Software Architect / Tech Lead

Software Architect / Tech Lead

Whitehall Resources are looking for a Software Architect / Tech Lead. This role is hybrid working with 2 days per week onsite in London, and the remainder remote working for an initial 6-12 month contract.

***OUTSIDE IR35***

Position Summary:

The team is seeking a Software Architect to join the software engineering team. Working under the guidance of the Sr. Staff Architect alongside the team’s Product Managers, Project Incubation Managers, User Experience/ Product Designers, and Tools Specialists. This multi-faceted role will drive the overall engineering and architectural approach for software tools, products and services and lead software teams in the development and ongoing support and maintenance of the company’s software products

This highly visible role within the company helps set the architectural direction for both software products and the broader enterprise, encompassing defining the technology stack for custom-built solutions; overseeing end-to-end software architecture and design across internal and external resources; directing governance and implementation; providing strategic and tactical leadership to development teams; and contributing hands-on through independent coding, formal code reviews, and setting performance, scalability, and quality standards. Working with minimal supervision, responsibilities include translating business needs into technical requirements and documentation, leading technical designs, executing development tasks, reviewing team output to ensure high-quality deliverables, and supporting operations by identifying defects, performing Level 1/2 troubleshooting, leading deployments, mentoring and training junior engineers, and enabling the execution and delivery of complex, strategic technical initiatives.

Essential Functions:

Architecture and Technical Governance (60%):

• Provide technical leadership, governance and architectural direction to internal and external development teams on the design, development, implementation, and deployment of highly usable and scalable software
• Participate in system coding and engineering alongside development teams, including performing formal code reviews and providing feedback on the structure, maintainability and quality of code
• Strictly enforce and maintain adherence to best practice in security, performance, scalability, usability, maintainability, and supportability of software
• Perform in-depth technology evaluations and risk assessments of vendor software, platforms and teams
• Participate in the estimation, planning, and costing of new projects and initiatives across multiple metrics
• Produce, communicate and maintain technical designs, architecture artifacts, best practice, and principles for technical and executive-level audiences,
• Lead rapid prototyping efforts with new and emerging technologies to assess technical fit and risk,
• Lead in build versus buy assessments, work to evaluate trade-offs of various options, and present final recommendations to senior stakeholders and management
• Investigate and keep up to date on emerging and cutting-edge technologies, lead knowledge sharing
• Act as a technical liaison and leader between engineering and other digital and software development teams within the company regarding organizational commitments for architecture, technical standards, knowledge sharing, and best practices
• Drive innovation through out-of-the-box thinking to solve critical business challenges and demands

Product Delivery (20%):

• Collaborate with the firm’s product and practice teams to define product strategies and roadmaps
• Ensure on-going product adherence to technology standards, business objectives, and requirements
• Monitor work to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery, identify and address technical obstacles and roadblocks, work with product teams to triage, prioritize and issue hot fixes for system defects
• Support the rollout and implementation of software to clients, provide end-user support as needed

Program Leadership (20%):

• In collaboration with senior leadership, assist in managing and driving strategic technical and investment decisions, budgeting, staffing, vendor management, and communications
• Support in the evangelization of the group and its capabilities through knowledge sharing, presentations, organizing events, and recruiting efforts
• Create and foster a high job satisfaction environment while ensuring continued growth and advancement opportunities for the team

Required Qualifications:

• Total of 10+ years of relevant work experience with a technical or engineering focus
• Minimum 5 years designing, architecting, and leading teams in the delivery of enterprise grade, highly performant, secure and scalable solutions, applications, and cloud platforms
• Experience developing software products and solutions
• Demonstrated knowledge of Agile software development and processes
• Strong performance in prior software development positions
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience managing a team of engineers and providing technical leadership
• Experience managing conflict and dependencies to deliver results
• Demonstrated ability to manage communication among varied project stakeholders within the project and external vendors

Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities:

• Expert level familiarity with AI engineering frameworks and concepts and components like – RAG, Vector databases, multi-agent designs.
• Senior-level software architecture and engineering experience.
• Proven experience architecting, developing, and operationalizing highly scalable cloud-based software products and services.
• Track record leading, mentoring, and growing multiple teams across multiple products, services, and projects.
• Strong experience across a modern stack, including several of: Python, Kubernetes/Docker, microservices, Node.js, React.js, Spark, Kafka, Relational DBs, NoSQL, and OLAP/OLTP relational databases (Snowflake, Postgres, Databricks)
• Strong knowledge of cloud architectures and services (AWS, Azure), relational and columnar databases, analytical tools/technologies, and visualization/BI platforms—including integration
• Experience leading and inspiring development teams in a fast-paced Agile environment
• Willingness and desire to be hands-on and code alongside development teams
• Strong communication and presentation skills, including documenting complex data flows and processes
• Strong results orientation, focused on outcomes and measurable impact
• Strong advisory and influencing skills with senior stakeholders and management
• Strong interpersonal skills, able to interface across many areas and levels of the company
• Entrepreneurial spirit—willing to think outside the box, try new things, and not be afraid to fail