About us.

We are The Very Group and we’re here to help families get more out of life. We know that our customers work hard for their families and have a lot to balance in their busy lives. That’s why we combine amazing brands and products with flexible payment options on Very.co.uk to help them say yes to the things they love. We’re just as passionate about helping our people get more out of life too; building careers with real growth, a sense of purpose, belonging and wellbeing.

About the Team

The Financial Services (FS) Performance Unit is responsible for designing, building, changing and running technology across all our financial products and functions. It supports Account Management, Credit Risk, Fraud, Debt Management, Customer Payments, Insurance and Retail Credit Products, and will help drive future expansion into new FS products including Personal Loans.

Tech Stack: Java, ECS, AWS RDS, Terraform, AWS API Gateway

About the role

As Senior Solution Architect you are expected to help shape architectural design and technology roadmaps for complex applications supporting high volume, mission critical products and services.

Responsible for designing solutions across the Financial Services tribe that meet both the functional and non-functional requirements for initiatives. Solutions will be a combination of custom-built software, utilising primarily AWS, and external providers’ SAAS components.

A key requirement for the role is the ability to analyse existing implementations, sometimes including legacy systems, and present options (Key Design Decisions) showing the strategic option (if known) plus other options which are pragmatic roadmap phases balancing long-term strategy and shorter-term business value. A benefit for this role will be strong system analysis skills.

Defining roadmaps for the domains which define the as-is and to-be architectural states and the proposed transitionary phases to be followed to achieve the proposed target state. Roadmap phases will balance strategic direction with business delivery.

Working with the Lead Architect, you will be responsible for implementing the policies and standards that guide technology delivery, possessing significant experience in modern, cloud-based technology standards and practices.

Assessing 3rd party providers to ensure the proposed solution meets the TVG standards for security, privacy, data integration, performance and reliability.

You will be experienced in actively addressing the most complicated risks, issues and dependencies including managing dependencies where ownership exists outside of the team. We need the right person to help identify innovative ways to unblock issues whilst evolving our architecture towards a defined target.

The Senior solution architect must both contribute towards strategic thinking as well as ensuring that appropriate technology standards are created and adhered to – including solution designs, strategic alignment, growing technology capabilities, introducing best practice and leading technology selection. The Senior Solution Architect must be an integral part of the Solution Architecture team, working in collaboration with the Lead Architect within a Tribe.

You'll work hand in hand with our Product Managers, Delivery and Technical Leads in order to influence and define a technology roadmap to meet both our commercial and technology aims.

We're looking for a role model within the discipline to engage the wider community whilst coaching/mentoring other architects, technical leads and engineers.

To be successful in the role, we need someone who can mediate between people and explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences, particularly someone who is confident communicating with stakeholders at all levels. Someone who understands the evolutionary nature of technology delivery in an agile environment. As you may imagine, our stakeholder expectations are high, and we'll need you to facilitate discussions about high risk and complexity even within constrained timescales.

We want to be known as the best in class for this space, so here you can speak and represent the community to large audiences inside and outside of the Very Group!

The role also has a focus on promotion and leadership of the architectural vision both inside the architecture team and across the wider technology and business teams.

Essential knowledge and skills

• Demonstrable experience in designing complex solutions balancing strategic direction and business delivery
• Experience in defining roadmaps and influencing, communicating and guiding stakeholders
• Conceptual and strategic thinker
• Technical expert
• Team member with good interpersonal skills but able to work independently
• You are known for your thought leadership and critical thinking in the technical space, while being able to apply business context
• You have experience of the following technology skills or knowledge: Java & Amazon AWS
• Experience working with the following technologies would be a bonus: SpringBoot, Oracle DB, Terraform, React & AWS specifics: API Gateway and RDS
• Domain experience in Financial Services, preferably Retail Financial Services / Banking / Insurance / Credit / Loans

Some of our benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment, check out our Glassdoor reviews
• £6500 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs
• 30 days holiday + bank holidays
• Udemy learning access
• Bonus potential (performance and business-related)
• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk

• Matched pension up to 6%
• More benefits can be found on our career site

How to apply

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. Should your application progress we require you to let the team know if there is anything you need to disclose in relation to any of these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions.

What happens next?

Our talent acquisition team will be in touch if you’re successful so keep an eye on your emails! We’ll arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. If it feels like we’re a good match, we’ll share your CV with the hiring manager to review. Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.

You can expect a two-stage interview process for this position:

1st stage - An informal 45-60 minute video call with the hiring team to discuss your skills and relevant experience. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the role and to ask any questions you may have.

2nd stage - A one-hour more formal technical focused interview.

3rd stage - Final Stage with the Head of Technology

As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here.

Equal opportunities

We’re an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

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