Principal Solution Architect (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds and London)
Company Description
Genomics England is a global leader in enabling genomic medicine and research, focused on creating a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project, we support the NHS’s world-first national whole genome sequencing service and run the growing National Genomic Research Library, alongside delivering numerous major genomics initiatives. By connecting research and clinical care at national scale, we enable immediate healthcare benefits and advances for the future.
Our mission is to provide the evidence and digital systems so that by 2035 genomics could play a role in up to half of all healthcare interactions, whilst securing the UK’s position as the best place to discover, prove and benefit from genomic innovations.
We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.
Behind the Healthcare and Research outcomes, Genomics England delivers through designing, developing and operating complex healthcare software systems.
We're on the cusp of big changes with the real prospect of genomics becoming the fabric of everyday healthcare through the lifetime - from birth to old age.
Job Description
Principal Solution Architect, Research
Genomics England are hiring an accomplished Principal Solution Architect for Research to lead architecture across our Research tribe, including the Use Research Data and Generate Research Data services. You will manage the architects across the tribe and provide enterprise architecture leadership across both services. Working alongside other senior architecture and engineering leaders, you will help shape the technical direction for Research capabilities, ensure solutions align with enterprise direction, organisational priorities and service strategies, and support the development of coherent, scalable and secure platforms that enable research outcomes.
You will bring proven experience leading architecture across complex data, platform or research environments and supporting teams delivering products and services used to generate, manage and consume data. You will have experience setting direction across multiple teams or domains, applying enterprise architecture practices, evaluating architectural options and balancing strategic leadership with pragmatic delivery support.
You will have broad knowledge of solution architecture, data-intensive platforms, enterprise architecture practices and cloud platforms, preferably AWS. The complex nature of genomics research means we use a wide range of AWS services to support data ingestion, workflow execution, high-performance compute, high-speed storage, advanced security and specialist genomics workloads.
As Principal Solution Architect, you will work with solution architects, enterprise architects, principal engineers, product managers and other senior leaders, drawing on your expertise to shape architecture best practice for Research services, encourage consistency across the tribe, and improve interoperability, reuse, quality and long-term maintainability.
Key Responsibilities
Lead architecture across the Research tribe, ensuring coherent end-to-end design across the Use Research Data and Generate Research Data services, working with architects and engineers across GEL to deliver solutions spanning research, platform and enterprise domains.
Shape technical direction and guide the evolution of research capabilities and cloud platforms, aligning enterprise standards, strategic goals and delivery priorities while balancing immediate needs with longer-term direction.
Provide enterprise architecture capability for the Research tribe and represent Research architecture in wider enterprise architecture discussions, aligning local priorities, constraints and opportunities with organisational direction.
Partner with product, engineering, delivery and science stakeholders to shape roadmaps and inform architectural decisions.
Provide architectural oversight and assurance for major research platform, data flow and service initiatives, ensuring appropriate governance, quality and technical coherence throughout the lifecycle.
Drive consistency, reuse and interoperability across Research services, platforms and data domains.
Develop, embed and improve architecture patterns, standards and ways of working for research and data-intensive services.
Foster technical excellence, continuous improvement and cross-team collaboration across the Research tribe.
Manage architecture resources across the Research tribe.
Evaluate solution options and guide architectural decisions, balancing competing technical and delivery priorities.
Essential Skills and Experience
Significant experience in solution or domain architecture across complex enterprise environments, including cloud platforms, preferably AWS.
Knowledge of AWS services and patterns covering networking, security, compute, storage, data processing and automation.
Experience leading architecture across multiple teams, services or initiatives, balancing strategic direction with pragmatic delivery support.
Strong understanding of data-intensive and research-oriented platforms, including data ingestion, processing, storage, access and governance.
Experience shaping architecture across complex service boundaries and aligning product, engineering, delivery and domain stakeholders.
Strong understanding of enterprise architecture principles and experience representing services or domains in wider enterprise architecture discussions.
Experience providing architectural governance and oversight for significant programmes, platforms and technology change initiatives, throughout the full lifecycle from inception to live services.
Ability to develop, embed and improve architecture best practice, standards, patterns and ways of working.
Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence engineering, product, delivery, scientific and senior leadership audiences, driving a single, unified technical vision.
Strong understanding of complex technology platforms, including infrastructure, networking, security, compute, storage and integration.
Ability to work across multidisciplinary teams, including study management and laboratory teams, aligning architects, engineers and delivery stakeholders.
Experience managing and mentoring architects, setting direction, supporting their development, driving high standards of practice and delivering outcomes through the architectural team.
Experience applying TOGAF methodologies or equivalent enterprise architecture practices.
Desirable Skills and Experience
Experience with DevOps, CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code.
Experience contributing to architecture governance forums, such as a Technical Design Authority, or improving their effectiveness.
Experience in healthcare, genomics, research or other highly regulated, data-intensive domains.
Knowledge of research workflows, data lifecycle management or platforms supporting scientific and analytical use cases.
Knowledge of high-performance compute, high-speed storage, workflow orchestration or specialist cloud technologies.
Experience managing suppliers to deliver architectural outcomes.
Knowledge of enterprise architecture tools such as Abacus.
Qualifications
While we genuinely recognise the real value of relevant qualifications or certifications, we are primarily interested in your real-world experience:
Degree, ideally in computer science or a STEM discipline.
AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect).
TOGAF Certification or equivalent
Additional Information
Salary From: £103,500
Closing Date: Monday 9th November at 23:00 (UK time)
Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including:
- Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays, plus additional leave for long service, and also the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
- Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
- Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), an Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme and a Give As You Earn scheme.
- Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
- Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
- Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.
Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace
Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background.
Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity and will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor.
Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties. Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity.
We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us.
Culture
We have four key behaviours that represent what we would like Genomics England to feel like and the culture we want to encourage, in order for us to achieve our mission. These behaviours help us all work well together, deliver on our outcomes, celebrate our successes and share feedback with each other. You can read about these and other aspects of our culture here Culture | Genomics England
Blended working model
Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team.
Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.
Onboarding background checks
As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.
