Job overview
Are you ready to shape the future of hybrid infrastructure for a world leading cancer centre? Royal Marsden Digital Services is looking for a Solution Architect to guide the design and evolution of our critical systems. This role blends robust on premise foundations with modern Cloud (IaaS/PaaS) innovation, ensuring our clinical teams have reliable, high performing tools that support life saving care.
Why Join Us?
As a key technical leader, you will architect and refine our hybrid technology stack. You’ll help define our infrastructure roadmap, integrating legacy systems with cloud services to deliver secure, resilient and scalable platforms.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead hybrid infrastructure strategy, aligning on premise and cloud environments to support 24/7 clinical operations.
Design scalable, secure infrastructure solutions across physical, virtual and cloud layers.
Drive cloud native adoption and automation to enhance performance and agility.
Oversee technical governance, ensuring compliance with NHS security and regulatory standards.
Manage supplier relationships, ensuring strong performance and value.
Lead resolution of complex architectural issues across cloud and on prem systems.
Collaborate with developers and partners to ensure new applications are designed effectively for our environment.
Main duties of the job
The Infrastructure and Cloud Services Solution Architect at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust plays a pivotal role in assessing, designing, delivering, and supporting reliable, resilient, and secure cloud and on-premises system and infrastructure technology solutions that are aligned with enterprise architecture and digital services technology strategy.
This role involves leadership in technical design, governance, and operational problem management, ensuring effective collaboration with stakeholders and service providers.
The post holder serves as the technical authority for all cloud and on-premises system and infrastructure technology dependent projects and changes, ensuring alignment with the Trust Roadmap for clinical and corporate services.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Lead as the technical infrastructure design authority across all cloud and on-premises hosting.
Lead as a subject matter expert during technical infrastructure major incidents and operational problem management.
Provide technical direction and solutions for cloud and on-premises hosting services aligned to key business requirements and strategy.
Support the preparation of business cases for cloud and on-premises infrastructure solutions, considering infrastructure, licences, development, delivery and support costs.
Work closely with project and technical teams to review, interpret and respond to detailed business requirement specifications, to ensure alignment between customers’ expectations and current and future technology capabilities.
Communicating highly complex technical infrastructure matters to senior non-technical staff clearly and in a manner whereby they can fully understand the issues and implications.
Propose and enforce infrastructure policy, standards and service changes which may have beneficial impact.
Maintain expertise in cloud and on-premises hosting infrastructure technologies to ensure that cost-effective solutions and processes are deployed and aligned with business direction
Person specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. Educated to Master’s level or equivalent experience of working at a senior level in a specialist area.
2. Obtained professional technical qualifications or equivalent experience in areas such as TOGAF, CISSP, HL7, ITIL, MSCE, MCSD, MCTS, CCNA.
3. Evidence of continued learning and development.
Experience
Essential criteria
4. Extensive practical experience as an Enterprise Architect / Technical Architect / Solutions Architect
5. Healthcare experience in design of systems environments
6. Experienced lead for a technical design authority or equivalent technical architecture group
7. Experienced in leading teams to interpret business and functional requirements, writing and delivering technical specifications including complex integration and implementing bespoke clinical solutions.
8. Experience of undertaking engagement and co-design in the planning of projects, involving a wide range of stakeholders, including clinicians, providers, partners and the public
Desirable criteria
9. Architectural experience in industry or technology companies
10. Google GCP experience
Skills/Abilities/Knowledge
Essential criteria
11. High level professional people management skills and leadership qualities.
12. Innovative / strategic thinker, high analytical ability to use data, research and consultation.
13. Highly developed facilitative, influencing and negotiating skills at both a local and system level
14. Ability to demonstrate a high level of technical expertise and providing senior leadership in digital technology disciplines
15. Demonstrable experience of supporting the development of Technology Strategies across complex systems, considering local, regional, national and supplier requirements/constraints
16. Experience of delivering presentations on complex technology subjects to large groups /conferences both internally and externally
17. Advanced oral and written communications skills, including the ability to convey complex messages to a wide range of stakeholders, often concerning contentious or difficult situations.
Desirable criteria
18. Awareness of relevant national policies and ability to interpret these to advance the organisation's business needs
19. Advanced IT skills, incl. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project, Visio
20. Expert diplomacy and mediation skills to enable overcoming complex barriers to change
21. Understanding of partnership working & interrelationships between key senior stakeholders
Other Requirements
Essential criteria
22. Ability to work under pressure and flexibly in a dynamic environment
23. Excellent Communication skills and attention to detail
24. Treating others with compassion, empathy and respect
25. Able to work across all sites and to be flexible to meet the needs of the role
The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.
Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application
Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff
At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.
The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
This link is external and opens in a new tabThis link is external and opens in a new tabThis link is external and opens in a new tabThis link is external and opens in a new tabThis link is external and opens in a new tabThis link is external and opens in a new tabThis link is external and opens in a new tab
Applicant requirements
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.