Principal Architect

Summary: The Principal Architect role at FDM involves leading the strategic design and implementation of enterprise-wide technology solutions within the insurance sector. This hybrid position requires a visionary leader with extensive experience in Microsoft technologies and architecture principles. The successful candidate will collaborate with stakeholders to align technology solutions with business goals and drive modernization efforts. This is an initial 12-month contract with potential for extension.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and lead the overall enterprise architecture strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives and technological advancements.
• Design and oversee complex architecture solutions, leveraging Microsoft technologies (e.g., Azure, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, .NET).
• Evaluate emerging technologies, making recommendations for adoption to enhance scalability, performance, and innovation.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across the business to understand needs and translate them into effective architectural frameworks.
• Provide technical leadership to development teams, ensuring adherence to architecture standards and best practices.
• Develop roadmaps for modernizing legacy systems, focusing on cloud-first and secure solutions.
• Address architectural risks, ensuring resilience, compliance, and future proofing of systems.
• Maintain a strong focus on governance, quality assurance, and documentation of architectural processes and decisions.

Key Skills:

• Extensive experience in technology leadership roles, such as Principal Architect, Enterprise Architect, or similar.
• Deep knowledge of Microsoft technologies, especially Azure, Microsoft 365, and application frameworks like .NET.
• Proven ability to design and implement enterprise architecture strategies in large, complex environments.
• Strong expertise in cloud computing, DevOps practices, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, capable of engaging stakeholders at all levels.
• In-depth knowledge of security, compliance, and regulatory requirements for architecture design.
• Experience mentoring teams and driving continuous improvement across development and operations.
• Background in pensions or related industries.
• Familiarity with integration of data analytics, AI, and ML capabilities within architectural frameworks.
• Certifications in Microsoft Azure or other relevant technologies (e.g., TOGAF, Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert).

Salary (Rate): £150,000.00

City: Cheshire East

Country: United Kingdom

Working Arrangements: hybrid

IR35 Status: undetermined

Seniority Level: undetermined

Industry: IT