About the role

The Principal Cloud Architect is a senior leadership role, reporting to the Director of DevOps, responsible for the high level Architecture and Design of the Zellis Cloud Estate, including Microsoft Azure and our Private Cloud offering, building on best-in-class architectural foundations.

You'll be a member of the Customer IT leadership team, contributing to P&T strategy, development of the function and execution of our five-year strategic plan. You'll advise, govern and direct Zellis technical teams from a high-level cloud architecture and design perspective.

You'll be a strong technical evangelist within the company, providing technical direction and expertise where appropriate. The role will also include an element of hands-on implementation working closely with software engineering teams, DevOps and CloudOps in the early phases of new cloud implementations.

You'll be an exceptional leader with the ability to drive both cultural and technical change, commercially aware with experience in introducing new technologies and approaches into teams.

Key responsibilities include:

* Create, own and maintain a high-level cloud architectural strategy and roadmap building on best-in-class architectural foundations such as the Microsoft Azure well architected framework.

* Provide input to the overall Zellis technology strategy roadmap.

* Provide technology governance across the Zellis Cloud Estate, ensuring adoption of best practice.

* Acts as a strategist and champion for modern enterprise architecture and design principles.

* Where appropriate, be hands-on and contribute to initial cloud technology implementations working closely with software engineering teams, DevOps and CloudOps.

* Participate in the Technology Design Authority, attended by technology leads across the business, to drive and embed the technology strategy for the organisation and ensure designs adhere to the strategy.

* Contribute to the governance surrounding technology choices for use in the Zellis product portfolio.

* Contribute and facilitate architectural reviews of key projects, ensuring they align or are on a path to align with the agreed cloud strategy.

* Coordinate research into emerging technology trends, propose ‘proof of concepts’ that will explore how these technologies can be deployed in the product portfolio.

* Create an environment for innovation and new ideas, ensuring all team members feel empowered to challenge existing methods and thinking.

* In conjunction with the Zellis Chief Information and Security Officer, ensure Zellis cloud services are aligned with an appropriate risk-based security posture and adhere to the agreed Zellis security standards.

* Keep up-to-date with changes and advances in the IT industry and systems development, build strong relationships with technology partners such as Microsoft.

* Serve as a mentor and coach for the team members, empowering them to be independent owners of their areas of expertise.

Skills and experience

* A strong technology leader with experience of leading cloud architecture and strategy in a commercial software environment.

* Experience working at a senior level for a B2B software business.

* Experience of defining architecture and technology strategies for high scale software solutions deployed to modern Cloud environments (Microsoft Azure preferred).

* Experience of operating at both an Enterprise architectural level as well as working with software teams on detailed software implementations.

* Ability to be hands-on, supporting technology teams in cloud implementations.

* Good understanding of modern API and service-oriented architectures.

* Ability to embed a cloud architecture within a large technology function and ensure appropriate governance models are in place to ensure adherence.

* Ability to make technical decisions by staying abreast of advancements in related technologies.

* Ability to influence senior stakeholders on technology choices and direction.

* Strong experience of software and product security, building security into product architectures.

* Extensive experience of building software products, web and mobile, in an agile environment using a DevOps mindset.

* Good understanding of IT compliance and audit standards.

* A compelling and clear communicator with the ability to communicate complex concepts in straightforward, non-technical language.

* Strong planning and organisational skills, including the ability to manage several workstreams simultaneously.

About us

Zellis is the leading provider of payroll and HR solutions for the UK & Ireland. Together with Benefex and Moorepay we form the Zellis Group, serving a vast array of companies across every vertical and industry. Our purpose is to power exceptional employee experiences so that our customers and their people do better.

We have over 50 years of heritage and industry experience – and we’ve been ahead of the curve throughout. More than half a century ago, we were founded as Peterborough Data Processing. Quite a lot has changed since then – not least our name. We were acquired by Northgate, becoming NorthgateArinso in 2007 and NGA Human Resources UK and Ireland in 2014, where we were joined by Moorepay. In 2018, the UK and Ireland division was sold to Bain Capital and now we operate as a standalone company, Zellis. After acquiring Benefex, we’re now even better equipped to serve the complex needs of our customers.

Our vision is to be the clear leader in pay, reward, analytics, and people experiences. We’re proud of our culture and we work hard to create an environment where people want to join, belong to, and be part of a progressive organisation. Our values, which were defined with input from all of our 2,000 colleagues, are not empty words on a poster:

* Unstoppable together.

* Always learning.

* Make it count.

Salary package

Competitive base salary.

25 days annual leave, plus your birthday off!

Private medical insurance.

Life assurance 4x salary.

Enhanced pension.

Range of additional flexible benefits