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What is the role?
As Enterprise Architect for the Digital Backbone, you will provide architectural leadership and strategic direction for Howden Group's core integration and technology platform. You will shape and govern the architecture of the Digital Backbone - the foundational layer that connects systems, data, and services across the enterprise - while driving adoption of API-first principles, integration best practices, and enterprise-wide governance.
The Digital Backbone is Howden Group's foundational technology and integration layer, designed to eliminate fragmented systems and manual processes, and to enable digital product delivery and innovation at scale.
WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING?
Architecture Leadership & Design
- Define, own, and communicate the enterprise architecture of the Digital Backbone, establishing it as the strategic integration platform across Howden Group.
- Architect and lead the design, development, and deployment of APIs and integrations, ensuring alignment with enterprise-wide standards and the Digital Backbone's strategic goals.
- Drive adoption of API-first design principles and the APIOps methodology across the integration lifecycle, including automation of API deployment and governance.
- Develop, maintain, and communicate key architecture artefacts including policies, standards, principles, patterns, templates, and capability models.
- Manage Group Enterprise Architecture assets - including application and technology catalogues, roadmaps, and capability models - within the EA management repository.
Governance & Standards
- Define and enforce architectural standards and best practices for integration and API design, development, and management, working within the Digital Backbone Technical Design Authority.
- Chair and run architecture governance forums on behalf of Group IT leadership, including developing decision-making frameworks, running regular meetings, and reporting on governance metrics and outcomes.
- Conduct architectural reviews and provide guidance to development teams on integration patterns, best practices, and compliance requirements.
- Identify and mitigate technical risks, ensuring alignment with security, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
- Undertake due diligence of vendor systems and solutions to ensure alignment with Group IT policies and standards.
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Stakeholder Engagement & Evangelism
- Evangelise the Digital Backbone architecture and technology stack through documentation, internal communications, and stakeholder engagement at all levels.
- Attend key change programme, project, and business stakeholder meetings to provide Group IT Enterprise Architecture guidance and direction.
- Undertake consultative engagements with teams across the wider business as a subject matter expert in integration architecture and Digital Backbone capabilities.
- Collaborate with enterprise architects, platform leads, and business stakeholders to align integration solutions with strategic goals.
Continuous Improvement
- Continuously assess and optimise integration solutions and tooling for performance, scalability, maintainability, observability, and self-service capability.
- Lead technical discussions, mentor team members, and foster a culture of innovation, engineering excellence, and continuous improvement.
- Work in an agile, collaborative manner and adapt to evolving business needs and technology trends, constructively challenging ideas and remaining open to feedback.
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
The successful candidate will be a self-motivated, pragmatic, and outcomes-focused architect who is comfortable taking ownership, collaborating across teams, and communicating complex technical concepts to senior stakeholders. Strong communication skills and genuine enthusiasm for technology are essential.
Essential Skills & Experience
- Strong enterprise architecture skills and experience, specifically running pragmatic, guidance-oriented, and outcomes-focused architecture governance at group or global scale.
- Excellent knowledge of enterprise integration patterns and their application, with demonstrated expertise in API lifecycle management and governance.
- Experience designing and implementing enterprise-scale API platforms using Azure technologies, including Azure API Management, Logic Apps, and Service Bus.
- Strong experience enabling monitoring, alerting, telemetry, auditing, and business/technical metrics across integration platforms.
- Expertise in designing API contracts and applying an API-first approach, including strong understanding of the APIOps methodology.
- Proficiency with the Postman Enterprise platform, developer portals, API catalogues, and API lifecycle and testing tools.
- Experience with scripting and automation tooling, such as PowerShell, Pester, YAML, Spectral, and Terraform.
- Skills and experience developing capability models, application and technology catalogues, and roadmaps (preferably within the insurance domain).
- Strong Architecture and IT governance experience, including establishing and running Architecture Review Boards and Design Authorities for major change programmes.
- Strong understanding of secure design and secure development practices and frameworks.
- Experience in enterprise environments with change management and governance processes.
- Excellent communication, documentation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to tailor messages to senior stakeholders and technical delivery teams.
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Desirable Qualifications & Experience
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert or equivalent.
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate or equivalent Associate-level Azure certification (e.g. DevOps Engineer Expert, Azure Administrator Associate).
- BCS certification in Enterprise & Solution Architecture, TOGAF, or Archimate certification.
- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related discipline.
- Experience with other integration platforms such as BizTalk, MuleSoft, Informatica, or Boomi.
- Experience integrating with platforms such as Salesforce, Reltio, legacy insurance systems, and data platforms.
- Experience with pro developer languages and enterprise low-code platforms (e.g. C#, YAML, XSLT, Liquid Templates, Logic Apps, RPA).
- Experience of AI Coding Tools such as Claude Code, Github Copilot
- Knowledge of working in a regulated environment (e.g. FCA, PRA, GDPR) and awareness of global insurance regulatory requirements.
- Good knowledge of enterprise-grade CRM, HR, and Finance systems; Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing technologies.
- Insurance domain experience, preferably within broking and/or the London Market.
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Skills
Enterprise Architecture
API Management
Integration Patterns
Azure Technologies
APIOps
Monitoring
Automation
Governance
Stakeholder Engagement
Continuous Improvement
Scripting
Documentation
Communication
Risk Management
Insurance Domain
Technical Leadership
Location