Senior Solutions Architect - DCX

Internal use only - Grade D

About us

We’re the team behind digital retailer Very.

Our purpose, helping families get more out of life, powers everything we do.

And we want our people to get more out of life too! If you’re high-performing, ambitious and make the most of every opportunity, we want to hear from you. In return, you’ll enjoy heaps of flexibility, great perks and benefits, and the freedom to be yourself, keep learning and take your career wherever you want it to go.

If you love making a difference, you’ll love making it sparkle for millions of Very customers. ✨

About the Team

The Digital Customer Experience (DCX) tribe is striving to create a world class customer experience across our Mobile and Web platforms. We are in control of building this exciting future and are looking for like-minded individuals to help make this a reality. We need people with strong backgrounds in digital retail to help us on this journey as we strive to define, design, build and run frictionless experiences that sets The Very Group apart from other online retailers

About The Role

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.

Solution Architects are involved in designing solutions that are appropriate and fit-for-purpose which align to both business and technology strategies with pragmatic solutions which deliver value for our customers and stakeholders.

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

The 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 Solution Architect must be an integral part of the Solution Architecture team, working in collaboration with the Lead Architect within a Tribe.

Participation in, and contribution to, the Performance Unit and TVG-wide governance processes and forums is a key element of the role.

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.

Solution Architects must have hand-on experience across a broad range of products and services, delivering and managing architecture change throughout the entire product life cycle. Working with the Lead Architect, they are involved in the end-to-end technology landscape.

As a practitioner in Agile and Lean practices, you'll know how to lead complex technology delivery in a fast-paced environment which is obsessed over continuously improving customer experiences.

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.

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.

Experience working in a Digital Customer Experience domain is preferred. You will be supporting squads as part of Digital Customer Platforms covering digital foundation services, content operations and AdTech as well as digital customer journeys across web and mobile app.

About You

• Experience of working on large technology change programmes or projects with multiple stakeholders.
• Proven track record of delivery in both iterative and continuous delivery approaches.
• Ability to operate in a complex stakeholder and technology environment.
• Significant experience of building, integrating, maintaining and managing complex software architectures (both build and bought), ideally across multi-cloud environments.
• Expert level knowledge of security, reliability, scalability, high availability and concurrency architectural patterns and their application to enterprise scale systems.
• Expert level solution design experience across the full technology stack, including on-prem, public and hybrid cloud.
• Expert level experience of building, integrating and migrating service / component-based architectures across modern and legacy platforms.
• Practical experience of successfully delivering change in a lean / agile / DevSecOps environment.
• Ability to lead collaboration and influence decision making with strong stakeholder and 3rd party management skills.
• Computer Science degree or relevant experience (preferable)
• Knowledge and experience of the Digital Customer Experience domain.
• Knowledge and experience of MACH architecture – digital experience platforms, FUSE design system, Microservices/API design.
• Experience of domain and event driven architecture.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms, ideally AWS.
• Experience of working with Commerce, CMS, Search and Discovery SaaS platforms such as Commercetools, Constructor and Amplience or equivalent.

Some of our benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment
• £6500 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs
• 30 days holiday + bank holidays
• LinkedIn learning access
• 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 - A 60-90 minute interview, ideally in person 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 30 minute call with a member of the Leadership team.

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

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities

We’re building a culture of everyday inclusion, and welcome applications from anyone who believes they can do the job. We don’t discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply, interview, or perform a role, let us know via talentacquisition@theverygroup.com. We’ll be happy to support you.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer and have nine brilliant colleague networks - including DAWN (Disability Awareness at Very) and Think (Neurodiversity at Very) - that are helping us make Very an even more inclusive place to work.