Solution Architect - Guidewire Job at Admiral Group Plc (Cardiff)

Job Description

The Guidewire Solution Architect is part of the Architecture practice within the CTO organisation, supporting the design and delivery of end-to-end solutions across Admiral’s core insurance platforms, digital customer channels and integration landscape. The role provides technology consultancy, architecture leadership and solution design expertise, with primary focus on Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, Digital Portal and Customer Engagement solutions. Working closely with Lead Solution Architects, Engineering teams, Product Owners, Delivery Leads, Heads of Technology and Business Stakeholders, the role ensures that solutions are scalable, secure, maintainable and aligned with Admiral’s Enterprise Architecture Principles, Technology Roadmaps and Strategic Vision. The role contributes to enterprise roadmaps, architecture standards, governance forums and wider transformation initiatives, helping to ensure that change delivered through projects, programmes, value streams and innovation initiatives delivers business value while maintaining alignment with Admiral’s target architecture and strategic technology direction.

Job Responsibility

Provide technical leadership and architecture support for value streams, working with Lead Solution Architects to own solutions from ideation through to delivery and ensure business value is realised through successful implementation
Define end-to-end solution architectures spanning Guidewire platforms, Digital Channels, Integration Platforms, Enterprise Services and supporting technology ecosystems
Provide architectural leadership for Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter and digital customer-facing solutions
Define solution approaches for Guidewire product configuration, integration design, platform extensions, customer journeys and digital capabilities
Lead architecture workshops with business and technical stakeholders to understand requirements, assess impacts, evaluate solution options and drive architectural decisions
Lead and contribute to governance forums, ensuring solutions adhere to established architecture principles, standards and patterns, and identifying and managing divergence where required
Define integration strategies between Guidewire platforms and enterprise applications using APIs, messaging, event-driven architectures and enterprise integration patterns
Support strategic initiatives, platform modernisation programmes and technology transformation activities across the insurance landscape
Produce high-quality architecture artefacts, including Solution Outlines, High Level Designs, Architecture Decision Records, Option Papers, conceptual and logical architecture designs, integration designs, technical risk assessments and roadmaps
Ensure architectural decisions, assumptions, dependencies, risks, principles and non-functional requirements are documented and communicated effectively across stakeholders
Work closely with engineering teams to ensure architectural intent is maintained throughout delivery and implementation
Identify and manage architectural risks, technical debt, technology constraints and cross-programme dependencies
Build productive relationships with business and technical stakeholders to maintain alignment between business objectives and technology strategy
Contribute to and maintain a detailed understanding of the architecture landscape across supported value streams
Contribute to the architecture repository using Admiral architecture modelling tools, standards and language
Promote architecture best practice within Admiral and support the continuous evolution of enterprise architecture standards and patterns
Support innovation through research and evaluation of emerging technologies and industry trends, producing recommendations on opportunities, threats and strategic technology direction
Keep the Head of Solution Architecture and CTO leadership informed of significant architecture risks, issues, dependencies and strategic considerations

Requirements

Strong experience architecting solutions using Guidewire PolicyCenter and BillingCenter
Proven experience designing end-to-end enterprise solutions within Guidewire ecosystems, balancing business requirements, platform capabilities and architecture standards
Experience supporting Guidewire upgrades, migrations and platform modernisation programmes
Strong understanding of Guidewire platform architecture and associated design principles
Experience with Guidewire configuration concepts, including Product Configuration, Product Designer, Business Rules, Workflows, Data Model Extensions, Screen Configuration, User Experience Design, Rating and Underwriting concepts
Experience defining architecture and design approaches for Guidewire customisation, extension and configuration while promoting adoption of out-of-the-box platform capabilities
Experience designing and reviewing integrations between Guidewire platforms and enterprise applications
Strong understanding of Guidewire integration capabilities, including REST APIs, web services, messaging frameworks, batch interfaces and event-driven integrations
Experience designing solutions involving Guidewire platforms, Digital Channels, Customer Portals and Enterprise Services
Strong understanding of API architecture, integration patterns, messaging architectures and service-oriented design principles
Experience with one or more enterprise integration technologies such as TIBCO, MuleSoft, Azure or GCP Integration Services, or Kafka-based platforms
Experience designing enterprise solutions that satisfy security, resilience, scalability, performance, supportability and operational requirements
Understanding of cloud architecture principles and modern software engineering practices
Experience working with Agile delivery teams, DevOps principles and CI/CD delivery pipelines
Experience producing architecture artefacts, including Solution Outlines, High Level Designs, Architecture Decision Records, integration designs and option assessments
Experience facilitating architecture workshops, stakeholder engagement sessions and solution design discussions
Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate effectively at all organisational levels
Recognised expertise in architecture, solution design, technology strategy and the practical application of architecture within enterprise environments
Ability to take innovative approaches to problem solving and develop pragmatic, value-driven solutions
Ability to keep organisational objectives and strategic direction in mind when making architecture decisions
Understanding of commercial considerations, ensuring architecture recommendations reflect business value and strategic goals
Proactive approach to identifying risks, opportunities and continuous improvement initiatives

Nice to have

Experience with Guidewire Cloud Platform implementations and modern deployment approaches
Knowledge of Guidewire DataHub, InfoCenter or insurance reporting ecosystems
Experience delivering Digital Portal, Customer Self-Service or Customer Engagement solutions
Experience with containerisation and platform technologies such as Kubernetes, GKE or AKS
Experience within Insurance, Financial Services or other highly regulated industries
Knowledge of enterprise data architecture, analytics and reporting platforms
Experience evaluating AI-assisted engineering, architecture tooling or GenAI-enabled solutions
Knowledge of Enterprise Architecture frameworks, governance practices and architecture modelling approaches
Awareness of current and emerging standards associated with IT practice nationally and internationally, including standards published by organisations such as IEEE, IEC, BSI and ISO
Understanding of principles, methods and techniques for managing technology investment, budgeting and value-driven delivery

What we offer

Up to £3,600 of free shares each year after one year of service
33 days holiday (including bank holidays) when you join us, increasing the longer you stay with us, up to a maximum of 38 days (including bank holidays)
Option to buy or sell up to an additional five days of annual leave

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