Enterprise Architect

We are looking for a highly skilled and forward-thinking architect to join the senior engineering leadership team and provide architectural guidance and leadership across the department as we build out our new platform and expand into new markets.

Reporting into the Head of Engineering, you will support our Product Delivery teams by providing both high-level processes and designs, as well as close support on specific initiatives where required.

In the first 3 months, you will:

• Shadow our current (out-going) architect, in order to familiarise with the overall architectural landscape, and obtain a firm grasp of the system migration effort we are currently engaged in.


• Develop a solid grounding in your understanding of the business and how it operates.


• Form an understanding of how our data flows between our systems.


• Begin making positive and impactful contributions to the solutions being designed by our Product Delivery Pods


• Build strong relationships with key people across Engineering and its related functions.


• Understand and settle into our existing team processes and cycles, and start forming ideas on how they can be improved.


Ongoing Responsibilities

Architecture Strategy

• Responsible for the systems architecture strategy and governance processes across our systems landscape

+ Own, develop and maintain our systems, integration and architecture strategy and ensure that it meets the needs and ambitions of our business.
+ Create and maintain a roadmap for technology implementation and evolution, and work with other Senior Tech Leaders to ensure it is reflected in our delivery plans.
+ Define and document architecture blueprints, standards, and best practices.
+ Establish and enforce architectural governance processes to ensure compliance with design principles, standards, and policies.

• Working with the Business and Technology Teams with a central role in defining how our systems landscape will evolve and that architecture requirements are reflected within our tech and product roadmap.

+ Contribute to technology project delivery through leading, supporting, and approving solution and technical designs.
+ Ensure integration and compatibility of systems and alignment to our architecture strategy.
+ Identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.
+ Provide guidance on disaster recovery and business continuity planning.

• Stakeholder Collaboration

+ Communicate architectural decisions, principles, and strategies to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
+ Collaborate with business leaders, Tech team members, and other stakeholders to understand business requirements and objectives.
+ Translate business needs into technical solutions and architectural designs.

• Ensuring the architecture strategy is aligned to our overall business strategy.


Delivery

• Provide architectural leadership and support to Pods during discovery and solution design stages.

+ Provide support to analyse problems and define solutions.
+ Analyse and resolve complex technical issues that may arise during the discovery and/or development process.
+ Ensure that non-functional requirements are both accounted for and met with high quality solutions.

• Provide support for resolving production systems issues as needed and ensure root cause identification and resolution are considered in architecture as required.


Team Culture

• Work in a collaborative, transparent, non-hierarchical, and ego-free manner which values talent over role titles.


• Cultivate a high-performance culture that is based on:

+ putting the customer first
+ the early delivery of value
+ maintaining high quality standards
+ encouraging and facilitating open debate
+ relationships that are based upon trust.

• Ensure a safe environment where differing views are expressed honestly and frankly without fear of recrimination.


• Foster a culture of personal development and individual accountability, holding people to account and challenging them to constantly push their boundaries.


Communication

• Close collaboration with other functions (e.g. Product, UX, etc.) early in the solutioning process, ensuring technical considerations are appropriately represented and taken into account in any decisions that are made.


• Communicate clearly, both into the team and externally, on how the team contributes to the goals and priorities of the organisation.


• Act as an ambassador for the Tech department, interacting with stakeholders across all levels of the organisation.
  
  3 - 5 years' experience in an architectural (or similar) role


• Excellent communication skills


• Experience of mentoring and coaching


• Strong experience of working with Agile methodologies


• Web Apps, system integrations, messaging systems, ETL, Data Warehousing, cloud technologies


• A results-oriented mindset


• A strong sense of accountability


You should be:

• Naturally collaborative and approachable


• Able to convey complex information in an easily understandable manner.


• Willing to initiate honest and open conversations across all levels.


• Enthusiastic and engaging in convincing others of your ideas, and able to motivate them to buy into initiatives without needing to rely upon hierarchy.


• Able to use the relationships you've built to explore and challenge ideas, and to influence decisions and outcomes.


• Comfortable in holding difficult conversations, and skilled in approaching them in a forthright yet sensitive and constructive manner.


• Positive in the face of change, and an advocate for continuous evolution of the dept. and its capabilities


• The sort of person who naturally steps forwards to take responsibility.
  
  More than 75,000 businesses across the world have made Sedex their trusted partner in creating a more socially and environmentally sustainable supply chain.


From our platform's unrivalled data insights to our team's expert guidance, Sedex makes it easy for companies to manage, assess and report on sustainability performance.

Our Vision is to be a leader in making global supply chains more socially and environmentally sustainable.

Our Mission is to supply data-driven insight through the most accessible tools and services. We engage with companies and our community to continuously improve their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes., At Sedex, we are passionate about helping businesses become truly sustainable and ethical across their operations and supply chains. We believe that all people have the right to a safe workplace, where they are treated with respect and paid fair wages, free of harassment and discrimination. We strive to achieve these beliefs through inclusive behaviours that embody our values of being collaborative, responsible, transparent, quality driven and committed to service excellence.

We want everyone to feel they can be themselves and thrive at work - in every country, in everything we do, every day. We are focused on providing a culture characterised by inclusive everyday behaviours built on a foundation of respect and appreciation for diversity in all its forms.