Cloud Centre Of Excellence (CCoE) Architect

Salary: National – ranging from £65,200 - £104,700 and London- £67,900 - £116,200 per annum

Would you like an opportunity to be at the forefront of our ambition to be a data and technology driven regulator of the future? 

The team/department

The Infrastructure Product Group (IPG) is the team responsible for the management and delivery of new services into the FCA AWS Cloud Datacentre. It is a high performing DevSecOps function running in an agile way. IPG sits within the Technology department in a multi-product group, landscape – working collaboratively to enable and support the business demand.

The role is heavily focused on enabling DevSecOps through the software development life cycle (SDLC) leading to improved Self-Service capability and with an ambition to become more Outcome Based as part of commercial engagement. SDLC is a complex and challenging area given how integral it is for both a platform and to the application teams.

What you will be doing (the role)

• Co-lead, collaborate and facilitate the Cloud Centre of Excellence at the FCA

• Evangelise cloud architectural best practices and identify new opportunities on standardizing product capabilities through reusability

• Work closely with the security team to establish and enforce adopted compliance standards within the cloud environments

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders and communicate the value and benefits of cloud technologies

• Collaborate with the Strategy & Architecture team to identify opportunities for platform solutions and products

What you will get from the role

• An opportunity to work with many FCA front line teams, partner organisations, technology suppliers and teams across our Data, Technology & Innovation division

• A chance to work in cross functional/cross divisional teams passionate about delivering value continuously

• Working with a wide range of people, teams, technology, projects to provide real value to consumers, financial services industry, financial markets and to UK plc

Our competitive flexible benefits scheme gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifecycle. You can use this allowance to purchase additional benefits such as dental or cycle to work or you have the option top up your base salary by taking this as cash. 

Core benefits that you will receive as standard are: 

• 28 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Private healthcare with Bupa 

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8% of basic salary each month (there are several contribution levels that increase depending on your age – up to 12% a month once you reach age 35)

• Life assurance of eight times your basic salary 

• Income protection 

We support hybrid working which means you will be able to work from home up to 60% of the time over a month with the remainder of your time in one of our three office locations. 

The skills and experience you’ll have

Minimum

We are a signatory to the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. This means that we will offer an interview to disabled candidates entering under the scheme, who best meet the minimum criteria for a role. 

• Experience as a Technical/Solution Architect designing products, platforms, systems and components on multiple programmes and projects at an AWS enterprise scale

• Experience operating within or closely with a Cloud Centre of Excellence function

• Proven experience in successfully implementing new AWS solutions and proven value at a technology delivery level

Essential

• Commercial awareness and hands-on experience at costing solution options, understanding procurement frameworks and promoting cost effective solutions

• Evidenced continuous professional development and engagement with industry innovators and professional bodies

• Experience of innovation

• Experience leading an SRE Engineering and Observability function.

• Exceptional communication skills, able and willing to describe and negotiate complex and detailed solutions across a variety of stakeholders

• Exceptional critical thinker and problem solver, able to work with imperfect information in an environment of uncertainty whilst still maintaining high standards, evidenced designs and documentation that consider regulatory, organisational and technology change requirements, the FCA divisional and enterprise strategies

• A proven leader in innovating solutions to deliver Value for Money and self-service oriented goals

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 50,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. We do this to make sure markets work well for individuals, businesses and the economy as a whole. For more information on what we do, our three-year strategy can be found here. 

The FCA's Values & Diversity

Our ambition is to cultivate a culture of inclusion for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisations. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, disabled and minority ethnic candidates for our Technical Specialist role.  

Flexible working

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements. Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we won’t judge you for asking. 

Multilocation

As part of the FCA’s on-going commitment to develop our national presence, most of our vacancies are now open to working in our Edinburgh, Leeds, or London offices.  This means that as part of the application process you will be able to select your preference of which office location you would like to work from. 

Useful information

• Applications for this role close at 23:59 on the 3rd October 2024

• This role is graded as Technical Specialist – Regulatory

Got a question?

If you are interested learning more about the role, please contact the following: 

For internal applicants, please contact Michael Wood, [email protected] 

For external applicants, please contact Asha Gladis, [email protected] 

What to expect from our assessment and selection process

The assessment process consists of a telephone screening call and if successful a competency and technical based interview.

Application support  

We want to remove any possible barriers and are committed to providing a wide range of reasonable adjustments so that you can keep the focus on your conversations and be at your best.  

If you have an accessibility requirement, disability, or condition that means you might require changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter to discuss this further. Our aim is to make your application as easy and comfortable as possible, and your recruiter will be happy to work with you to make any necessary arrangements where possible. 

Security Clearance/Vetting

The successful candidate will hold or will be required to obtain Security Clearance (SC) level vetting.

Please note that all applications must be submitted through our online portal, applications sent via email will not be accepted.