Our client is looking for a Senior System Architect – IaaS Compute & Storage to define and oversee the end-to-end architecture of its on-premises infrastructure platforms within Group Data Centers (GDC).
The role focuses on translating strategic direction, risk constraints and operational needs into clear architectural choices for compute and storage services supporting critical banking workloads.
Role Context
You work at the intersection of engineering, product management and governance, ensuring architectures are buildable, operable and compliant. You guide teams through lifecycle changes, platform evolution and major transformation programmes, including datacenter renewal, resilience improvements and automation.
As a trusted technical authority, you bring clarity to architectural decisions, make trade-offs explicit and maintain long-term architectural coherence.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture and Design
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Own the system architecture for IaaS compute and storage platforms, including virtualization, cluster design, SAN/NAS, DRP constructs, zoning and segregation.
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Define and maintain current-state and target-state architectures, including architectural principles, guardrails and standards aligned with Enterprise Architecture and Assurance expectations.
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Participate in solution planning, definition and high-level design, exploring alternative solutions.
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Review and challenge designs proposed by teams, vendors and integrators, ensuring consistency across datacenters and environments.
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Lead architectural decisions on availability, resilience, performance, scalability, recoverability and security, balancing cost and risk.
Architectural Runway and Delivery
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Develop and maintain the architectural runway to support new business features and platform capabilities while managing technical debt and lifecycle constraints.
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Work directly with Agile teams to implement architectural enablers.
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Support the continuous delivery pipeline through appropriate design guidelines and advocacy for necessary investments.
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Collaborate with portfolio stakeholders, particularly the Enterprise Architect, to develop, analyse, break down and implement enabler epics.
Transformation and Platform Evolution
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Act as the architectural counterpart in major initiatives, including datacenter renewal, DRP redesign, storage evolution, hypervisor lifecycle management and automation.
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Guide teams through platform lifecycle changes and large transformation programmes.
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Ensure infrastructure evolution remains aligned with strategic objectives, operational needs and the long-term architecture.
Governance and Collaboration
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Present architectural topics to the appropriate architecture boards and governance forums.
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Clearly document architectural decisions, trade-offs and rationale.
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Collaborate closely with Product Managers, SDO, Risk and Security to ensure architectures are operationally sound and auditable.
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Mentor engineers by explaining architectural intent and promoting systems thinking across teams.
Required Profile
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More than five years of experience designing and implementing system architecture.
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Proven experience in IT architecture, with strong competencies in IT infrastructure and IT security.
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A passion for building robust solutions and services using new technologies.
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The ability to translate strategic direction and operational requirements into practical architectural choices.
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Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work effectively with Agile teams, technical experts and governance stakeholders.
Core Competencies
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Analytical and conceptual thinking.
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Problem-solving.
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Collaboration.
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IT infrastructure and IT security.
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Process-driven and results-driven approach.
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Tactical and strategic planning.