Solution Architect

Looking for a challenge in one of the world’s largest airfreight logistics organisations?

At IAG Cargo, we’re in the business of moving things. From antibiotics and rhinoceroses to gold bullion, avocados, and everything in between, whatever people need, wherever they are, IAG Cargo is there to bring them the necessary and niche.

As the logistics and cargo brand of International Airlines Group, you’ll work across the globally recognised brands of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Level and Vueling.

As well as helping to keep the world’s economies turning, we believe in building a great place for our colleagues to work. Our people are determined, curious, collaborative and take huge pride in everything they do.

The role:

Solution Architect

Reporting directly to one of our Portfolio Managers, the Solution architect is responsible for designing and implementing comprehensive technology solutions that address specific business needs.

Serving as a liaison between the technical and business aspects of new solutions, the solution architect analyses business needs, identifies tech solutions, and designs a comprehensive plan for implementation. They collaborate with various teams, such as developers, project managers, and analysts, to ensure effective implementation of the solution, achieving the organization's objectives.

Working closely with the Enterprise and Domain Architecture team, the Solution Architect ensures that all solutions are not only technically sound but also align seamlessly with the business requirements.

People/Relationship

• Build, develop and maintain sustainable respectful stakeholder relationships.
• Inspire outcome-based decision making.
• Lead performance reviews with key stakeholder groups

Governance

• Ensure full adherence to all governance, standards, and processes across the IAG Cargo organisation.
• Conduct internal functional technology satisfaction surveys and drive continual improvement across the team.
• Proactively contribute to continual improvement across IAG Cargo, specifically in relation to the Operating Model and ways of working

What you’ll do:

• Defines solutions to complex business problems using a wide range of artefacts, methods and tools and uses expertise and knowledge within a specific business domain to drive the transformational change of applications.
• Facilitates the structuring of business problems to ensure functional and non-functional requirements are clearly understood, aligned with business objectives and are traceable in the technical solution design. During the implementation phase, ensures any deviations from the agreed solution are managed with the project to deliver a successful outcome.
• Maintains a view of business and technical capabilities and applications within a specialist business domain, ensuring technical integrity and alignment with business requirements and the ongoing support of applications in line with obsolescence and security requirements.
• Ensures that strategic transformational change is embedded within IAG Tech, influencing and leveraging relationships to gain buy-in of internal and external stakeholders.
• Management of key supplier relationships, ensuring the quality of supplier deliverables meets Group standards and fit with strategic business requirements on a continuing basis.
• Provide expertise in driving forward solutions for applications, ensuring alignment with the business and technical strategic vision and goals.
• Ensure best in class solutions that minimise customisation, through Solution design that integrates world-class applications.
• Support the business in understanding and interpreting the capabilities within a specific domain, ensuring design is consistent with the architecture and meets both functional and non-functional requirements.
• Communicate and negotiate with all relevant stakeholders (both business and IT) to ensure a balance of usability and fit with the enterprise architecture.
• Review functional specifications to ensure alignment to business and technical requirements, managing any deviations from the defined direction through the project lifecycle.
• Collaborate through a trusted business partnering approach, proactively leveraging key relationships to ensure business, information and technology domain architecture is strategically aligned. Delivers tangible recommendations that align with IAG Tech, the business and finance, for incorporation into the Business Plan.
• Ensure sufficient quality review points are built into projects and all interdependencies have been considered.
• Partner with the project team to plan system testing tasks, auditing implemented solutions to ensure planned benefits are realised.
• Build strategic supplier relationships where third-party work or packages involve significant architectural decisions. Evaluates and approves third-party deliverables on behalf of IAG Tech
• Ensure adherence to architectural principles, standards, best practice and roadmaps. Resolves or escalates potential non-compliance.
• Deliver on a number of projects, the breadth and complexity of which will vary depending on experience.

What you’ll bring to IAG Cargo:

• Forming strong stakeholder relationships, with a proven ability of influencing and persuading internally and externally.
• Effective senior stakeholder management, balancing and finding compromises between opposing views and opinions.
• Business partnering, working as a valued partner with senior stakeholders across a diverse operation, delivering a value-added service to business customers.
• Extracting requirements from business stakeholders and documenting them in a succinct manner.
• Ability to recognise priorities and guide others towards the accomplishment of strategic business goals and objectives.
• Embracing and managing both business and IT change as necessary to help shape future direction.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Innovation - transforming industry trends into practical, cost-effective solutions.
• Identifies and contributes to the continual improvement of analysis capability across the organisation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with ability to explain complex IT/technology solutions in a coherent manner.
• Strong ability to work under pressure in a changing environment.
• Strong risk management skills.
• Displays confidence and resilience, plus an energy to deliver results.
• Confident working under own initiative, as well as part of a team.

Your experience:

Essential Experience:

• 5+ years in an architecture role
• Proficiency in operating within both Agile and Structured delivery environments.
• Hands-on experience with Azure or AWS cloud platforms.
• Previous track record serving as a Solutions Architect or Technical Architect.

Desirable Experience:

• Experience working in the Logistics, Freight, Courier industry.
• Experience of major technology and business change programs

What we offer:

Wherever you work within IAG Cargo, you’ll play a part in connecting people and countries and join a diverse and inclusive business that’s making a difference to the future of aviation.

Colleagues working for IAG Cargo:

• Benefit from attractive and competitive rewards aligned to the local market and role.
• From the day you join us, you’ll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways and group airlines. You’ll also receive up to 30 discounted ‘Hotline’ airfares per year for yourself, friends, and family.
• Work with diverse colleagues in a business that truly values inclusion and diversity.
• Are valued for their ideas and opinions.
• Benefit from opportunities for development and progression.
• Are able to support communities across the world, and close to home.
• Work in an environment in which safety and wellbeing are paramount.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Our recruitment procedures positively support our equity, diversity, and inclusion agenda.

All candidates are considered strictly on their merits in relation to the criteria for the role, treated fairly and consistently and have their individual needs responded to throughout the process.

Please advise us if you require any reasonable adjustments to take part in the recruitment process so we’re able to remove any barriers that may present themselves.

To apply for the position of Solution Architect, please use the ‘apply now’ function.