Engineer – Solution Design / Architecture

We’re a Building Society. That means we are owned by, and run for, our customers who have their mortgages, savings, or current accounts with us. We were founded with a strong underlying social purpose, to help people save and buy homes of their own. We continue to be guided by this same social purpose today, as we implement our Blueprint for a Modern Mutual. We express this as “Banking, but fairer, more rewarding and for the good of society.”

It’s an exciting time of considerable and ambitious change at Nationwide, as we continue to evolve to a new future that sees us accelerate delivery of value to our customers, enhance digital journeys and engage colleagues around new ways of working. In order to deliver our vision, it is critical that we strengthen our controls over the management of our Technology assets, and broaden and deepen this critical data set.

As part of the Technology Architecture and Solution Governance team within CTO, this role will take on accountability for managing and transforming our Technology assets, defining best practice, and engaging with the federated team of architects in across COO to drive improvements in our technology assets.

As the Engineer / Architecture in this role, you will be accountable for managing and transforming the Technology Portfolio Management and IT Solution Governance tooling, understanding the underlying data model, and establishing the appropriate governance controls to ensure the data captured is accurate and well maintained.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an engineer / architect with a keen interest in driving transformation through the effective use of Technology Architecture models. We will therefore need you to be adept and proven at navigating across teams and building effective working relationships across complex organisations.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, at one of our offices. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here.

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.

What you’ll be doing

As the Engineer - Architecture, you will play an important role in the leadership of the Technology Architecture and Solution Governance team, with a particular focus on the effective management and transformation of the Technology data assets.

You will also be responsible for:

• Setting the tooling strategy and direction, including the selection and implementation of future tools.
• Preparing best practice guidelines for the most effective use of the selected tooling and ensuring the best practice is implemented.
• Advocating the importance of Technology Portfolio Management and Governance in the delivery of Nationwide’s strategy, and the criticality of having accurate data assets.
• Managing both tool vendor and the managed service provider (for operational support) to agreed service levels.
• Ensure that the tools are configured to meet our specific requirements and aligns to best practice as defined by our software vendors and managed service provider.
• Developing appropriate controls to ensure the data maintained in the tooling is accurate and up to date.
• Understanding and adapting the underlying data model to meet our needs, including, where necessary, defining and implementing interfaces to other systems.
• Working with the tools vendors to both plan how to exploit their roadmap and to influence the roadmap to meet our future needs

About you

It is important through your CV / Cover Letter that you give evidence of proven experience of the following essential criteria:

We are keen to attract an architect with the highest personal and professional standards, and a keen interest in Solution Governance, Technology Portfolio Management and Technology Architecture and the data assets required. You should also possess strong intellectual capacity and EQ, as well as a positive, authentic self-sufficient approach which role models behaviours consistent with the Society’s culture and values.

• Demonstrable experience as an architect, who can articulate the benefits of taking an ‘enterprise’ approach, supported by appropriate data and tools.
• Hands on experience of using and / or managing EA/TPM/Solution Governance tooling including creating visualisations suitable for c-suite audiences to drive strategic decision making.
• An understanding of data modelling to the extent required to define the right relationships between entities, and the associated data elements.
• Skilled at building relationships, negotiating, and influencing senior architecture stakeholders, both technical and business.
• Experience of setting a compelling vision and communicating that to team members and other stakeholders.
• Ability to co-ordinate and drive action across teams as delivery of objectives will be dependent upon effective team working across the business.
• Results and goal orientation, the ability to set realistic yet ambitious and measurable goals and objectives.
• An understanding of risk management and the operation of controls within financial services.
• Some prior experience on supplier/partner commercial management would be beneficial.

Our Customer First behaviours are all about putting customers and members at the heart of how we work together. You can strengthen your application by showing the behaviours that resonate with you, and how you might have already demonstrated these.

• Say it straight - This is about being honest and direct with good intent and saying what needs to be said in the room. It’s also about being clear, precise, and using language that we and, importantly, our customers and members can understand.
• Push for better - This is about aiming high and constantly looking for better in how we work together and serve our customers and members.
• Get it done - This is about prioritising what will have the greatest impact, being decisive and taking accountability for delivering on the end-to-end outcome.

We know applying for jobs can sometimes feel like you’re sending an application into a black hole. We review each application individually. So, it’s a good idea to call out your most relevant experience on your application to give yourself the best chance.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• A personal pension – if you put in 7% of your salary, we’ll top up by a further 16%
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
• Life assurance worth 8x your salary
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Gympass – Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness.
• Access to an annual performance related bonus
• Access to training to help you develop and progress your career.
• 25 days holiday pro rata

What makes us different

Nationwide is the world’s largest building society. With over 15 million customers, we have a relationship with almost a quarter of the UK’s population. We’ve got the scale to compete with the big banks, but we’re not a bank. 

As a building society, we’re owned by our members – that’s our customers who have their current account, mortgage or savings with us. It means we can do things differently to deliver our Purpose – Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society. 

When you work at Nationwide, you can experience that difference for yourself. You’ll be part of a high-performing, purpose-driven organisation that offers rewarding career experiences and a highly competitive range of benefits to match. You’ll also be joining us at an important time as we seek to reach more and more people in the UK. We want everyone in the UK to know that they don’t have to bank with a bank. They can choose a modern mutual instead. 

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.

We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

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