Solution Architect Lead

Solution Architect Lead: Ageas have an exciting opportunity to join our IT department as a Solution Architect. It's a time of growth and modernisation at Ageas, and The Solution Architecture Lead is responsible for providing technical leadership and guidance on projects and initiatives for Ageas. They will design and implement innovative and cost-effective solutions that meet the business needs and align with the IT strategy, Enterprise Architecture Blueprint, principles, and standards. The Solution Architect Lead will also manage and mentor a team of Solution Architects, ensuring their work is managed appropriately, and delivered to the required quality and consistency across the portfolio of work.

Main Responsibilities as Solution Architect Lead:

Lead the analysis and design of IT solutions, considering the business requirements, existing systems, internal and industry standards.

Collaborate with stakeholders, developers, analysts, and other IT professionals to deliver solutions that meet the business objectives and expectations.

Evaluate and select appropriate technologies, platforms, and tools for the solutions, ensuring scalability, security, performance, and reliability.

Define and document the Solution Architecture, design patterns, and best practices, and ensure compliance with the IT policies and standards.

Provide technical oversight and direction to the Solution Architects, and review their deliverables for quality and consistency.

Manage the Solution Architecture team, including hiring, training, coaching, development, work management and performance evaluation.

Stay updated on the latest trends and developments in the IT and insurance domains, and identify opportunities for improvement and innovation.

To be successful in being considered for the Solution Architect Lead role you will need the following knowledge, skills and experience:

Extensive experience in IT Solution Architecture, preferably in the insurance industry.

Expertise in various technologies, platforms, and tools, such as cloud computing, web services, microservices, APIs, databases, etc.

Experience in designing and implementing solutions (preferably for personal lines insurance), such as policy administration, claims management, underwriting, pricing, etc. and their associated enabling technologies.

Experience in leading, managing and recruiting teams of IT professionals, and providing technical mentorship and guidance.

Excellent communication, presentation, stakeholder management and interpersonal skills, and the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, and the ability to handle multiple projects and priorities.

Ability to build and manage effective relationships with stakeholders, third parties, suppliers, partners etc.
Desirable:

Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, IT, Software Engineering, or related field

Relevant professional certifications, such as TOGAF, Azure, etc.

Experience in working with agile methodologies, such as Scrum, Kanban, etc.

Experience in working with DevOps tools and practices, such as CI/CD, automation, testing, etc.

Knowledge of the insurance business processes, regulations, and standards.

Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy within the JOB.TITLE role:

At Ageas we offer a wide range of benefits to support you and your family inside and outside of work, which helped us achieve, Top Employer status in the UK.

• Flexible Working - Smart Working @ Ageas gives employees flexibility around location (as long as it's within the UK) and, for many of our roles, flexibility within the working day to manage other commitments, such as school drop offs etc. We also offer all our vacancies part-time/job-shares . We also offer a minimum of 35 days holiday (inc. bank holidays) and you can buy and sell days.
• Supporting your Health - Dental Insurance Health Cash Plan, Health Screening, Will Writing, Voluntary Critical Illness, Mental Health First Aiders, Well Being Activities - Yoga, Mindfulness.
• Supporting your Wealth - Annual Bonus Schemes, Annual Salary Reviews, Competitive Pension, Employee Savings, Employee Loans.
• Supporting you at Work - Well-being activities, yoga, mindfulness sessions, Sports and Social Club events and more.
• Benefits for Them - Partner Life Assurance and Critical Illness cover
• Get some Tech - Deals on various gadgets including Wearables, Tablets and Laptops.
• Supporting you back to work - Return to work programme after maternity leave

About Ageas:
We're one of the largest car and home insurers in the UK. Our people help Ageas to be a thriving, creative and innovative place to work, which is echoed in the service we provide to over four million customers.
As an inclusive employer, we encourage anyone to apply. We're a signatory of the Race at Work Charter and Women in Finance Charter, a Stonewall diversity champion and a Disability Confident Employer (which means interviews are guaranteed for applicants with a disability who meet the minimum role criteria). For more information please see Ageas Everyone.
Our aim is to have great people everywhere in our business and we're always looking for outstanding people to join us. To find out more about Ageas, see About Us.?

Want to be part of a Winning Team? Come and join Ageas.