Head of Functional Architecture

Job Description

Lead the development and implementation of Corporate-wide functional architecture frameworks, ensuring alignment with business objectives and technology strategy.

Drive the creation of high-level architecture designs for key business systems and services, providing guidance on technical trade-offs and architectural patterns.

Collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., business analysts, product owners, developers, and infrastructure teams) to ensure architectural coherence and scalability.

Define and maintain architectural standards, guidelines, and best practices, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.

Oversee architectural governance for functional architecture decisions, ensuring adherence to a robust design process and documentation.

Lead and mentor a team of architects, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across architecture practices.

Monitor emerging technologies and industry trends, assessing their potential impact on the organization and advising on relevant adoption strategies (in partnership with CTO).

Provide executive leadership with strategic architectural insights, contributing to long-term technology planning and business transformation initiatives.

Maintain the Corporate Technology Roadmap work across the Corporate Technology teams (Payments, Cash, Liquidity, Trade, Digital) to define and maintain a multi-year roadmap that aligns with longer-term business objectives.

Purpose of the Role

To develop, and evolve the bank's technology architecture through relevant solutions, strategies and execution plans aligned to and prioritized by business and technology objectives, including the development, evolution, and adoption of foundational platforms and products.

Accountabilities

• Development, evolution, and implementation of the bank's technology architecture and strategies aligned to the business and technology objectives, unlocking execution and run.
• Collaboration with stakeholders, including Enterprise Architecture teams and other developers to provide subject matter expertise and share knowledge to foster continuous improvement, and clients to understand and deliver on their technical needs.
• Motivation and leadership of a diverse collection of technologists, business and operations teams, and enterprise leaders, with the goal to align business & technology strategy & standards, identifying opportunities and connecting people.
• Assessment of new technologies to address current and future business needs, through a combination of curiosity and problem-solving skills.
• Determination of the optimal solutions while balancing continuous requirements imposed by compliance, governance, security, and funding, through a deep understanding of the business and customer outcomes and maintaining a strong and steady grasp on the underlying technologies.
• Monitoring and analysis of the performance, resiliency, and stability of applications to identify and resolve issues and communicate and document key findings to stakeholders.
• Compliance with applicable regulatory standards and identification of industry developments that may impact the bank's operations and controls to enhance the bank's application portfolio.
• Support of engineering and architecture community initiatives to mentor team members, streamline operations, share and grow knowledge.

Director Expectations

• Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function-wide strategic initiatives.
• Manage, coordinate, and enable resourcing, budgeting, and policy creation for a significant sub-function.
• Escalate breaches of policies/procedure appropriately.
• Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence.
• Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate.
• Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division/Group to achieve the overall business objectives.
• Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up-to-date relevant sector/functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments/initiatives.
• Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/sensitive situations.
• Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area.
• Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally.
• Act as a principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/business divisions.
• Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division.

All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.