Principal Enterprise Architect Permanent Location: Home / Durham (Hybrid) Salary: £79,000 - £85,000 ( 28% pension contribution, bonus) Overview We're supporting a large, highly regulated UK organisation undergoing a significant business and technology transformation. The technology landscape has recently evolved from a single outsourced provider to a complex multi-supplier environment, creating the need for strong architectural leadership to provide clarity, coherence, and direction across the enterprise. This is a senior, influential role for an experienced Principal Enterprise Architect who can take ownership of the enterprise architecture blueprint, bring disparate elements together, and ensure suppliers and internal teams are aligned to agreed standards and outcomes. This is a hybrid role and you will be required to work onsite in Durham 2 days a week. The Role Reporting into senior technology leadership, the Principal Enterprise Architect will play a pivotal role in shaping and governing enterprise-wide architecture across the organisation. Key responsibilities include: Owning and maintaining the enterprise architecture blueprint, ensuring alignment to business strategy and transformation objectives Providing a holistic, enterprise-wide architectural view across applications, data, infrastructure, cloud, and digital platforms Acting as a senior architectural authority, influencing and constructively challenging third-party suppliers in a multi-vendor environment Ensuring architectural designs meet regulatory, security, resilience, and scalability requirements Leading and developing a small enterprise architecture team (circa 4 people) Defining and embedding architecture principles, standards, patterns, and governance Supporting major business and digital transformation programmes Working closely with senior stakeholders to translate strategic goals into deliverable, sustainable technical designs This role requires someone who is credible, well-presented, approachable, and confident operating at senior levels across both business and technology. Experience Required Essential Significant experience operating as a senior or principal enterprise architect Experience working in a highly regulated or compliant environment Strong background in outsourced and multi-supplier technology landscapes Proven experience influencing delivery across multiple third-party suppliers Demonstrable involvement in large-scale business or digital transformation initiatives Experience spanning data centre, cloud, digital platforms, and emerging technologies Desirable Exposure to core banking platforms such as Sopra Banking Software, or comparable large-scale enterprise systems Background within financial services, though candidates from other highly regulated sectors are also welcome Skills & Capabilities Strong knowledge of enterprise architecture frameworks, tools, and patterns Ability to operate strategically while remaining practical and outcome-focused Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills Confident leader with experience developing high-performing teams In-depth understanding of systems architecture, performance, resilience, and scalability Awareness of modern delivery approaches including agile, cloud platforms, and digital services Qualifications Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or equivalent experience TOGAF, ArchiMate, or equivalent architecture certification - desirable but not essential