This isn't a role where you'll simply produce architectural diagrams and hand them over to development teams. You'll have the opportunity to shape technical direction, influence software design and work closely with engineers to turn complex challenges into practical solutions.

The business is also embracing AI-first software development, making this an exciting opportunity to work with modern AI-assisted engineering tools and help shape the future of software delivery.

What will you be doing?

• Taking ownership of software architecture and solution design across a range of established and evolving software products.

• Defining technical approaches, architectural direction and long-term improvements that support business and product objectives.

• Working closely with software engineers to ensure architectural designs translate into practical, high-quality solutions.

• Supporting the modernisation of existing applications, improving scalability, maintainability, performance and reliability.

• Tackling complex technical challenges and contributing directly to software design, development and delivery.

• Collaborating with product teams, developers and technical stakeholders to evaluate requirements and identify effective solutions.

• Guiding and mentoring engineers, sharing architectural knowledge and promoting good software engineering practices.

• Working with AI-assisted development tools to support software design, coding, testing and delivery.

• Reviewing technical solutions and AI-generated outputs to ensure they meet appropriate quality, security and engineering standards.

• Helping improve development processes, tools and architectural practices across the wider engineering organisation.

What are we looking for?

We're particularly interested in speaking with people who have progressed from a strong software development background into software architecture or technical leadership.

You'll ideally bring:

• Proven commercial experience as a Software Architect, Technical Architect, Principal Software Engineer, Lead Developer or Senior Software Engineer with significant architecture responsibilities.

• A strong background in hands-on software development and a genuine understanding of how modern applications are designed, built and maintained.

• Experience designing complex software solutions and making architectural decisions that balance technical requirements with business objectives.

• The ability to think strategically while remaining comfortable getting involved in detailed technical discussions and implementation challenges.

• Experience working across the software development lifecycle, from initial requirements and architecture through to successful delivery.

• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to identify potential design issues, technical risks and opportunities for improvement.

• Excellent communication skills, with the confidence to explain architectural decisions to developers, stakeholders and wider teams.

• An interest in modern engineering practices, continuous improvement and emerging technologies.

AI-assisted software development

AI is becoming an integral part of how this organisation designs and develops software.

We're looking for someone who is genuinely interested in how AI can improve engineering productivity and software quality.

Experience using tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor or similar AI-assisted development technologies would be particularly interesting.

However, you don't need to be an expert in agentic AI or AI-native development.

What matters most is that you're open to adopting new approaches, understand the importance of reviewing and validating AI-generated solutions, and have the engineering experience to recognise when something isn't quite right.

Why consider this opportunity?

• Influence technical direction: Help shape architectural decisions across a broad portfolio of software products.

• Stay technically involved: Combine strategic design with practical engineering and delivery.

• Work with emerging AI technologies: Join a business actively adopting AI-first development practices.

• Make a genuine impact: Contribute to the modernisation and evolution of business-critical software.

• Collaborate with experienced engineers: Work alongside development teams, technical specialists and stakeholders to solve complex challenges.

• Build for the future: Help create scalable, maintainable software solutions while influencing engineering standards and best practices.

Spectrum IT Recruitment (South) Limited is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.