Colleague Experience Architect Lead

The Colleague Experience Architect Lead shapes the future direction of colleague-facing capabilities, data and digital solutions, helping create a more connected, efficient and consistent experience across the organisation.

The role takes a holistic view across the colleague ecosystem to identify architectural hotspots, assess current capabilities and supporting applications, and define target-state capability direction aligned to business priorities and opportunities for simplification, automation and AI.

The role provides strategic insight, structure and capability direction to help colleague and HR services evolve in a coherent, efficient and sustainable way. It identifies capability gaps, risks and opportunities across business-owned applications and digital solutions, promotes reuse of strategic enterprise capabilities and platforms, and supports joined-up decision-making.

Acting as a deputy to the Head of Enterprise Architecture where required, the role will support governance, guide decisions on cross-cutting issues and chair Design Authority in relevant forums to ensure alignment to long-term business priorities and enterprise guardrails.

Key Accountabilities

• Maintain a clear view of current business capabilities, supporting applications, data usage and key dependencies.
• Identify architectural hotspots, duplication, inefficiencies and risk areas.
• Define target-state capability direction aligned to business priorities, future needs and relevant market trends.
• Identify opportunities to simplify the landscape, reduce duplication, improve reuse and support cost efficiency.
• Assess how business-owned applications and digital solutions support capability needs and where improvement or rationalisation is required.
• Ensure data, automation and AI opportunities are considered as part of future-state direction.
• Assess change impacts, dependencies and risks across capabilities, data and applications.
• Support governance and decision-making forums with clear recommendations and structured options.
• Monitor external trends and emerging opportunities to inform future direction.

To be successful as a Colleague Experience Architect Lead, you should have experience with:

• Analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to simplify complex landscapes and identify strategic opportunities.
• Experience in capability modelling, business architecture, enterprise thinking, strategic design, or similar roles.
• Ability to assess business capabilities alongside applications, data, processes and controls.
• Experience identifying simplification, optimisation, automation or rationalisation opportunities.
• Understanding of how digital solutions and data enable business outcomes.
• Ability to develop clear target-state direction and translate this into practical recommendations.
• Communication and influencing skills, including confidence working with senior stakeholders and governance forums.
• Collaborative, structured and proactive approach.

Useful but not essential

• Experience in HR, colleague services or digital workplace environments.
• Exposure to enterprise or solution architecture principles.
• Experience supporting governance or Design Authority forums.
• Familiarity with data-led transformation, automation or AI-enabled change.

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills

Purpose of the role

To collaborate with stakeholders and use data and MI to identify process optimisation opportunities for capacity creation in relevant business areas. 

Accountabilities

• Development and implementation of strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of banking operations, using data led insights.
• Participation in projects and initiatives to improve performance & optimisation   efficiency and effectiveness.
• Development of reports and presentations on performance & optimisation and communicate findings to internal senior stakeholders.
• Identification of industry trends and developments, and collaboration with stakeholders across the bank to provide recommendations for change and improvement within performance and optimisation processes.
• Development and implementation of analytics and reporting performance & optimisation to mitigate risks and maintain efficient operations.
• Identification of capacity creation in operations using data and Management Information.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.