Principal Solution Architect (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds and London)

Genomics England is a global leader in enabling genomic medicine and research, focused on creating a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project, we support the NHS’s world-first national whole genome sequencing service and run the growing National Genomic Research Library, alongside delivering numerous major genomics initiatives. By connecting research and clinical care at national scale, we enable immediate healthcare benefits and advances for the future. 

Our mission is to provide the evidence and digital systems so that by 2035 genomics could play a role in up to half of all healthcare interactions, whilst securing the UK’s position as the best place to discover, prove and benefit from genomic innovations. 

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody. 

Behind the Healthcare and Research outcomes, Genomics England delivers through designing, developing and operating complex healthcare software systems. 

We're on the cusp of big changes with the real prospect of genomics becoming the fabric of everyday healthcare through the lifetime - from birth to old age.

Genomics England are hiring for a Principal Solution Architect for Research, where you will manage all the architects across the Research tribe and provide architectural leadership across both the Use Research Data and Generate Research Data services. Working alongside other senior architecture and engineering leaders, you will help shape the technical direction for Research capabilities, ensure solutions align with enterprise direction, organisational priorities, services strategies, and support the development of coherent, scalable, and secure platforms that enable research outcomes. 

Your previous roles will include leading architecture across complex data, platform, or research environments and supporting teams delivering products and services used to generate, manage, and consume data. You will bring experience and expertise of setting direction across multiple teams or domains, and balancing strategic architecture leadership with pragmatic delivery support. 

You will have broad knowledge of solution architecture, data-intensive platforms, enterprise architecture practices and cloud platforms - preferably AWS. The complex nature of genomics research means we use a wide range of AWS technologies supporting data ingestion, workflow execution, high-performance compute, high-speed storage, advanced security features, and genomics-specific services such as HealthOmics. 

As Principal Solution Architect, you will work with architects, principal engineers, product managers and other senior leaders to help shape architecture best practice for research services, support consistency in how architecture is applied across the tribe, and provide technical leadership that improves interoperability, reuse, quality, and long-term maintainability. 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Provide strong architectural leadership across the Research tribe, working across both the Use Research Data and Generate Research Data services to ensure coherent end-to-end design. 

• Working with other technical leaders to shape the technical direction for research capabilities, ensuring solutions align with enterprise standards, strategic goals, and delivery priorities. 

• Partner with product, engineering, delivery, and science stakeholders to shape roadmaps and support effective architectural decision-making. 

• Provide architectural oversight and assurance for major initiatives across research platforms, data flows, and services, ensuring appropriate governance, quality, and technical coherence. 

• Drive consistency, reuse, and interoperability across services, platforms, and data domains within the Research tribe. 

• Support the evolution of research platforms across cloud environments, balancing immediate delivery needs with longer-term strategic direction. 

• Represent Research architecture within wider enterprise architecture discussions, ensuring local priorities, constraints, and opportunities are understood and aligned. 

• Develop, embed, and continuously improve architecture patterns, standards, and ways of working relevant to research and data-intensive services. 

• Work closely with architects and engineers across GEL to create coherent end-to-end solutions spanning research, platform, and enterprise domains. 

• Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous improvement, and strong cross-team collaboration across the Research tribe. 

• Manage architecture resources across the Research tribe.  

Essential Skills and Experience: 

• Significant experience in solution or domain architecture across complex enterprise environments, including cloud (preferably AWS) platforms. 

• Demonstrable experience providing architectural leadership across multiple teams, services, or initiatives, balancing strategic direction with pragmatic delivery support. 

• Strong understanding of data-intensive and research-oriented platforms, including the challenges of ingestion, processing, storage, access, and governance. 

• Experience shaping architecture across complex service boundaries and creating alignment between product, engineering, delivery, and domain stakeholders. 

• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture principles and the ability to represent a service or domain within wider enterprise architecture discussions. 

• Proven ability to provide architectural governance and oversight for significant programmes, platforms, or technology change initiatives.  

• Experience providing architectural governance across the full lifecycle from inception to live services. 

• Ability to develop, embed, and improve architecture best practice, standards, patterns, and ways of working. 

• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence engineering, product, delivery, scientific, and senior leadership audiences driving a single unified technical vision. 

• Experience shaping architectural choices across both immediate delivery needs and longer-term strategic direction. 

• Strong understanding of complex technology platforms, including infrastructure, networking, security, compute, storage, and integration concepts. 

• Ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams (e.g. study management and laboratory teams) and to create alignment across architects, engineers, and delivery stakeholders. 

• Experience managing and mentoring an architectural team to delivery outcomes. 

• Experience managing, mentoring, or leading architects, including setting direction, supporting development, and driving high standards of practice. 

Desirable Skills and Experience: 

• Knowledge of AWS services and patterns across areas such as networking, security, compute, storage, data processing, and automation. 

• Experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code. 

• Experience of operating within or improving architecture governance forums such as a Technical Design Authority. 

• Experience in healthcare, genomics, research, or other highly regulated and data-intensive domains. 

• Knowledge of research workflows, data lifecycle management, or platforms supporting scientific or analytical use cases. 

• Knowledge of high-performance compute, high-speed storage, workflow orchestration, or other specialist cloud technology environments. Ability to manage suppliers to deliver architectural outcomes. 

• Knowledge of enterprise architecture tooling such as Abacus. 

• Experience applying TOGAF methodologies or equivalent enterprise architecture practices. 

While we genuinely recognise the real value of relevant qualifications or certifications, we are primarily interested in your real-world experience: 

• Degree, ideally in computer science or a STEM discipline. 

• AWS certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect). 

• TOGAF Certification or equivalent 

Salary From: £103,400
Closing Date: Tuesday 11th August at 23:00 (UK time)

Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including: 

• Generous Leave:  30 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays, plus additional leave for long service, and also the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
• Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
• Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), an Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme and a Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
• Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace 

Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. 

Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity and will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor.  

Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties. Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity. 

We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us. 

Culture

We have four key behaviours that represent what we would like Genomics England to feel like and the culture we want to encourage, in order for us to achieve our mission. These behaviours help us all work well together, deliver on our outcomes, celebrate our successes and share feedback with each other. You can read about these and other aspects of our culture here Culture | Genomics England

Blended working model

Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team. 

Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.

Onboarding background checks

As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.