Head of Solution Architecture / Head of Engineering - Manchester
As Head of Solution Architecture / Head of Engineering, you will own the design quality, architectural consistency, and governance of all client delivery across a SaaS fintech environment. You will define how products are implemented and integrated, ensuring solutions are scalable, repeatable, and aligned to modern engineering standards.
You will act as the senior technical authority across client engagements, owning architecture, challenging requirements, and ensuring solutions are robust, supportable, and built for long-term evolution. This role requires a strong communicator who can translate complex technical concepts for both engineering teams and senior client stakeholders.
Working closely with Product, Engineering, and Delivery, you will ensure alignment to platform strategy while maintaining architectural integrity across all implementations.
You will also lead the Client Engineering capability, owning standards, hiring, and development across distributed teams (UK and India), while building a high-performing, engineering-led culture.
A key part of the role is governance: setting architectural standards, approving exceptions, and reducing design-related delivery risk. Your impact will be measured through solution quality, delivery stability, and consistency across all client implementations.
What you'll be doing
Define and enforce architecture standards, patterns, and engineering best practices
Act as senior technical lead with clients, shaping solutions and owning end-to-end design integrity
Drive scalable, supportable solutions with a focus on long-term maintainability
Lead architectural governance, including design reviews and exception management
Reduce delivery risk by improving design quality and minimising defects and rework
Build and develop the Client Engineering function (hiring, frameworks, capability)
Establish reusable assets, reference architectures, and engineering standards
Support strategic planning including workforce and capability forecasting
About you
Proven experience leading architecture and engineering in complex, enterprise-scale environments (ideally fintech or regulated sectors)
Strong expertise in modern architectures (cloud-native, APIs, integration patterns, security-by-design)
Technically credible with the ability to engage engineers and influence senior stakeholders
Clear communicator - ie able to simplify complexity and drive alignment across technical and non-technical audiences
Experience building and scaling engineering teams, frameworks, and standards
Strong governance mindset with experience in architectural review and risk management
Focused on scalability, resilience, and long-term system ownership
