Application Architect- Insurance Consulting and Technology

Profile

Summary of Role

We are looking for a System Architect to join our growing engineering organisation (headquartered in Reigate, currently 175 heads globally) developing a wide range of market-leading InsurTech solutions. You will join us at an exciting time as we evolve our portfolio from desktop/on-premise towards cloud/SaaS, upgrading existing products to new technologies and modern UX, as well as developing brand-new solutions.

As a seasoned Solution Architect, you will be responsible for defining and driving the execution of the short and long-term technical strategy for the family of products belonging to our successful Pricing suite based on advanced machine learning and AI techniques. This will include migrating existing products such as desktop software to new web-based technologies, leading the creation of new products, and consolidating the various applications into a coherent and integrated solution from the perspectives of architecture and user experience.

You will work with Senior Product Leads, Architects and Principal Engineers, to deliver strategic and tactical steps towards the long-term evolution of our products, thereby setting the technical direction for several scrum teams (5 currently, growing aggressively) and a critical part of our product portfolio.

The Role

1- Define a strategy based on input from various stakeholders


Work with Product Management representatives to assimilate and influence the evolving product roadmaps, ensuring technology evolution and technical debt reduction are explicitly taken into account in the product backlog and forecast estimates,
Work with Engineering Management representatives to assimilate and influence the overall technology vision for the Insurance Technology business,
Work with Architects and Senior Engineering Leads to assess the existing architectures and technology choices within the Pricing suite, and define a strategy providing short and longer-term steps towards a next-gen long-term solution supporting business goals and client needs,
Regularly align with the CISO to ensure security requirements and practices are taken into account as part of this strategy.


2 - Define and plan concrete work supporting the strategy


Define and continuously refine a system architecture backlog supporting this strategy and covering the R&D, application, devops, infrastructure and service dimensions supporting the product family,
Work with Product and Engineering Management representatives to ensure items from this architecture backlog are incorporated as part of each release cycle,
Lead the definition of major architectural aspects supporting the implementation of new functional or non-functional product requirements, and as required support development teams in the definition of the more detailed designs.


3- Deliver against the plan


Deliver specific architecture items in each release cycle, directly and through work done by the various scrum teams,
Rapidly build proof of concepts to help address strategic product or technology challenges,
As required, support and guide the various scrum teams with respect to architecture and technology issues occurring during the execution of a release cycle or the preparation of the upcoming release cycle,
Continuously provide architecture oversight across products and scrum teams to assess opportunities to reuse or decouple code as new functionality gets implemented, facilitating the decision process between engineering leads as required.


4- Collaborate and share


Actively lead and participate in hands-on design, development, and code review sessions, providing guidance as required on how to create testable and maintainable software,
Create and maintain relevant architecture documentation and wikis, and communicate plans, progress and best practices to the various scrum teams e.g. during Scrum demos/show-and-tell or brown bag sessions,
Work with Engineering Management to identify skills gaps and define hiring and training plans,
Encourage and engage in collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and software components with other Insurance Technology teams,
Participate in or lead relevant Communities of Improvements across the business unit.


The Requirements


Sufficient experience as a senior system/solutions architect,


o defining architecture strategies, roadmaps and backlogs,

o designing and delivering high-performance and scalable data- driven desktop applications as well as cloud-native web or SaaS applications,

o evolving existing solutions towards next-generation technologies and architectures,

o overseeing technical implementations undertaken by multiple scrum teams, still hands-on and close to the code as required.


Sound experience as a software engineer, ideally using .NET C#,
Extensive hands-on experience across the full software development lifecycle in a commercial/production environment: requirements capture and analysis, estimation, detailed software design, implementation, unit and system-level testing, installation and deployment, maintenance,
Experience with software engineering best practices: object-oriented design and implementation, design patterns, SOLID principles, Agile and Extreme Programming methodologies
Experience with software development tools: IDE’s, version control, test automation, continuous integration, defect and backlog management systems,
In-depth knowledge of full-stack technologies: HTML/CSS, Bootstrap, Angular JS, Microsoft and .NET frameworks (Winforms, WPF, WCF, ASP.NET), Azure services, SOAP/RESTful API’s, micro-services, Docker containerisation and orchestration technologies (Kubernetes, Service Fabric), SQL server and other relational/non-relational database management systems, Azure DevOps, Git.
Solid appreciation of:


o infrastructure technologies and topologies, templating and deployment,

o infosec requirements and best-practices,

o SaaS-related operational requirements (e.g. SLA’s, DR, monitoring, 1st-3rd line support).


Ability to quickly learn new technologies,
Ability to think strategically and create a long-term vision whilst being detailed and able to quickly deliver short-term increments,
Strong written and verbal communications skills, able to influence senior product and engineering peers, and to listen and consider ideas and perspectives of others,


The Company

Willis Towers Watson is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has 40,000 employees serving more than 140 countries. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our unique perspective allows us to see the critical intersections between talent, assets and ideas – the dynamic formula that drives business performance. Together, we unlock potential. Learn more at willistowerswatson.com .

Willis Towers Watson is an equal opportunity employer

Willis Towers Watson believes that effectively managing a diverse workforce is vital to our business strategy. We have an obligation to our organization, ourselves and our clients to hire and develop the best people we can find. We will continually review our policies and practices to ensure that all areas of the employment process (including recruiting, hiring, work assignments, compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, company-sponsored development programs and overall workplace experience) are free from discriminatory practices. We are committed to equal employment opportunities at **MEMBERS ONLY**SIGN UP NOW***.

Unsolicited Contact: Any unsolicited resumes/candidate profiles submitted through our web site or to personal e-mail accounts of employees of Willis Towers Watson are considered property of Willis Towers Watson and are not subject to payment of agency fees. In order to be an authorized Recruitment Agency/Search Firm for Willis Towers Watson, any such agency must have an existing formal written agreement signed by an authorized Willis Towers Watson recruiter and an active working relationship with the organization. Resumes must be submitted according to our candidate submission process, which includes being actively engaged on the particular search. Likewise, for our authorized Recruitment Agencies/Search Firms, if the candidate submission process is not followed, no agency fees will be paid by **MEMBERS ONLY**SIGN UP NOW***. Willis Towers Watson is an equal opportunity employer.

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