Senior Solution Architect

The Senior Solution Architect is a senior architecture practitioner and trusted technical adviser embedded in one or more domains / value streams rather than sitting above them. The scope of impact of this role is domain-deep rather than enterprise-wide: where the Enterprise Technology Architect sets the target-state reference architecture and golden paths for all of Product & Technology the Senior Solution Architect goes deep into a specific domains systems and roadmap implications to make those standards real for the teams living with them day to day. This role leads through architectural credibility coaching and trusted advice rather than through management authority design ownership or ownership of the roadmap itself. This role reports to the Director of Architecture. 

Taylor & Francis Product & Technology group is moving to a domain-based operating model grounded in clear ownership boundaries domain-aligned roadmaps and cross-domain integration this model engineering teams not architects own day-to-day solution design and Delivery/Product own the domain roadmap and its sequencing; the Senior Solution Architects job is to make both of those forms of ownership succeed. The Senior Solution Architect partners closely with Heads of Engineering Tech Leads Product and Delivery bringing the architectural view feasibility and structural blockers that makes their roadmap sequencing decisions sound. This role along with all of our P&T teams supports the evolution from a traditional academic publisher to a Knowledge Marketplace. 

We seek someone who treats architecture as a service to the domain not a gate in front of it. The Senior Solution Architect defaults to enabling engineering teams to make good decisions themselves reserving their own direct involvement for cross-domain complexity significant decisions and the moments where a domain genuinely needs an outside options-based view. They are equally credible advising an Engineering Head on target architecture simplification opportunities and architectural decision records (ADRs). 

Key Responsibilities 

Domain Solution Architecture

• Own solution architecture for one or more assigned domains / value streams establishing the architectural guardrails and patterns within which engineering teams design and evolve solutions aligned to DDD bounded contexts 
• Enable and coach domain engineering teams to take accountability for their own solution design decisions building architectural confidence within the team rather than centralising decisions with the Senior Solution Architect 
• Turning the Enterprise Technology Architects pre-shape input into a domain-specific design on significant initiatives and cross-domain complexity teams arent positioned to resolve alone 
• Where the ETAs golden path genuinely doesnt fit the domains reality raise that back as a candidate exception or a change to the golden path itself rather than quietly deviating from it 
• Coordinate cross-domain solution designs convening peer Senior Solution Architects and the relevant domain teams so an initiative that spans multiple domains lands as one coherent design rather than several locally-optimised ones 

Trusted Advisory Target Architecture and Simplification 

• The Senior Solution Architect shapes the domain roadmap without owning it. Delivery own the roadmap artefact its cross-initiative sequencing and the resourcing decisions behind it; the Senior Solution Architects job is to make sure the architectural constraints and structural blockers that should inform their sequencing calls are visible credible and current not to produce own or sequence the roadmap. 
•  Act as the domains trusted technical adviser to the Head of Engineering and domain leadership bringing an architects view to decisions that are as much about long-term feasibility as they are about design 
• Identify and size simplification opportunities within the domain application rationalisation consolidation retirement candidates acting as the Enterprise Technology Architects primary source of ground truth for the application portfolio which is only as good as the domain input feeding it 
• Treat systemic technical issues a Staff Engineer surfaces across multiple domains as a priority input to this simplification view their cross-domain vantage point often sees a pattern before any single domain-anchored SSA would so build on that discovery rather than duplicating it 
• Feed Programme/Portfolio Managements near-term sequencing with a domain-specific architectural view 

Delivery Assurance & Governance

• Prepare Engineering Leaders for Architecture Advisory Forum (AAF) participation ensuring they understand the context implications and options for decisions requiring their input and maintain a curated architectural update stream so Engineering Leaders remain informed of cross-domain decisions and enterprise direction 
• Pull the domains Staff Engineer(s) into significant AAF submissions and architecture reviews: the Senior Solution Architect brings the solution view Staff Engineers bring the delivery-feasibility and engineering-practice view and a recommendation that hasnt been pressure-tested by both is weaker for it 
• Identify and coordinate the resolution of cross-domain technical dependencies that span team boundaries and that no single domain team is positioned to see or resolve alone 
• Provide guidance to delivery teams during construction to keep implementation aligned with agreed solution direction and bring changes back through governance when Construction surfaces the need for them 
• Work with domain leadership to maintain visibility of technical debt and simplification opportunities within the domain and keep them prioritised and visible rather than allowed to accumulate silently 

Partnership with Engineering Product & Delivery

Partner with the Head of Engineering as an enabling presence not a decision-making authority over day-to-day solution design or a substitute for their people leadership delivery ownership or hiring accountability 

Work alongside Tech Leads as peers on solution direction Tech Leads and their teams own day-to-day solution decisions; the Senior Solution Architect sets guardrails reviews the significant ones and takes on cross-domain complexity they cant resolve alone 

Partner with Product to ensure architectural options put in front of domain leadership reflect real delivery capacity and cost constraints not an idealised version of either 

Partner closely with Staff Engineers who bring engineering practice excellence testing strategy CI/CD observability AI-first delivery tooling across multiple domains. The Senior Solution Architect focuses on what should be built and why it makes sense for the domain including whether to incorporate an AI capability and what it costs to build run and govern long-term; Staff Engineers focus on how teams build it well. 

Work with the Enterprise Technology Architect Enterprise Business Architect and Director of Architecture to translate the enterprises target-state vision technology capability and overall architecture direction into concrete alignment across domain teams and designs so every domain is building toward the same destination rather than a locally consistent but divergent one 

Work with the Business Architect day-to-day to keep domain solution decisions aligned to agreed capability boundaries and operating-model guidance flagging where the two are pulling apart 

Work collaboratively with Delivery they own the roadmap and its sequencing; the Senior Solution Architect provides the architectural constraints implications and structural-blocker visibility that inform it 

Deliverables 

• Key artefacts the Senior Solution Architect produces or maintains but always in service of team autonomy rather than as a default output for every initiative: 
• Domain solution architecture documentation kept current rather than produced once and left to decay 
• Architecture Decision Records both those authored for cross-domain decisions and those reviewed for teams within the domain 
• Solution design proposals for significant initiatives: As-Is Proposed Changes and To-Be views 
• Domain input into the application portfolio technology radar and enterprise pattern library 

Qualifications :

Skills & Experience 

• Deep hands-on solution architecture experience within a specific domain or value stream ideally in a technology-focused company in the media & publishing sector 
• Expert-level AWS knowledge across compute (ECS/Fargate Lambda containers and orchestration) data and storage networking identity and security and the Well-Architected Framework able to make credible cost-literate build/run trade-off calls rather than defer them 
• Deep working knowledge of non-functional requirements as first-class design concerns scalability and performance under load observability (logging tracing metrics alerting) security (threat modelling secure-by-design data protection) resilience and disaster recovery 
• Practical experience with AI and its associated technology stack including: 
• LLM application patterns retrieval-augmented generation prompt engineering agentic and multi-agent orchestration frameworks 
•  Vector stores embeddings and the data pipelines that feed them 
•  Model selection trade-offs fine-tuning vs. RAG vs. prompt engineering and the cost/latency/quality trade-offs between them 
•   Managed vs. self-hosted inference (e.g. AWS Bedrock SageMaker) and the cost economics of each 
•   LLMOps prompt and model versioning evaluation monitoring guardrails and human-in-the-loop review points 
•  Responsible AI and governance bias and hallucination mitigation explainability and awareness of regulatory considerations such as the EU AI Act 
•  AI-specific security considerations prompt injection data leakage PII exposure in prompts or training data and model supply chain risk 
•  Publishing-specific AI and IP considerations text & data mining rights content licensing for AI training and inference and provenance/attribution of AI-assisted content 
• Strong working knowledge of Domain-Driven Design Team Topologies and modern engineering ways of working 
• Ability to distil complex technical and commercial trade-offs into options domain leadership can actually decide between under time pressure and with incomplete information 
• Deep understanding of how architectural recommendations connect to cost delivery sequencing and financial planning not just technical soundness 
• Proven experience leading solution design work across teams whose subject matter expertise the Senior Solution Architect doesnt personally hold and coaching those teams toward owning their own architecture decisions 
• Experience operating within or transitioning a team into a domain-based / value-stream operating model 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the versatility to run a technical design review and a cost-and-simplification conversation with the same credibility 
• A minimum of 5 years experience in solution architecture or related architecture roles and a minimum of 8 years in IT overall including meaningful hands-on engineering experience earlier in career 

Additional Information :

You must have the right to work and live in India.

Location: The successful candidate will be able to utilise our balanced working model. We ask that candidates live within a commutable distance of our Bengaluru office to ensure that as a balanced worker they can make it to our office location to collaborate as required. There is an expectation for a minimum of 3 days per week in-person time.

We believe that great things happen when people connect face-to-face. Thats why we work in-person with each other or with customers and partners three days a week or more. When youre not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces like at conference you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely.

What we offer in return: 

• A competitive salary bonus
• 24 days annual leave
• 4 volunteering days annually
• Day off for your birthday
• Pension contributions
• Medical insurance for self and dependants; life cover and personal accident cover for self
• Seasonal social and charitable events
• Training and development
• Tools and equipment for remote working

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you are able to show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format more time for questions or anything else please ask us we are happy to be flexible! Please contact   

Being Yourself at Taylor & Francis: 

If youre excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge we invite you to apply even if your existing skills and experience dont fit every item listed above. At Taylor & Francis we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and make a contribution regardless of their identity or background. As a colleague you will have the opportunity to further innovate and develop in areas that you are passionate about. Our goal is to empower you with the resources incentives and flexibility you need to enjoy success at work and to live a healthy balanced life. 

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves. Taylor & Francis recruits develops and retains colleagues without regard to any protected personal characteristics or other non-merit based factor. 

If you have a disability or face another barrier and would like to request an adjustment to assist your participation in the hiring process and/or in the advertised position please contact . Your request will be reviewed and considered in the strictest confidence.

We genuinely care about our colleagues promoting work-life balance wellbeing and flexible working. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about. To find out more about our business and the great career opportunities please go to our Careers Site: better yet check out our LinkedIn Life Page highlighting our accomplishments employees and company culture. Its also a good way of meeting our recruitment team who will be happy to advise you on your journey here at T&F. 

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time