Senior Solution Architect

About Scrumconnect

Scrumconnect Consulting is a UK-based digital transformation consultancy delivering secure, scalable, and user-centred solutions across government and enterprise organisations. We specialise in agile delivery, cloud platforms, data, and modern engineering practices, helping clients build reliable services that meet high operational and compliance standards.

Overview

We are looking for a Senior Solution Architect to lead the design of technical solutions for a major UK government client, helping them solve complex problems and deliver value for citizens and the public sector.

You will work with multidisciplinary agile teams within a large, complex technical estate where long-standing core systems sit alongside modern cloud services. The work is a mix of new build, change to existing national systems, and integration between the two, with delivery dates often set externally rather than by the programme.

This is a strategic and hands-on technical role in a structured, governed environment where architecture decisions, security, performance and long-term maintainability directly affect service outcomes for millions of users. It suits someone who enjoys staying close to delivery teams and has strong experience across Java, Spring Boot, AWS cloud services, modern integration patterns and legacy system modernisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the solution design for complex services, including their dependencies on legacy components and external systems.

• Design pragmatic migration and integration approaches between established core systems and modern cloud-native services.

• Define and implement Strangler Fig strategies to progressively modernise legacy applications without disrupting existing services.

• Design microservices, API facades and data migration approaches for transitioning from legacy platforms to modern AWS-based services.

• Design and assure payment journeys end to end, including integration with banking and payment providers.

• Produce high-level designs, solution briefs, architecture diagrams and technical documentation, ensuring decisions are clearly documented so engineering squads can build with confidence.

• Work closely with engineering squads through design reviews, backlog shaping and sprint planning to ensure designs are practical and ready for implementation.

• Provide technical direction across the Java and Spring Boot ecosystem, ensuring solutions follow appropriate engineering and architectural patterns.

• Oversee data modelling, entity relationships, transaction boundaries and database design using Spring Data JPA and PostgreSQL.

• Design and assure AWS cloud architectures using services such as EKS, RDS PostgreSQL, SQS, SNS and S3.

• Design secure hybrid-cloud integrations between AWS services and established on-premises or legacy platforms.

• Define non-functional requirements covering scalability, availability, performance, security, resilience and maintainability.

• Establish appropriate caching and application performance strategies using existing framework capabilities and platform features where appropriate.

• Build relationships with senior stakeholders across the engagement, including client architecture, engineering and security functions.

• Shape architectural patterns and reference architectures, and take designs through governance and design assurance.

• Frame complex problems and set out clear options, trade-offs and recommendations so the right delivery approach can be selected.

• Use Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) and structured trade-off analysis to communicate and govern key architectural decisions.

• Support technical teams with development and delivery tooling, including Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket.

Required Skills and Experience

Solution Architecture

• Strong solution architecture experience across the full delivery lifecycle, including Discovery, Alpha, Beta and Live.

• Demonstrable experience architecting complex systems within mixed estates, integrating established platforms with modern cloud-native services.

• Experience designing and implementing legacy modernisation strategies, particularly the Strangler Fig pattern.

• Strong understanding of microservices, API-led integration and distributed system architecture.

• Experience translating ambiguous business and policy requirements into clear technical direction.

• Confident making and communicating architectural decisions using ADRs, trade-off analysis and architectural principles.

• Experience creating designs collaboratively and iteratively with delivery squads rather than working in isolation.

• Strong understanding of information security, data protection and threat-modelling fundamentals.

• Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Experience delivering digital services within UK central government or other highly regulated environments.

Java & Spring Ecosystem

• Strong hands-on experience with Java and Spring Boot.

• Strong knowledge of the Spring ecosystem and modern Java application architecture.

• Expertise in Spring Data JPA, including:

  • ORM mapping and entity relationships

  • Repository design

  • Auditing

  • Transaction management

  • Transaction boundaries and data integrity

• Experience designing scalable Java-based services and APIs in complex enterprise environments.

Legacy Integration & Modernisation

• Proven experience integrating modern Java/Spring services with legacy SOAP/XML-based systems.

• Strong understanding of XML-based integration protocols and enterprise integration patterns.

• Experience designing API facades and abstraction layers around legacy systems.

• Practical experience implementing Strangler Fig architecture to progressively replace or modernise legacy functionality.

• Experience designing data migration paths from legacy platforms to modern cloud-based databases.

AWS Cloud Architecture

• Strong experience designing cloud-native solutions on AWS.

• Practical architecture experience with:

  • Amazon EKS

  • Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

  • Amazon SQS

  • Amazon SNS

  • Amazon S3

• Experience designing secure hybrid-cloud architectures integrating AWS services with existing on-premises or legacy environments.

• Understanding of cloud security, resilience, scalability, availability and operational considerations.

Data, Performance & Non-Functional Requirements

• Strong understanding of relational data modelling and entity relationship design.

• Experience with PostgreSQL and database performance considerations.

• Practical understanding of reconciliation, idempotency, locking, transaction management, webhook reliability, failure handling and data integrity in high-volume transactional services.

• Experience defining and assuring non-functional requirements (NFRs) covering performance, scalability, availability, resilience and security.

• Experience designing application caching and performance optimisation strategies using built-in framework and platform capabilities, without unnecessarily introducing additional technologies.

• Strong understanding of distributed transaction and failure-handling patterns.

Payment Systems

• Hands-on architecture experience with payment systems, including Open Banking and payment integrations.

• Experience designing payment journeys end to end, including integration with banking and payment providers.

• Strong understanding of transactional integrity, reconciliation, idempotency and reliable event/webhook processing.

Development & Collaboration Tools

• Proficiency with Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket.

• Experience working in agile multidisciplinary teams and collaborating closely with developers, testers, product managers, delivery managers and other architects.

• Ability to provide technical guidance without becoming disconnected from implementation and delivery.

Specialized Skill Requirements - Architect

Strangler Fig Strategy

• Design and govern microservices, API facades and data migration paths to progressively replace legacy systems.

• Define approaches for migrating data from established platforms to AWS RDS PostgreSQL using Spring Data JPA.

• Ensure modernisation strategies minimise disruption to existing national services.

AWS System Architecture

• Design robust AWS architectures using EKS, RDS PostgreSQL, SNS, SQS and S3.

• Define secure integration patterns between cloud-native services and legacy/on-premises platforms.

• Ensure architectures meet required security, resilience, scalability and performance standards.

Data Modelling & NFRs

• Oversee entity relationship design, database architecture and transaction boundaries.

• Define database performance and optimisation strategies.

• Establish appropriate application caching approaches using existing framework capabilities.

• Define, document and assure NFRs across performance, scalability, availability, resilience, security and maintainability.

Desirable

• TOGAF certification or equivalent architecture qualification.

• AWS, Azure or GCP architecture certification.

• Familiarity with the Technology Code of Practice and GOV.UK Service Standard.

• Experience working within UK government digital delivery environments.

• Experience working with high-volume transactional or payment platforms.

• Experience with cloud migration and legacy modernisation programmes.

• Experience operating within highly governed enterprise or public-sector technology environments.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

At Scrumconnect Consulting, we believe diversity drives innovation. We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone feels respected, valued, and supported.

We actively encourage applications from women, people with disabilities, individuals from under-represented communities, and those seeking flexible working arrangements.

As a Disability Confident Level 1 employer, we provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and employment to ensure equal opportunity for all.