Solution Architect

About Valorem:

Valorem Reply is the UK branch of the global Reply group, a leading Microsoft-focused digital transformation consultancy. We blend the agility of a local business with the resources of a global enterprise, specialising in Azure to simplify how businesses modernise their IT, data, and analytics. Our strapline "modernisation, simplified..." highlights our mission to make cloud journeys straightforward and effective.

Role Overview:

As a Solutions Architect, you will lead the design of secure, scalable, and commercially viable technology solutions for clients, with a strong focus on Microsoft Azure and the wider Microsoft ecosystem. You will work closely with customers, delivery teams, and internal stakeholders to understand business needs, shape solution options, and define architectures aligned to strategic outcomes. You will play a key role in bridging business requirements and technical delivery, ensuring solutions are achievable, supportable, and designed with security, cost, performance, and resilience in mind. As a customer-facing consultant, you will lead technical discussions with senior stakeholders and engineering teams while remaining hands-on to guide delivery and resolve challenges. You will also mentor team members, contribute to capability growth, support pre-sales activities, and develop towards senior architecture and leadership roles. This is a hybrid role either based in London or Manchester.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the design of end-to-end technology solutions across cloud, data, integration, security, and application workloads.
• Work with clients to understand business objectives, requirements, constraints, and risks, translating these into clear architectural designs and recommendations.
• Produce high-quality solution architectures, technical designs, and supporting documentation.
• Ensure solutions are secure, scalable, resilient, supportable, and aligned to best practice and governance standards.
• Provide architectural leadership across delivery teams, supporting implementation and helping resolve complex technical issues.
• Facilitate workshops and architecture discussions with client stakeholders, delivery teams, and partners.
• Evaluate solution options and make clear recommendations based on trade-offs across cost, risk, complexity, and business value.
• Support pre-sales activities including discovery, solution shaping, estimation, proposals, and technical presentations.
• Contribute to architecture standards, reusable assets, and best practices across the consultancy.
• Mentor junior consultants and engineers, supporting their technical and professional development.

About the Candidate:

• Experience in a Solutions Architect, Technical Architect, or senior technical leadership role.
• Strong experience designing cloud-based solutions using Microsoft Azure.
• Broad technical understanding across infrastructure, networking, security, identity, integration, data, and application architectures.
• Experience producing solution designs, architecture diagrams, and technical documentation for customer-facing engagements.
• Ability to work in a customer-facing role, engaging effectively with clients, stakeholders, and delivery teams.
• Strong understanding of non-functional requirements including security, resilience, scalability, supportability, and cost optimisation.
• Experience guiding engineering teams through implementation and providing technical oversight during delivery.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work independently and exercise sound technical judgement.
• Microsoft Azure certifications, along with experience in Azure landing zones, governance, and DevOps practices including CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code, would be advantageous.
• Experience with data and integration technologies, security and compliance frameworks, pre-sales and bid support, modern application architectures, and mentoring or community leadership would be beneficial.
• Strong professional behaviours, including clear communication, commercial awareness, pragmatism, collaboration, continuous learning, and the ability to operate confidently in complex, client-facing environments.

Reply is an Equal Opportunities Employer and committed to embracing diversity in the workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender, identity, pregnancy, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, medical history, skin colour, marital status or parental status or any other characteristic protected by the Law.

Reply is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, please let us know of any Reasonable Adjustments you may need.