Senior Solution Architect (Operational Technology)

UK Power Networks; Ipswich; On-site; GBP 95,000; Full time

Job summary

A major utility company in the UK is seeking a Senior Solution Architect specializing in Operational Technology based in Ipswich. This role will involve leading architecture strategy to ensure technology investments yield operational improvements. The ideal candidate will have strong experience in systems integration and architecture frameworks like TOGAF. The company offers a salary of up to £95,000 with additional benefits including a hybrid working model and various employee support programs.

Benefits

Reservist Leave

Personal Pension Plan

Tenancy Loan Deposit Scheme

Discounted gym membership

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Experience as a Senior Architect or similar role in a large IT environment.
• Ability to communicate with both technical and non-technical staff.
• Experience capturing business capabilities and reference architectures.

Responsibilities

• Influence technology strategy by collaborating with business teams.
• Lead technical design authority for the ADMS platform.
• Recommend operational technology solutions that align with strategic goals.

Skills

Collaboration skills

Expertise in complex systems integration

Knowledge of Cyber-security architecture

Expertise in API standards

Experience with Advanced Distribution Management Systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

Job description

Senior Solution Architect (Operational Technology)

81997 - Senior Solution Architect (Operational Technology)

This Senior Solution Architect (Operational Technology) position will report to the Architecture Manager and will work within the Strategy Regulation and Support Services directorate based in our Ipswich office. You will be a permanent employee.

You will attract a salary of up to £95,000 - Depending on skills, qualifications and experience and a bonus of 7.5%. This role can also offer blended working after probationary period (6 months) - 3 days in the office and 2 remote/

Close Date: 03/02/2026

We also provide the following additional benefits

• Reservist Leave – Additional 18 days full pay and 22 unpaid
• Personal Pension Plan – Personal contribution rates of 4% or 5% (UK Power Networks will make a corresponding contribution of 8% or 10%)
• Tenancy Loan Deposit Scheme, Season Ticket Loan
• Tax efficient benefits: Cycle to Work, Home & Tech, and Green Car Leasing Schemes
• Occupational Health support
• Switched On – scheme providing discount on hundreds of retailers' products
• Discounted gym membership
• Employee Assistance Programme

Job Purpose

UK Power Networks is dedicated to the advancement of its operational technology (OT) systems to lead business transformation, operational efficiency, and modernisation. The Senior Solution Architect (Operational Technology) plays an important role in this journey, ensuring that technology investments translate into tangible improvements in operational performance, customer experience, and organisational resilience.

You will manage a comprehensive evaluation of the core Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) estate, with a focus on defining and communicating both the current and target state architectures. You will also lead initiatives to modernise critical capabilities, including agentic orchestration and the integration of AI-enabled dispatch and fault prediction, positioning UK Power Networks at the forefront of technological innovation within the energy sector.

An important aspect of this position is the development and management of the platform architecture lifecycle. This includes establishing reference models, technical standards, design patterns, and reusable frameworks that underpin the best operational systems. You will ensure that business capabilities are thoroughly documented and that design patterns are consistently applied, supporting the organisation's commitment to operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

You will provide expert guidance on the adoption and deployment of technology across a diverse range of operational scenarios and departments. By promoting agreement on core solutions and minimising unnecessary customisation, you will help maximise the value of technology investments. In situations where teams have differing requirements you will help design solutions that balance these needs while maintaining coherence with the organisation's strategic direction. This may involve mediating between functional specialists, vendors, and company partners to achieve agreement and ensure the delivery of technical solutions.

Furthermore, you will function as a trusted advisor to business, offering recommendations that enhance the value derived from technology assets. Your role will require collaboration with business counterparts, project managers, and system owners to ensure that technical solutions are aligned with organisational goals and industry best practices. You will be instrumental in shaping the future of UK Power Networks' operational technology landscape. Through leadership, technical expertise, and a commitment to innovation, the architect will support the organisation's mission to deliver safe, dependable, and sustainable electricity supply while enabling the transition to a low-carbon future.

Dimensions

• Direct reports: none.
• Budget: none directly, influencing £20M in solutions and projects.
• Portfolio: Operational Technology.

Principal Accountabilities

• Influence technology strategy by collaborating with business teams and leadership, to understand our needs and ensure agreement on technical solutions.
• Engage with business counterparts in aligned directorates to become a trusted advisor and Solution partner.
• Provide recommendations to maximise the value of operational technology assets via their implementation, access, and utilisation.
• Overall responsibility for the design and assurance of the activities across the ADMS Platform and working across the organisation to:
• Lead the technical design authority to resolve design problems to ensure that the design is delivered in line with Architecture principles. Ensure approval of technical design with the UKPN Architecture Review Board.
• Be an advocate of standardisation and adoption of minimal customisation of the chosen solution.
• Institutionalise a design assurance process with suppliers to ensure the delivery of the technical solution is in line with systems requirements and IT Standards.
• You will ensure all the business capability models and design patterns are delivered via existing Enterprise Architecture tools to ensure effective business collaboration and information dissemination.
• You will support the department in other areas including but not limited to: data migration, environments (Dev/QA/Prod) design, interface design, legacy retirement, data archiving, code management, and documentation of standards.
• Work with business and IT partners building credibility as a trusted advisor.
• Lead complex and technically challenging architectural transformations, coordinating technical SMEs across multiple vendors and internal technology teams.
• Lead on the design and implementation of operational technology solutions and roadmaps for different technology domains.
• Produce roadmaps that allow frequent and incremental delivery of value to the operational technology landscape.
• Perform architecture assessments of the existing operational technology landscape to identify any gaps that may exist and provide recommendations on remediation.
• Ensure proposed solutions are compliant with the UKPN Architecture principles and Cyber security standards.
• Recommend operational technology solutions that align with UKPN strategic goals and roadmap.
• Develop technical documentation, including architecture diagrams and specifications.
• Collaborate with partners, scrum masters, projects managers and product owners to define technical solutions designs.
• Translate roadmaps into packages of work that allow frequent incremental delivery of value to be included in change programmes/projects.
• Track, analyse and monitor technology performance metrics of operational technology solutions and products.
• Seek and use feedback, while supporting adaptive design and agile engineering practices to guide the cooperation of projects and teams towards a shared technical vision.
• Coach junior members of the team on technology, strategy and delivery.

Nature & Scope

We ask that you have a first hand approach to provide direction and guidance, ensuring that architecture strategy and projects align with the organisation's goals and Architecture and Security principles and standards. Additionally, you will help communicate the Technology strategy to senior leaders and the broader business.

You will lead the specification and design of next-generation solutions, contributing to the Technology Landscape and Business capabilities to support the successful development of the Architecture strategy. You will be an integral part of a multi-disciplinary team, collaborating with Cloud Architects, Infrastructure and Network Architects, Security Architects, data science specialists, solution developers, and business stakeholders - including business leads and engineers. The primary goal of this role is to deliver an optimal solution architecture by implementing strategies and projects to establish UK Power Networks as the leading UK DNO.

You will have experience using technology to solve business problems and must build relationships with senior partners across UKPN, important external partners, strategic suppliers, and contractors. Consequently, we ask that you have collaboration skills and be able to communicate clearly and confidently at all levels of the organisation.

UKPN aspires to be recognised as an industry leader in operational technology. The role holder must have the capability to lead with vision and motivation to achieve this objective and create long-term value.

Knowledge of Operational applications and Middleware.

Knowledge of Cyber-security architecture, System Integration, Access and Identity management.

Expertise in complex systems integration and Data architecture and analytics.

Expertise of API standards and protocols for building and integrating complex systems and architecture.

Able to convey complex technical concepts to colleagues, up to senior leadership level.

Excellent collaboration and partner management skills.

Experience developing, syndicating, and communicating architectures, designs and proposals for action.

Experience working with business solution vendors, technology vendors and products within the market.

An understanding of industry architecture frameworks, such as TOGAF or ArchiMate.

Experience as a Senior Architect or similar role in a large, complex IT environment.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems or a STEM field (or equivalent project-related experience).
• Experience with Advanced Distribution Management Systems.
• Expertise of API standards and protocols for building and integrating complex systems and architecture.
• Experience of large scale, transformation projects.
• Experience of integrating on-premises applications with cloud solutions.
• Experience working with business solution vendors, technology vendors and products within the energy market.
• Experience as a Senior Architect or similar role in a large, complex IT environment.
• Excellent collaboration and partner management skills.
• Experience of developing, syndicating, and communicating architectures, designs, and proposals for action.
• Experience capturing Business capabilities, Reference Architectures in an Enterprise Architecture Tool/ repository.
• Knowledge of Cyber-security architecture, System Integration, Access and Identity management.
• Experience applying Enterprise Architecture frameworks i.e. TOGAF or ArchiMate.
• Experience of leading the review of technical designs to approve their implementation.
• Experience in providing oversight and advice to other Architects or vendors who are undertaking the design of new, or redesign of existing systems.
• Experience in the utilities or electricity distribution industry would be beneficial.
• Assess changing technologies and apply them to our needs.
• An understanding of Agile methodologies with experience working in an Agile team.
• Experience communicating between technical and non-technical staff and suppliers.
• Ability to turn business problems into a solution design.
• Ability to seek out opportunities to create change and to help people make informed decisions.
• Ability to influence and persuade peers and leadership.
• Ability to understand the long-term ("big picture") and short-term perspectives of situations.
• Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of innovative technologies.

Health & Safety Responsibilities:

Managers and supervisors carry both legal and company responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of their employees, those under their control and those who might be affected by the work undertaken, i.e. public, visitors and employees of other organisations. This includes briefing individuals working for them and ensuring there is the necessary understanding, competence and application of requirements to work safely and without harming the environment.

Employees will ensure they understand the health and safety risks involved in their work activities and their responsibility to apply the controls needed to manage those risks to acceptable levels. Similarly where work activities can have an adverse impact upon the environment, and where there are legal requirements, employees will understand those impacts and the controls they must ensure are applied.

Equal Employment Opportunity: We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

If you have any queries in connection to this vacancy or your application, please contact us at [e-mail] quoting the vacancy reference number and a member of the team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.

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