Solution Architect

Because you can see how we can be better. Innovate, your way.

Primark is a leading global fashion retailer, with over 450 stores across 16 countries and employing over 72,000 people.  With our commitment to providing high-quality, affordable fashion, we have experienced rapid growth and expansion. As part of our continuous development, we are expanding our Technology Architecture Department to support, enable and grow our business capabilities.

We are seeking an experienced Solution Architect to join our team and help guide and deliver Primark’s ambitious business strategy while ensuring alignment with the architecture guidelines and policies.

Primark Technology is embarking on a transformation journey to support and enable business strategy, which includes modernising our operating model as well as our retail, supply chain and buying systems

As a Solution Architect, you will help us define our high-level architecture, and will design solutions to deliver great business outcomes, meeting our longer-term strategy. You will Influence and promote the collaboration across platform and domain teams on the solution design. Partnering with platform and domain teams, you’ll elaborate the solution and its interfaces, validating technology assumptions, evaluating implementation alternatives, and contributing towards the product area’s roadmap

If you are passionate about technology, possess excellent architectural skills, and have a strong background in solution architecture, you will be an ideal fit for this role.

What You’ll Get

People are at the heart of what we do at Primark, so it’s essential we provide the right environment for you to perform at your best.

Let’s talk lifestyle:

• 27 days of annual leave, plus bank holidays – with the option to buy up to 5 more.
• Flexible working arrangements, including the opportunity for an early Friday finish.
• Access to a subsidised cafeteria.
• Primark Perks – enjoy discounts with local partner businesses near our offices

What You’ll Do

• Design technical solutions that may span multiple workstreams, whilst identifying downstream application dependencies. This role not only owns the solution through to delivery but is also responsible for understanding the wider Primark application estate
• Develop an evolving and balanced solution architecture for projects, addressing business function needs and achieving alignment with known business function priorities and roadmaps, enterprise architecture principles, standards and governance process agreeing design changes and pragmatic trade-offs
• Identify and exploit the re-use of any components, patterns and techniques and document these for re-use by other projects
• Establish and direct proof-of-concepts in innovation and make recommendations on technology adoption
• Work with the Security and Information Risk functions to ensure any solution meet the needs of our security standards and principles
• Manage logical to physical design, collaborating with both internal and external delivery partners.
• Where required, establish and direct innovation-led proof of concepts and make recommendations on technology adoption and benefits
• Ensure that delivery projects plan for all relevant architectural governance and design reviews
• Develop the solution and technical acceptance criteria to ensure the integrity of any proposed solutions across our technology estate and enable communication to relevant stakeholders.
• Support delivery projects in accounting for solution infrastructure from an operational and supportability perspective and that all non-functional requirements (including SLAs for business continuity, availability and scalability, security) are addressed in the solution.
• Ensure that the solution architecture balances functional, service quality and operational management requirements but remains bound by relevant commercial, business function and technical constraints.
• Share and collaborate on technology solutions with other stakeholders, especially implementation partners to ensure skills are developed in-house and knowledge is retained.
• Communicate portfolio of content and reusable solutions to suppliers and partners, ensuring the most appropriate deployment of their technology and products as possible.
• Support wider Tech relationship with technology vendors.

What You’ll Bring

• 2+ years of experience with IT Architecture and System implementation.
• Experience of defining application architectures and roadmaps for complex solutions working for all layers of the architecture
• A background in delivering solutions that securely span a complex infrastructure domain
• Experience of systems development change lifecycles, best practices and approaches
• Excellent collaboration skills with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to peers and leadership level colleague
• An appropriate degree, equivalent qualification or experience

Successful candidates will:

• Be a passionate and visionary technologist able to inspire others to challenge and disrupt the current reality to co-create a compelling technology-orientated future business by:
• Being able to scan potential technologies (established, emerging and emergent) and finding ways to translate that into business opportunities
• Be able to take people along with you, empowering new ways of working and successfully executing on those opportunities
• Ability to understand complex technical processes/challenges and create pragmatic solutions
• Strong interpersonal skills enabling the ability to comfortably communicate with key stakeholders, including senior business leaders, product owners, project managers and business analysts.
• Practical experience of delivering change in a fast-moving, multi-vendor environment supported by an agile delivery framework
• Previous experience in retail, preferably with a leading and innovating retailer
• Experience within an architecture team where you have developed solutions aligned with an overarching strategy.
• A good understanding of how to derive complex solutions for a truly global business where the customer experience is seamless across multiple channels, including retail store interactions.
• Experience of providing leadership and guidance to peers and more junior members of the team.

Because you can see how we can be better. Innovate, your way.

What’s a career at Primark all about? The positive impact you’re making, the experiences you’re having and the people you’re with. You’re our inspiration. Embrace what sets you apart, own your career and develop in ways you never expected. Leave your mark. And do it your way.

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Our fashion isn’t one-size-fits-all and neither is our culture. Primark promotes equal employment opportunity, we strive to create an inclusive workplace where people can be themselves, access opportunities and thrive together.

If you require extra support at any stage of the selection process, please get in touch with our team at removingbarriers@primark.co.uk.