, and you'll provide independent architectural assurance over the migration designs coming from third-party delivery partners.
You'll review, challenge and validate those designs before they reach the design authority, making sure they're robust and fit the bank's strategic platforms. Microsoft Azure is the primary platform, making up around 80% of the target estate, with the rest across private cloud, virtualisation and hybrid infrastructure. The work is design assurance rather than hands-on build, so this suits a broad enterprise solution architect over a cloud engineer or developer.
You'll sit in a small, senior architecture team in London with a lot of autonomy and several reviews on the go at once.
What They're Looking For:
- Senior Solution Architect experience in large, complex enterprises
- Design assurance: reviewing SI and third-party partner designs
- Data centre transformation or infrastructure modernisation programmes
- Migration patterns: rehost, replatform, refactor, retain, retire
- Non-functional requirements: availability, resilience, DR, performance
- Architecture governance: review boards and design authorities
- Stakeholder work: constructive challenge with partners and senior leaders
- Written communication: clear findings, risks and recommendations
What You'll Work With:
- Microsoft Azure: primary platform, around 80% of the estate
- Private cloud and virtualisation platforms
- Hybrid architectures across enterprise infrastructure
- Networking, storage, databases and security
- Application integration and dependency mapping
- Legacy tech, licensing and vendor dependency risk
- Backup, monitoring and operational readiness
- Design assessments and architectural decision records
Nice to Haves:
- AWS
- Banking or financial services background
- TOGAF or an equivalent EA methodology
- Major SIs: Wipro, Accenture, TCS, Infosys
- Client-side architecture assurance or design governance roles
Why Join / Projects:
- You'll come in at the point where plans turn into migrations, so your calls shape what gets built across a large application estate.
- You'll be the independent voice between the bank and its delivery partners, with the standing to push fixes before designs reach implementation.
- You'll work in a highly governed environment where good governance means sound judgement that keeps delivery moving.
- You'll travel to data centre sites across Western Europe and further afield.
- The programme runs for years and the consultancy has further migrations in the pipeline, so extension is likely.
The Package
- Day rate: £750-800 per day, inside IR35
- Engagement: umbrella or fixed-term contract
- Contract length: 6 months initial, likely to extend
- Working arrangement: London, 1-2 days a week on-site
- Travel: occasional EU and global trips
- Interviews: 30-min technical video call, then a 1hr face-to-face
If you’re interested in exploring this opportunity further, please apply and I’ll call you if I think you’re suitable.
Senior Solution Architect | Azure, Migration & Design Assurance | Tier 1 Global Bank Data Centre Exit
