Senior Solutions Architect - Retail

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 Retail Tribe is transforming the current retail tools and infrastructure into one of the most contemporary tech stacks in retail. Owning the designs, builds, integrations and running of technology across all retail products and functions, the tribe are transforming key Retail capabilities spanning Sourcing, Planning, Forecasting, Buying, Merchandising and Pricing, as well as the Product journey from initial setup to publish.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

About You

• 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 

 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 [email protected]. 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.