Solution Architect

Overview

At Munich Re Specialty – Global Markets (MRS-GM), it is our ambition to become the leading Primary Specialty Insurance provider, underpinned by an effective and adaptable strategy,superior products and industry leaders working in a supportive environment to achieve this.

At the heart of our success is a strong culture where people are encouraged to be present, bold and curious, allowing them to achieve their individual goals.

We are currently looking for a Solutions Architect to be based in Manchester on a full-time basis, reporting into the Head of Subsection – Architecture Delivery.

We’re adding to our diverse team of experts and are looking to hire those who are committed to building a culture that enables the creation of innovative solutions for our business units and clients.

• Develop application and system roadmaps associated with applications transformation and modernisation
• Develop flexible, adaptable, modular, and reusable solution designs in collaboration with business stakeholders and the IT development teams while ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards
• Support the definition of high-level operational models, and prepare business cases in alignment with the IT security and quality guidelines. Present business cases, for operational and tactical technical initiatives, for approval, funding and prioritisation
• Uphold appropriate solution architecture governance processes and tools while maintaining focus on design patterns and technology standards
• Be the accountable individual for the finalisation, acceptance and approval of solutions you architected, by relevant stakeholders
• Act as an enabler of Agile and Dev Sec Ops  practices in collaboration with product delivery and operation support teams
• Explore, evaluate and promote technology innovation within the organisation
• Review high-level designs with technical leads and developers, review code, enforce best practices, assist with debugging critical issues, and enforce performance testing to deliver efficient and performant applications
• Be the responsible individual to identify technology risk(s) of initiatives you are leading as an architect and develop corresponding mitigation strategies
• Stay current on, evaluate and recommend the use of cutting-edge technologies and methods, considering their technical pros and limitations. Leverage market and technology trends to identify the business benefits of alternative technical solutions
• Support the requirements gathering process to right-size initiatives and solution strategy.
• Collaborate with development teams and assist with the application of Agile and Dev Sec Ops  techniques within architecture and designs
• Create comprehensive solution architecture specification documents and other required documentation

• Exceptional analytical and critical thinking skills, with thorough attention to detail.
• Excellent planning, documentation and problem-solving skills.
• Knowledge of design and implementation of solutions and systems using custom built and CoTS / MoTS applications hosted in the cloud and on-prem.
• Experience designing solutions including policy administration systems, ERP and customer / agent-facing portals.
• Substantial knowledge of the system development life cycle and the scaled agile methodology. Certifications preferred.
• TOGAF certification is a significant plus.
• Demonstrate competence to work at the highest technical level of all phases of system architecture design, using state of the art rule/framework-based architecture, object-oriented component analysis and proficiency in web-based systems architecture, service-based architecture and enterprise application architecture.
• Ability to guide and mentor development teams on sound design and coding principles, best practices in API based, Micro Services and Cloud technologies.
• Experience in integration architectures from Service Bus to API mediation and event bus models.
• Strong knowledge of contemporary technologies and business trends that allows architecture to solve problems in a creative and cost-effective manner.
• Experience developing roadmaps outlining the evolution of the enterprise application…