Senior Solution Architect - Eso

About the role

Great Britain's electricity system is undergoing an ambitious, exciting and vital transformation. Together with industry, we are creating a cleaner, greener system, one that protects the planet and serves generations to come.
 

We are looking for a Senior Solution/Application Architect to join us within the “Strategy & Architecture” pillar of the ESO organisation, to work within the Balancing Domain supporting existing and new systems. 

The Senior Solution/Application Architect will play a key role in the design, implementation, evolution, and integration of the systems in support of the business needs.
This role is based at our Wokingham office, which has free onsite parking, and we continue to offer hybrid working from office and home.

About us

Our mission is to facilitate the decarbonisation of Great Britain’s energy network and ensure the delivery of reliable, affordable, and green electricity for consumers. We work with stakeholders across the whole energy industry to plan for future network needs, using insight to make sure we can balance the system today and find opportunities to transform the way it operates tomorrow.

Becoming the National Energy System Operator
In Summer of 2024, the ESO will transition to becoming the National Energy System Operator, or NESO for short. Previously denoted as the Future System Operator (or FSO), the new National Energy System Operator will be the independent body responsible for planning Great Britain’s electricity and gas networks and operating the electricity system. 
 
The ESO, including all of its existing roles, will be at the heart of the new National Energy System Operator. As NESO, we will build on our existing roles, capabilities, and ways of working significantly to create an organisation the energy system and its users’ need. Our new capabilities will enable us to look across vectors, including electricity, natural gas and hydrogen, and crucially consider the trade-offs between them. 
 
The organisation will be set up as a public corporation with its own Board of independent directors, with complete operational independence from government, the regulator and any and all commercial interest. As the ESO are today, NESO will be licenced and regulated by Ofgem through price control agreements and obligated to identify optimal solutions to system operations and planning in the most sustainable, affordable and secure way for all. 

The time to deliver is now. As part of our team, you won’t just be touching the lives of almost everyone in Great Britain – you’ll be shaping the way we use and consume energy for generations to come.

Key Accountabilities

• Engage with key stakeholders to support the elicitation of requirements to ensure the Business / End-Users / Operational Teams needs are understood via workshops, meetings, user story and feature reviews.
• Map Solution requirements to Solution Design by converting business and technical requirements to Secure Solutions to support the required outcome.
• Work closely with key stakeholders such as Markets, End-Users, Operations, Security, Technical Risk, Solution / Development Teams to ensure requirements are captured in the architecture designs. 
• Own the end-to-end architecture for major projects and work closely with other architects to keep it aligned with architecture strategy and project milestones
• Present technical options and recommendations.
• Ensure solutions conforms to architecture principles and guidelines.
• Ensure the design aligns with and is approved / endorsed via the appropriate Governance processes, this includes presenting at the various governance boards.
• Provide support and guidance through the various testing phases.
• Responsible for the production and maintenance of required artifacts such as VROMs, Impact Assessments, High Level Designs and Low Level Designs.
• Work closely with Team members and other Solution Architects to define, document and resolve technical dependencies and blockers to achieve business outcomes and value.
• Support the development of strategy and relevant roadmaps.
   

About you

Required skills:

• Familiar with applying Solution Architecture tools and techniques.
• Strong leadership skills with a proven track record of technical leadership on business-critical projects involving various platforms and products
• Working with other Architects to ensure principles are followed, standards are maintained such as maximum re-use of Technologies.
• Experience of solving complex/mathematical/logical problems.
• Good written and verbal communications skills.
• Good stakeholder management and influencing skills at all levels - colleagues, partners / vendors and project sponsors.
• Be able to present ideas and solutions for different stakeholders.
• Change Management, managing change processes in a complex technical environment.
• Can operate seamlessly in Waterfall and Agile methods of Delivery.
• Good understanding of Microservices patterns.
• Good understanding of IT Networks and networking protocols.
• Experience working with multiple teams and solving their day-to-day design and engineering issues.
• Ability to keep abreast with industry knowledge and technology trends.
• Proficient in modern dev/sec/ops concepts and tools specially with security aspects.
• Experience and understanding of what it takes to operationalise and actualise strategies
• Experience working in a high-assurance environment, e.g. CNI, Government, finance
• A strong experience of using architecture frameworks (e.g. Zachman, TOGAF, SABSA) would be beneficial
• Ability to manage changing business and technical requirements in highly dynamic  delivery environment
• Good experience working in cloud environment such as Azure & AWS.

 
Preferred skills:

• Good experience working with Red Hat Open Shift Technology.
• Experience of popular Programming, Database, Interface/Message, and Data Interchange Technologies.
• Relevant industry certification (e.g. TOGAF).
• Experience of Kubernetes.
• Skills in database management systems, ETL tools, and data visualization tools would be beneficial
• Good communication skills with demonstrated ability to navigate a complex organization and generate buy-in for ideas and solutions
• Familiar with Cloud and  Integration Technologies
• Ability and desire to step up into a Lead Architect role for a platform.

What you’ll get

A competitive salary between £63,000 – £80,000 – dependent on experience and capability.
As well as your base salary, you will receive a bonus of up to 15% of your salary for stretch performance, 28 days annual leave as standard, and a competitive contributory pension scheme where we will double match your contribution to a maximum company contribution of 12%. 
You will also have access to a comprehensive benefits package tailored to support your well-being and professional success. From a competitive salary to flexible work arrangements, we promote your work-life balance. Enjoy fit for purpose wellbeing and lifestyle offerings, ongoing skill development aligned to our Purpose and Values, and be part of a supportive community that values your individuality and where you can belong.

More information

This role closes on 04/04/2024 at 23:59, however we encourage candidates to submit their application as early as possible and not wait until the published closing date as this can vary.
We work towards the highest standards in everything we do, including how we support, value and develop our people. Our aim is to encourage and support employees to thrive and be the best they can be. We celebrate the difference people can bring into our organisation, and welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences and backgrounds, and offer flexible and tailored support, at home and in the office. 
We're committed to building a workforce that represents the communities we serve, and a working environment in which each individual feels valued, respected, fairly treated, and able to reach their full potential.

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