Job Description

Position: Solution Architect

Location: Halifax or Leeds (Hybrid-2 days a week from office)

12 months contract position

The Role

The purpose of the Solution Architect is to design and communicate the technology solutions with an architectural significance that deliver our key outcomes or epics, they create the designs to meet our quality, resilience and technical objectives. They contribute to the definition of the solution architecture forward look.

Our work style is hybrid, which involves spending at least two days per week, or 40% of our time, at one of our office sites

We’re shaping our People Platform to bring our People Strategy to life, helping our colleagues thrive and succeed.

You’ll work closely with Platform Labs, Feature Teams, Product Owners, Enterprise Architects and Engineers to design and deliver solutions that shape the People Platform. As part of our Solution Architecture team, you’ll lead across a diverse technology landscape – from traditional on-premise applications to a growing suite of SaaS solutions (many handlings highly confidential data with robust controls). We’re pioneering AI-driven tools, creating colleague-focused experiences through Workday Extend, and supporting major enterprise-grade implementations.

Your responsibilities:

* Define and document solution designs, integration needs, and architectural decisions.

* Establish a solid baseline for building, implementing, and running effective technology applications.

* Apply architectural standards and patterns while enabling frequent, incremental improvements to deliver value.

* Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships, including third-party suppliers and internal teams, ensuring alignment between a technical and non-technical audience.

* Champion innovation by exploring and evaluating AI-driven opportunities, identifying use cases that enhance colleague experience.

Your Profile

Essential skills/knowledge/experience:

* Analyse and clearly articulate issues, dependencies, and recommendations to stakeholders.

* Contribute to technical design risks and drive them through to resolution.

* Assess software and infrastructure risks and recommend remediation options.

* Conduct research and trend analysis to inform architectural choices and shape strategic direction.

* Hands-on experience with Jira and Confluence for effective collaboration and delivery tracking.

* Practical experience with major cloud platforms (GCP and Azure), leveraging their capabilities to design scalable solutions.

* Comfortable creating and discussing solution designs with both engineers and business stakeholders.

* Proven ability (or readiness) to introduce AI capabilities into enterprise solutions, balancing innovation with compliance and security