Global Head of Architecture

The role

You will be a hands-on Cloud Architect who leads a team of architects. You will design and build cloud, data and application estates, lead and develop architects, and represent the company as a technical authority in pre-sales and with clients.

What you will do

• Design and lead target architectures on Google Cloud
• Prototype, write infrastructure as code, and review pull requests
• Own systems design including security, cost, and operability
• Resolve architectural trade-offs across multiple disciplines
• Act as design authority on complex engagements
• Line manage and develop a team of architects
• Coach architects and discipline leads
• Set architecture standards, reference patterns and decision-record practices
• Shape solution architecture, estimates and proposals for pre-sales
• Build relationships with senior client stakeholders

Required qualifications

• Extensive hands-on experience designing and building production systems on Google Cloud (or AWS/Azure with a strong interest in GCP)
• Proven depth in at least one engineering discipline (platform, data, software or ML engineering) at Senior 2 / L5 or above
• Evidence of systems design across disciplines, including networking, security, IAM, data platforms and application architecture
• Comfortable with infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform), CI/CD, containers and Kubernetes
• Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python
• Experience leading, mentoring or line managing engineers or architects
• Client-facing architecture leadership with senior stakeholders, including pre-sales and solution shaping
• Ability to explain complex trade-offs clearly to technical and non-technical audiences

Nice to have

• Google Cloud certifications: Professional Cloud Architect or similar
• Experience with multi-cloud, hybrid or complex integration environments
• Experience applying formal architecture methods (e.g. TOGAF) in complex delivery environments
• Experience architecting ML platforms, generative AI applications or agentic systems in production
• Experience in a consultancy or professional services environment

Benefits

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Private health insurance (Vitality Health) and Smart Health Services
• 50% gym membership discounts (Nuffield Health, Virgin Active, Pure Gym)
• WFH allowance
• Dedicated learning budgets and access to platforms like Udemy
• Pension with 3% employer contributions, rising 1% per year of service to a maximum of 10% after probation
• Life insurance: Three times your base salary
• Income protection: Up to 75% of base salary, for up to two years
• Cycle to Work and Tech schemes

About the company

Datatonic is a leading Google Cloud partner specialising in data and AI. They help organisations design, build and operate production AI systems.