Solution Architect at Cambridge University Press & Assessment (CUPA), Cambridge

Solution Architect

• Salary: £54,800 - £73,250
• Location: Hybrid Cambridge with 40-60% time in office
• Contract: Permanent  
• Hours: Full time 35 hours week 

Do you want to design the next generation of cloud-native solutions that support millions of users around the world? Are you excited by solving complex technology challenges, influencing strategic programmes, and delivering secure, resilient applications on AWS?

Join us and help shape the future of our technology landscape while making a meaningful global impact.

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge. 

We are seeking a highly motivated Solution Architect to join our English Enterprise Architecture team. In this influential role, you will contribute to large-scale technology transformation programmes and help deliver the technology strategy that underpins our English product portfolio.

Working across the architecture community, you will partner closely with product, engineering, and technology teams to design, assure, and govern secure, resilient, and scalable platforms. You will ensure technology solutions align with business objectives and deliver measurable value for learners, educators, and partners around the world.
 
About the role  

As part of this role, you'll design and deliver secure, scalable, and resilient cloud-native solutions on AWS that enable strategic business outcomes. Working closely with Enterprise Architects, engineering teams, product managers, and security specialists, you'll shape solution architectures that align with our technology strategy while driving innovation, modern engineering practices, and the successful delivery of transformational initiatives.

You will be joining a team of passionate solution and enterprise architects who are committed to delivering high-quality digital platforms, evolving our architecture practice, and enabling technology that creates lasting business value.

The role includes:

• Collaborating with business and technology stakeholders to understand requirements, establish trusted relationships, and translate business needs into solution architectures (Collaboration).
• Designing secure, scalable, resilient, and cost-effective cloud-native solutions on AWS that align with enterprise architecture principles, technology standards, and strategic roadmaps (Innovation).
• Working closely with engineers, technical leads, security, platform, and operations teams to ensure solutions are delivered using modern engineering practices and architectural best practice (Empowerment).
• Producing and maintaining solution architecture artefacts, architecture decision records, and technical designs, while governing architectural integrity throughout the delivery lifecycle (Responsibility).
• Identifying and managing architectural risks, technical debt, and technology trade-offs to enable informed decision-making and successful programme delivery (Responsibility).
• Contributing to the continuous improvement of architecture standards, reusable patterns, governance, and cloud engineering practices across the organisation (Innovation).
• Providing technical leadership, mentoring architects and engineering teams, and fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and architectural excellence (Responsibility).

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition. 

About You  

• We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual who enjoys challenging the status quo and looking for innovative ways to solve complicated problems.
• You will need strong communication skills to build trust with stakeholders across the English product group and allow you to influence decision makers to endorse your ideas.
• You will have experience of teasing out architecturally significant requirements and designing solutions using techniques such as modelling and diagramming to communicate your ideas.
• Experience with AWS architecture patterns, including microservices, event-driven architectures, APIs, serverless computing, containers, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• You will need a robust understanding of event driven architecture design, data products, microservices and exposure to modern development techniques.

If you would like to know more about this opportunity and what will make you successful, please see the full job description attached to the bottom of this vacancy on our careers site.

If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria: 

• You are an experienced AWS expert with a proven track record of designing and delivering secure, scalable and resilient cloud-native solutions on AWS within complex enterprise environments.
• Knowledge of authentication and authorisation protocols, including OpenID Connect (OIDC) and OAuth 2.0, alongside cloud security design principles.
• You enjoy solving complex business and technology challenges, balancing strategic thinking with pragmatic decision-making.
• You are curious, collaborative and motivated by delivering technology that solves real customer problems.
• You are an excellent communicator who can explain complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical thinking, and decision-making capabilities.
• Strong leadership, communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills

For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site.  

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and who best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable and/or appropriate, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.   

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the gov website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for. 

Rewards and benefits  
We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible rewards package, featuring family-friendly and planet-friendly benefits including: 

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays 
• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance  
• Discretionary annual bonus  
• Group personal pension scheme 
• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary  
• Green travel schemes   

Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.  

We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent. The closing date for all applications will be  23rd October . We will review applications on an ongoing basis, and shortlisted candidates can expect interviews to take place shortly after.