Director - DWE Platform Architect

The Director, DWE Platform Architect owns the architecture of the Digital Workplace Experience domain, setting the target architecture, reference designs and standards across End User Computing and Mobile Device Management, Productivity & Collaboration and Global Site Experience. The role leads the architecture team, owns design assurance for the domain, and ensures the domain is coherent, secure, resilient and aligned to enterprise architecture.

The role leads architects rather than producing every design. Individual platform designs sit with the Platform Architects in the team, engineering delivery sits with the platform engineering teams, platform roadmaps sit with the Senior Product Owners, and enterprise-level standards and technology strategy sit with the Chief Architect. This role sets the domain direction and holds designs to it, including those produced by delivery partners.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the domain target architecture, standards and reference designs, aligned to DPTF strategy and to the enterprise architecture and technology strategy owned by the Chief Architect.
• Lead the architecture team across the domain, managing performance, capability development and the technical direction they work to.
• Own the design assurance process for the domain, setting what must be reviewed, by whom and against which standards, and holding that standard against delivery pressure.
• Embed AI patterns into the domain architecture, so that AI-assisted delivery and intelligent, self-healing operation of workplace services are designed in.
• Architect for reliability, resilience, observability and cost efficiency by design, supporting the service levels the domain commits to and designing out single points of failure.
• Ensure security, data protection and compliance, including GxP where relevant, are designed into the domain and not retrofitted.
• Guide technology selection and modernisation across the domain, maintaining the architectural view of the estate including technical debt and lifecycle position, and measuring outcomes against architecture objectives.
• Set the architecture standards that supplier and managed service solutions in the domain must meet, and assure partner-delivered designs against them.
• Align the domain to enterprise architecture and technology strategy, negotiating exceptions where the domain genuinely requires them.
• Advise the Head of Digital Workplace Experience on architectural risk, technical debt and the investment needed to address both.
• Maintain architecture decision records for the domain, increasing pattern reuse and reducing rework, and evidencing both with measures.
• Hold the boundaries with the Platform Architects on individual platform designs, the platform engineering teams on delivery, the Senior Product Owners on platform roadmaps, and the Chief Architect on enterprise standards.

Professional Qualifications:

• Degree in a technology or engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience (e.g., Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems).
• Architecture certifications desirable (e.g., TOGAF, or a recognised cloud or workplace platform architecture certification relevant to the domain).

Area of Specialisation:

• Domain architecture leadership, covering target architecture, standards, reference designs and design assurance governance.
• Digital workplace architecture across end user computing, mobility, productivity and collaboration, and site technology.

Related Experience Required:

• Overall 18 years and typically 10-12 years in technology architecture, including at least three years leading an architecture team with line responsibility.
• Experience owning a target architecture at domain or equivalent scale, not solely at solution level.
• Track record running design assurance governance, including holding a standard against delivery pressure.
• Deep experience of digital workplace technologies across end user computing, mobile device management, and productivity and collaboration platforms.
• Experience designing for reliability, resilience, observability and security in a regulated environment.
• Experience setting and assuring architecture standards for supplier and managed service delivered solutions.
• Familiarity with AI patterns applied to workplace services and to intelligent operations.

Desirable:

• Deep knowledge of Digital Workplace & Experience platforms, Microsoft 365, End User Computing, Device Management, Collaboration, AI-powered workplace services, Global Site Experience Modern Architecture.
• Practical understanding of Digital Workplace & Experience AI architecture patterns, AI-assisted delivery, intelligent operations, automation, and emerging AI platform capabilities.
• Digital Workplace & Experience supplier and managed service architecture governance, experience setting standards and evaluating vendor-provided solutions.
• Commercial and financial acumen, ability to articulate Digital Workplace & Experience technical debt, architectural risk, investment priorities, and business value to executive audiences.

Skills/Background:

• Deep technical breadth across workplace technologies, with the judgement to know where standardisation matters and where it does not.
• Strong design assurance discipline, able to challenge a solution constructively without becoming a bottleneck.
• Excellent communication, able to explain architectural trade-offs to audiences without a technical background.
• Ability to lead and develop a team of architects.
• Ability to influence engineering teams and suppliers who do not report to the role.
• Commercial awareness, able to weigh architectural preference against cost and lifecycle risk.

Skills

Architect, Architecture, MDM, Microsoft 365, Mobile Device Management