The Head of Architecture leads the enterprise and solution architecture capability across Irwin Mitchell, ensuring technology change is aligned to business priorities and delivered in a consistent, secure and scalable way.

The role is accountable for Enterprise and Solution Architects and for establishing clear architectural direction, standards and governance that support delivery of the firm’s Technology Strategy. The role ensures that platforms and solutions are designed as part of a coherent, integrated, cloud-native and data-driven architecture that enables growth, efficiency and resilience.

As a member of the CIO Leadership Team, the Head of Architecture enables delivery at pace by providing practical guardrails, reusable patterns and architectural assurance, ensuring innovation is delivered safely, compliantly and with sustained business value.

What you'll be doing:

Architecture Strategy and Governance

• Define and maintain the enterprise architecture strategy, multi-year roadmaps, principles, standards and governance aligned to the FY28–FY30 Technology Strategy
• Create clear roadmaps across all architecture domains
• Ensure architecture provides clear direction while remaining pragmatic, lightweight and delivery-focused
• Define and operate the architecture governance framework (Architecture Review Board, TDA, standards), ensuring it is embedded in delivery lifecycle and is effective, proportionate governance across all initiatives
• Responsible for ensuring a holistic enterprise view, avoiding fragmented domain-level decision making

Enabling Delivery Through Architecture

• Establish reusable architectural patterns, reference architectures and guardrails to accelerate delivery
• Reduce duplication, rework and technical debt by driving consistency across platforms and solutions
• Ensure architecture supports an agile, product and platform-led delivery model
• Ensure early and mandatory architecture engagement at front-door/ideation stage to avoid reactive design and rework
• Embed architecture within portfolio shaping, including M&A, regulatory change and major transformation programmes
• Provide architectural impact assessments for all material initiatives
• Accountable for end-to-end solution integrity across all programmes

Application Architecture

• Define and govern the target application architecture and landscape strategy ensuring solutions are designed with end-to-end integrity across multiple systems
• Prevent duplication of functionality and uncontrolled proliferation of applications and ensure alignment of product and platform teams to enterprise architecture direction

Integration as a Strategic Capability

• Define and govern integration standards, including APIs, event-driven architecture and ensure system interactions align to canonical data models
• Drive the transition away from point-to-point integrations to scalable, platform-based integration
• Ensure solutions support end-to-end processes and seamless data flows across the business

Data and Information Architecture

• Work in partnership with data leadership to ensure architecture supports a trusted, governed data foundation
• Define and govern canonical data models, data domains and enterprise data standards, ensuring consistent data definitions across applications, integration flows and data platforms
• Enable consistent data ownership, quality, lineage and accessibility across platforms
• Ensure architecture enables a trusted governed data foundation for analytics, automation, regulatory reporting and AI use cases

Cloud, Resilience and Risk by Design

• Define cloud-native architectural standards covering scalability, resilience, DR, monitoring, observability and cost efficiency
• Ensure resilience, security, data protection and regulatory requirements are embedded in all designs
• Support continuous resilience testing and operational assurance as standard practice
• Ensure platforms support current and future business and technology demands

Support for AI and Technology Innovation

• Provide architectural standards, guardrails and assurance for AI, machine learning and innovation initiatives
• Ensure solutions are designed to be “AI-ready”, enabling safe and scalable adoption of automation and decision support
• Partner with Technology Innovation and Information Security to ensure governance, risk and compliance requirements are met

Digital & Client Experience Architecture

• Define architecture for client portals, communication channels, contact centre and digital journeys
• Ensure joined-up client experience across systems and services
• Align digital architecture with business process and data flows

Engineering Enablement

• Enable effective technology delivery by defining standards for CI/CD pipelines, deployment models and development tooling
• Ensure architecture supports high-performing engineering practices, enabling automation, consistency and scalability in delivery

Supplier and Platform Alignment

• Provide architectural input to major supplier decisions, renewals and platform strategies
• Ensure solutions align to target architecture and avoid unnecessary duplication or lock-in
• Support platform rationalisation and long-term cost optimisation

Leadership and Capability Development

• Lead all architecture domains including solution architecture, data architecture, integration architecture, infrastructure/cloud architecture etc.
• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing architecture team with clear role definitions
• Build capability in modern architecture practices across cloud, data, integration and AI
• Foster a collaborative, business-engaged architecture function that is seen as enabling rather than controlling

Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on architectural direction and trade-offs
• Translate business strategy into technology and data architecture decisions
• Translate complex technical decisions into clear business outcomes, risks and costs
• Work closely with CIO leadership, platform owners and business leaders to align priorities
• Enable joined-up decision making across applications, data and processes

Knowledge, Skills & Experience:

Essential

• Proven experience leading enterprise and solution architecture in a complex organisation
• Strong knowledge across business, data, application and technology architecture domains
• Experience with cloud-native architecture, resilience design and cost-aware engineering
• Strong understanding of integration approaches, including APIs and event-driven patterns
• Experience enabling data platforms and analytics capabilities
• Working knowledge of security-by-design and regulatory requirements
• Strong commercial awareness, including supplier and platform decision-making
• Ability to influence and align senior stakeholders across business and technology
• Experience in regulated or legal services environments

Desirable

• Experience working with AI-enabled platforms, automation and modern digital experiences
• Experience supporting product or platform-based operating model

Interpersonal Skills:

Essential

• Strong leadership and coaching capability, with a focus on building high-performing teams
• Excellent collaboration skills, driving alignment across multiple teams and stakeholders
• Clear and confident communicator, able to convey complex concepts simply
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making capability
• Ability to challenge constructively, hold the line on principles and drive positive change
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders without direct authority
• Confidence to shape investment decisions and technology strategy
• Ability to bring together disparate architecture domains into a single integrated team with a coherent view
• Strong commercial and business acumen
• Drives organisation change by embedding architectural principles, standards and ways of working, influencing behaviours to promote early engagement, reuse, governance discipline and enterprise-first decision-making

Desirable

• Experience building communities of practice or cross-functional capability groups
• High resilience and ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment