Lead Solutions Architect - CREST New Technology

IT is at the core of the business, providing continuous development and assisting in delivering a cost-efficient, high-quality service to customers. The current core business runs on HP NonStop Servers (Tandem). Communications infrastructure and message-routing functionality are implemented on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

CREST is beginning an evaluation of migration from COBOL programs running on the HPE NonStop Guardian platform to new technology capable of running on a commoditised platform such as Linux. Key technologies include Java, OpenShift, databases (Oracle, SQL Server), and Kafka.

Quick Facts

• The migration is expected to be an incremental process over a period of years.
• The new technology will be Java-based and use Event Hub technology, such as Kafka, for integration between migrated services and the non-migrated legacy CREST system.
• Migrated services must be platform-independent to enable operation in OpenShift Linux environments.

Responsibilities

• Define options and provide recommendations for migration from legacy to an event-driven, service-focused architecture, in collaboration with Enterprise Architecture, CREST application architects and other stakeholders.
• Deliver a coherent end-to-end IT solution that meets functional and non-functional requirements.
• Ensure the IT solution aligns with enterprise engineering and architecture standards.
• Ensure end-to-end consistency of solution delivery across platforms and teams, including organising solution walkthroughs with delivery teams.
• Collaborate with security to ensure the new solution meets security standards.
• Establish infrastructure requirements and collaborate with infrastructure teams to deliver the technical and infrastructure design.
• Establish guidelines, patterns and standards for solution architecture and design in the new technology stack.
• Establish prototypes and proof of concepts to validate key components of the proposed architecture.
• Establish estimation principles for migration-program phases and proof-of-concept exercises.
• Lead implementation of prototypes and follow-on work.
• Present proposed solution architecture and plans to management, customers and team members.
• Act as the technical authority for the new solution and technical stack.

Requirements

• Demonstrable solution architecture skills and experience.
• Strong systems development experience across inception, budgeting, architecture, design, development, testing, live implementation and post-implementation support.
• Strong experience implementing Event Hub technology, such as Kafka, and modern architectures, including service-oriented and microservices architectures.
• Experience leading implementation of platform-independent and database-independent applications.
• Experience working in Financial Market Infrastructure and/or regulated environments.
• Strong analytical and systems architecture/design skills.
• Strong database design skills in technologies such as Oracle and SQL Server.
• EDA technology experience, including Kafka.
• Commodity-platform, OpenShift and containerisation skills.
• Hands-on object-oriented design and Java programming skills.

Additional Skills

• Ability to motivate, mentor, coach and lead colleagues.
• Willingness to participate in peer reviews and be reviewed by peers.
• Reliable, self-motivated, and able to work without close management or supervision.
• Strong written, oral communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to deliver work within agreed timescales.
• Ability to identify problems and provide suitable solutions.
• Flexibility in a dynamic environment.
• Ability to supervise, lead, inspire and coach technical staff.
• Ownership and accountability for project work under personal control.

Nice to Have

• Messaging standards: ISO 15022, ISO 20022 and JSON.
• Agile development experience.
• IBM MQ.
• Angular framework.
• HPE NonStop.
• Knowledge of settlement systems, including CREST.

What We Offer

• Work with inspiring, supportive and engaged colleagues in a highly professional international environment.
• Learning and development opportunities with an emphasis on knowledge sharing and training.
• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits.
• Hybrid working model, with office attendance 8 days per month and remote-working flexibility.
• An inclusive workplace where qualified applicants are considered regardless of personal characteristics.

About the Team

The Group Business Solutions division delivers reliable and sustainable IT solutions for financial securities markets. Technical teams deliver new IT solutions and improve existing applications for internal and external clients, deploy changes to production in a controlled and structured way without compromising production stability, and provide application production support.