Job Description
Job Title: Solution Architect
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Alderley Edge (South Manchester) / Edinburgh
Working style: Hybrid 50% home/office based
Closing date: 20th June 2025
At Royal London Group our Solutions Architects play a pivotal role in evolving our technology landscape. Your contribution directly impacts the value to our customers and members, and business growth across Domains / Business Value Streams of Protection, Equity Release, Long-term Savings/Pensions, Long Standing Customers, Annuities.
Our Solutions Architects regularly work with Senior Solutions Architects business partners, to guide the development of technology products and drive a portfolio of solutions for our core propositions. You will have the opportunity to bring your experience in modern architectural practices to innovate, refresh our estate and experiment across a complex range of organisational capabilities. Our projects incrementally develop enduring products and provide a range of exciting challenges including cloud computing, AI, consolidation, migration, integrations, simplification, and Digital Experiences. Solutions typically involve changes to, or creation of, business processes, operating model, application, data flows, infrastructure, and integration of third-party services.
You have a solid grasp of the concepts of business goals, objectives and business outcomes, business capabilities, value-streams and business processes and their importance in solution architecture.
We are committed to your growth and offer continuous learning opportunities, mentorship, and a clear path for professional development. You will join a supportive and inclusive team that values collaboration, trust, empowerment, and achieving together.
We are seeking passionate and experienced solution architects with a strong technical background. If you are enthusiastic about leveraging your expertise to drive technological innovation and make a significant impact, we want to hear from you.
About the role
Work with the Principal Architect for Protection to understand the strategic roadmap to create the solution architecture designs to enable the strategy to be implemented.
Collaborate with business analysts to understand the business requirements.
Manage architecture design through the Governance process.
Presentation of solutions to design forums and wider stakeholder meetings.
Collaborate with other architecture disciplines to ensure designs consider all aspects of architecture.
Support the engineering teams with the detailed software designs through to implementation and then ongoing maintenance.
Keep the enterprise architecture tooling up to date as new technologies and designs are implemented and created.
About you
Experience of working in projects within financial services, ideally but not mandatory within the Life Assurance space.
Experience of Microsoft technologies, particularly in Azure and .Net would be a distinct advantage.
An inquisitive mindset looking at new developments in the wider industry and other areas with a view to using them within Royal London.
Strong communication skills with an adaptable approach suitable for stakeholders across all levels, both technical and business.
The skills to build consensus between different areas within the organisation and, or highly independent and diverse stakeholders.
About Royal London
We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.
Our People Promise to our colleagues is that we will all work somewhere inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.
We've always been proud to reward employees by offering great workplace benefits such as 28 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, an up to 14% employer matching pension scheme and private medical insurance. You can see all our benefits here - Our Benefits
Inclusion, diversity and belonging
We’re an Inclusive employer. We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across Royal London. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected – whatever their background.
We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.
Royal London is a purpose-driven mutual. Our Purpose, ‘Protecting today, investing in tomorrow. Together we are mutually responsible’, defines the impact we want to have. It shapes what we do on behalf of our members and customers, financial advisers, our colleagues and the communities in which we operate. Our People Promise is our collective commitment that our workplace will be inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling where all colleagues can thrive and experience a sense of belonging. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.
Our inclusive values and people promise are core to who we are and how we work. It’s good for our people, and good for our customers too, because with an inclusive workplace and a diverse workforce we will reflect our members, customers and communities to deliver the best outcomes.
We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across our organisation. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected– whatever their background.
Workplace Initiatives
Program for parents returning to work after Parental Leave? |
No |
Leadership development programmes? |
Yes |
Mentoring programmes? |
Yes |
Coaching programmes? |
Yes |
Employee-led diversity networks? |
Yes |
Internal women’s networking groups? |
Yes |
Open to discussing flexible work arrangements at interview stage? |
Yes |
No. of weeks paid maternity leave at full salary: |
26 weeks (followed by 13 weeks half pay) |
Minimum weeks tenure required to be eligible for paid maternity leave: |
Open to all regardless of length of service |
No. of weeks paid paternity leave at full salary: |
4 weeks |
Minimum tenure required to be eligible for paid paternity leave: |
Open to all regardless of length of service |
Gender pay gap reporting information 2022: |
|
Mean pay gap: |
35.3% |
Median pay gap: |
33.9% |
Mean bonus gap: |
70.4% |
Median bonus gap: |
48.5% |
Signatory of the UK Women in Finance Charter? |
Yes |
Targets to raise the number of women in leadership? |
Yes |
Targets to raise the number of BAME individuals in leadership? |
No |
Listed in the Bloomberg Diversity & Inclusion Index? |
No |
Graduate Programmes
We have a number of graduate programmes designed to deliver technical experts and future leaders.
Royal London Career Confidence programme
Our hybrid programme focuses on equipping you to feel empowered in your career and supported to explore new opportunities as they arise.
Apprenticeships
We offer a wide range of Apprenticeships that are targeted at both new joiners and existing colleagues.
Inclusion
We promote an inclusive culture at Royal London and have a range of inclusion networks for our colleagues to get involved with.
Our Women's Network is a community that celebrates and supports its members, helps everyone to learn more and inspires all of us to aim higher. Confidence and development are strong themes here and our events focus on three key areas of team working, finance, and wellbeing. There are two sub-groups to the Women’s Network – Women in Technology and our Periods and Menopause Group – focused on actions such as supporting over 20 new Periods and Menopause champions and launching guidance and training for leaders.