Director - Solution Architect

Job description

GSK remains committed to achieving bold commercial ambitions for the future. By 2031, we aim to deliver £40 billion in annual sales, leveraging our existing strong performance momentum to significantly increase our positive impact on the health of billions of patients globally. Our Ahead Together strategy is centred on early intervention to prevent and alter the course of disease, thereby protecting people and supporting healthcare systems. Our diverse portfolio consists of vaccines, specialty medicines, and general medicines. Through continuous innovation and a dedicated focus on scientific and technical excellence, we strive to develop and launch new, groundbreaking treatments that address critical health challenges. Job Purpose The Solution Architect provides solution architecture and design assurance for major GSK initiatives, ensuring solutions meet architecture standards, fit the target architecture and deliver the intended business outcomes. The role produces solution designs, builds reliability, resilience and observability in from the start, designs AI-enabled solutions where they accelerate delivery or operations, and works across domains so that end-to-end solutions are coherent rather than locally optimal. Platform-level reference architectures and standards sit with the Platform Architects and Platform Architecture Directors in each business domain, engineering delivery sits with the platform engineering teams, and enterprise architecture strategy and the architecture team sit with the Head of Solution Architecture and the Enterprise Architects. Where a design touches platforms, the business-facing domain architect leads and this role assures. Key Responsibilities Produce solution designs for major DPTF and broader Digital &Tech initiatives, aligned to reference architectures, enterprise standards and strategy. Build reliability, resilience and observability into designs from the outset, aware of the SLOs the consuming services commit to. Design AI-enabled solutions where AI genuinely accelerates delivery or operations and state the case rather than including it by default. Provide design assurance and architecture review for initiatives led by others, declining designs that do not meet the standard and saying what would. Balance business outcome, cost, risk and technical fit in every design Work across platform domains so that end-to-end solutions are coherent, surfacing conflicts between domain architectures early. Assure the architecture of supplier and managed-service solutions to the same standard as internal designs. Uphold architecture standards and governance, routing genuine exceptions through Enterprise Architecture rather than allowing local workarounds. Ensure designs meet security and compliance requirements, including GxP where the initiative supports regulated activity. Reduce rework by engaging early in initiative shaping rather than reviewing completed designs and evidence the reduction. Advise on architectural risk and the consequence of the technical debt they are accepting. Hold the boundaries with the Platform Architects on platform-level reference architecture, the Enterprise Architects on enterprise strategy and standards, and the engineering teams on build. Education & Professional Qualifications Degree in a technology or engineering discipline, or equivalent practical experience (e.g., Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems). Architecture certifications desirable (recognised cloud, network or workplace architecture certification). Job Experience: 18+ years in technology architecture or senior engineering, including at least three years producing solution designs for major initiatives. Breadth across more than one technology domain, sufficient to design and assure end to end rather than within a specialism. Experience working with and influencing one or more business domain architects (eg: R&D, Commercial, Global Functions, or Global Supply Chain) Experience running architecture review or design assurance, including declining a design and specifying what would pass. Track record designing for reliability, resilience and observability rather than adding them afterwards. Experience designing secure and compliant solutions Experience assuring supplier or systems integrator designs to an internal standard. Practical awareness of AI patterns and judgment for where AI adds genuine value Hands-on experience designing across SaaS, PaaS and IaaS on Azure and/or GCP A firm understanding of Modern Engineering workflows, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and observability, and how AI-assisted and agentic tooling fits into them. Desirable Familiarity with GxP validation requirements for solution designs, beyond platform standards Experience producing designs later delivered through third-party systems integrators Exposure to FinOps or cost-to-operate considerations in solution design decisions Hands-on experience with AI-enabled patterns (RAG, agentic workflows) as delivery accelerants Preferred Skills: Breadth over depth, with the confidence to reason about domains where others are the specialists. Ability to decline a design and leave the relationship intact by saying clearly what would pass. Clear design documentation and diagramming for mixed technical and business audiences. Judgement about when an exception is genuinely warranted and when it is convenience. Comfort engaging early in initiative shaping where requirements are still ambiguous. Pragmatism about technical debt, making the cost visible rather than blocking delivery. #AGTech Skills API Management, Application Development, Architecture Reviews, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Architectures, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Data Architecture Development, Database Management Systems (DBMS), Design Assurance, DevOps, Engineering Leadership, Microservices Architecture, Network Architecture, Security Architecture Design, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software Engineering, Solutions Design, System Integration, Technical Solution Architecture, Technology Architecture Why GSK? Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale. People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people. Inclusion at GSK: As an employer committed to Inclusion, we encourage you to reach out if you need any adjustments during the recruitment process. Please contact our Recruitment Team at IN.recruitment-adjustments@gsk.com to discuss your needs. 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