About the role

The role of Head of Architecture / Enterprise Architect is a senior leadership and management role

responsible for leading and onward nurturing of the enterprise architecture for FGH. Aligned to the business strategy and vision, FGH is embarking on a major IT and Digital transformation journey to completely modernise the present technology landscape across the organisation. The technology roadmap that will take the company from its current technology environments to a modern, flexible, modular ecosystem, that can take advantage of the latest developments in Cloud, API, Data, SaaS, AI, and automation.

The role covers the full enterprise landscape of FGH, from digital capability to more traditional Warehouse, Enterprise Resource Planning and Support Centre functions. The role will have accountability for the overall architecture governance, working in an agile way to ensure that the “guard rails” are provided so that change teams on the ground can operate with autonomy within a clear strategic direction of travel. The role is primarily about enabling transformation, rather than control.

Role Responsibilities

• Working alongside the CIO, the Head of Architecture/ EA will lead will develop the enterprise architecture and architecture team for FGH, covering transformation and end state roadmaps, application maturity assessment, integration, and data strategies
• The role will have a wide enterprise responsibility for the alignment of the infrastructure and platform architecture with the overall enterprise plan, although infrastructure accountability sits with the IT Partner organisation
• Manage and develop architecture principles, tools, and frameworks to ensure FGH technology is managed and nurtured as a series of value-creating ecosystems
• Provide the big picture view of the technology landscape, guiding solutions architecture, domain architecture and the IT Partner to ensure their areas of focus fit within the wider strategy
• Agree effective ways of working with the key business stakeholders and teams to ensure that the change programmes and projects can be agile and autonomous within the wider technology strategy.
• Manage and govern light touch architectural governance to ensure all solutions align with the global direction of travel and any near-term exceptions have a route back to the core roadmap
• Determine the core EA artefacts, ensuring usability and pragmatism are critical guiding principles
• Issue standards and policies where required to ensure change teams have clarity on strategic approach
• Lead the architecture team analysis of the current IT environment to detect critical deficiencies and recommend solutions for improvement.
• Lead the architecture team analysis of technology industry and market trends to determine their potential impact on the enterprise architecture.
• Promote the EA process, outcomes, and results to the organisation, including the enterprise's IT and business leaders.
• Lead the development and management of an implementation plan for the enterprise architecture based on business requirements and IT strategies.
• Collaborate with the risk, compliance, audit, and security teams to ensure the enterprise architecture accommodates the regulatory compliance and cyber security requirements and commitments of the organisation
• Oversee the documentation of all architecture design and analysis work.
• Lead the development and execution of a communication and education plan for the enterprise architecture.
• Assess and communicate the value of the enterprise architecture and promote and lead the architecture function
• Engagement of the FGH leadership team on technology enabled change
• Influencing Partners to ensure FGH technology landscape enables competitive advantage leveraging new technology whilst pushing the boundaries on efficiency and automation

About you

• Deep experience of Enterprise Architecture in a consumer facing environment, spanning both digital and physical technology
• Great breadth and some depth in SaaS, applications/software; good experience of integration, data, and infrastructure
• Great experience of both agile and more traditional change delivery. Proven experience in making the architecture role work well in an agile environment
• Brilliant communications skills, able to explain complex technology concepts clearly to business stakeholders, and to engage in depth with all FGH and IT Partner technologists
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, including teamwork, facilitation, and negotiation.
• Willing to take accountability for things, even without line management control of the resources
• Demonstrable commitment to developing their own professional skillset, keeping at the cutting edge technically and professionally.
• Experience in working with third parties to get great service provision and value for money on projects
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, systems analysis or a related field of study, or equivalent experience.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Excellent analytical and technical skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills.
• Knowledge of business re-engineering principles and processes.
• Basic knowledge of financial models and budgeting.
• Familiarity with basic graphical modelling approaches, tools, and model repositories.
• Ability to balance the long-term ("big picture") and short-term implications of individual decisions.
• Ability to translate business needs into EA requirements.
• Ability to estimate the financial impact of EA alternatives

The role is subject to credit and DBS checks

Why FGH?

Our staff enjoy competitive benefits including staff discount, generous annual leave, healthcare cash plan together with a vibrant, colourful, creative and flexible working atmosphere. With our competitive benefits, and supportive teams our staff enjoy helping us on our mission and benefit greatly from the challenges that come with working for a successful retailer.

About us

Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH) is based in West Yorkshire and is part of the OTTO Group – one of the world’s largest online retailer. FGH is the home of familiar brands such as Freemans, Grattan, Kaleidoscope, Swimwear 365, Look Again, Bonprix, Curvissa and Witt.

We offer a broad choice of products and are committed to offering great service and delivery seven days a week. We meet the needs of our extensive and varied loyal customer base by having a Customer First mantra and being fair in how we deal with our customers and employees. Innovation is key as we look for new ideas which will improve the customer experience and our business processes.

We have a great team and integrity plays an important part in how we work together. We currently employ over 700 people within Vicar Lane office, Listerhills warehouse and credit operations, offering a diverse range of opportunities, generous benefits and a good work/life balance. Our mission is to be the preferred choice in internet and home shopping…do things better or do things differently.