Principal Solution Architect

We're looking for a Principal Solution Architect to join our team in Leeds on a permanent basis. This is a hybrid role, with two days per week in the office.

As our Principal Solution Architect, you'll be the senior-most technical architecture authority across our solution landscape, responsible for defining and owning the target architecture for our cloud-native, internally developed platforms and products. You'll ensure our solutions remain secure, scalable, maintainable, cost-effective, and aligned with our broader technology strategy.

This is a portfolio-level leadership role. Rather than supporting a single team, you'll establish the architectural standards, reference models, and design patterns that guide engineering teams across the organisation. You'll play a key role within our Architecture Design Authority, leading critical architectural decisions, shaping technology direction, and balancing business needs with technical best practice.

Working closely with Product and Engineering teams, you'll translate complex business challenges into clear, scalable, and governable technology solutions, with a particular focus on driving the architecture of our next-generation AI and LLM-enabled platforms. This is an opportunity to influence the future of our technology estate and play a pivotal role in delivering innovative, enterprise-scale solutions.

What will you be doing?

• Own and evolve the target architecture across the entire solution portfolio, working collaboratively with senior technical leaders to drive alignment, maintain architectural consistency, and ensure long-term integrity.
• Chair the Architecture Review Board (Design Authority), providing governance, escalation, and final decision-making authority on key architectural matters across the organisation.
• Accountable for architectural quality and adherence to standards across all engineering teams, including third-party suppliers and delivery partners.
• Act as the primary architecture liaison with Cyber Security, ensuring solutions achieve the necessary security approvals, assurance, and governance sign-offs.
• Define, maintain, and govern architectural standards, reference architectures, and reusable design patterns that guide delivery across the technology estate.
• Lead the architecture of AI and LLM-enabled solutions, including Vertex AI, Document AI, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agentic workflows, and human-in-the-loop systems, ensuring they are production-ready, secure, and scalable.
• Embed security, privacy, and compliance by design, ensuring alignment with frameworks and regulations such as SOC 1, GDPR, the EU AI Act, and ISO 27001, while representing Architecture in relevant governance and compliance forums.
• Define portfolio-level API strategies, service boundaries, event-driven architectures, and domain models to promote consistency, reusability, and seamless integration across platforms.
• Lead technical due diligence, architecture assessments, and integration planning for mergers and acquisitions activity.
• Provide technical leadership, coaching, and mentorship to senior, lead, and aspiring architects, driving capability growth through influence and expertise rather than direct line management.
• Serve as Liberty Blume's senior technical authority in engagements with vendors, strategic partners, and external stakeholders.
• Work closely with Product, Engineering, and business leaders to translate complex business objectives into clear, scalable, and governable technology solutions.