Infrastructure Architect

Informa is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

Taylor & Francis Group produces high quality, peer reviewed books and journals. We produce unique, trusted content by expert authors, spreading knowledge and promoting discovery globally. We aim to broaden thinking and advance understanding, providing academics and professionals with a platform to share ideas and realise their individual potential.

We are looking for a talented infrastructure architect to join our rapidly expanding Enterprise Architecture team, with a background in systems engineering, cloud native architectures, automation, integration and middleware. Based in the UK, this individual will join a growing, innovative, and client focused technical team, as part of a Product orientated company who aim to broaden thinking and advance understanding. With the option of Blended working from home or office to suit a better work/life balance. The ideal candidate for this position is disciplined with a high attention to detail and is an expert in running solutions built on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

The infrastructure architect proactively and holistically leads and supports EA activities that guide the development and management of technical and infrastructure solutions. These solutions enable the organization's future-state business capabilities and drive the organization’s targeted business-outcomes. Technologies include all aspects of Cloud infrastructure, microservices in Java or Node, Lambda, network topologies, CDNs, containers, API management, block storage, document and relational data stores.

Closing date: October 18, 2021

What you’ll be doing:

• Collaborating with other architects and technology leaders in planning and defining consistent technical standards and guidelines to be used for new systems implementations and upgrades.

• Maintaining the T&F technology radar so it is clear which technologies are ready for adoption, which require further investigation before using and which will require sunsetting.

• Actively promoting best practise through engagement with technology delivery teams to ensure smooth transition from development to operations.

• Leading and coordinating the activities of architects and subject matter experts in the evaluation and selection of technology, particularly that which forms the foundation used to build solutions, e.g. Amazon Web Services.

• Identifying the most appropriate technology to meet particular technical use cases and define criteria and guidelines to help delivery teams make good technical choices.

• Leading the analysis of the current technology environment to detect critical deficiencies and technical debt and recommend actions for improvement.

• Overseeing, or consulting on, technology implementation and modification activities for projects, particularly for new or shared infrastructure solutions.

• Assisting in designing the governance, assurance and standards activities associated with ensuring enterprise technology architecture compliance of projects and products.

• Curating production-ready reference implementations that can be easily leveraged by agile teams. Working with other technology leaders to promote examples of effective technology architecture compliance.

• Working closely with the product managers, product owners and EA peers (e.g., enterprise, data, security and solutions architects) to enable infrastructure agility, scalability and resilience to support required product needs throughout product lifecycle.

• Developing mechanisms to provide insights into deployed software, particularly that running in cloud services through effective cost, performance monitoring and governance.

• ​​Bachelor's degree in computer science, information-technology, system analysis or a related study, or equivalent experience.
• Exposure to multiple diverse technical configurations, technologies and processing environments.
• Demonstrable design and implementation experience in IT, with a deep knowledge in a minimum of two of the following technical disciplines: infrastructure and network design, application development, application programming interfaces (APIs), middleware, servers and storage, database management and operations, clustering technologies, virtualization, cloud technologies and security. Ideally certified in these technologies.
• Solid understanding of product management, agile principles and development methodologies and capability of supporting agile teams by providing advice and guidance on opportunities, impact and risks, taking account of technical and architectural debt
• Excellent interpersonal skills in areas such as teamwork, facilitation and negotiation
• Strong leadership skills
• Excellent analytical and technical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent planning and organizational skills
• Knowledge of many, if not most, aspects of an enterprise technology architecture
• Knowledge of information principles and processes
• Knowledge of financial models and budgeting
• Understanding of network and security architecture
• Understanding and knowledge of system development life cycle methodologies
• Understanding and knowledge of modern CI/CD processes and associated technology
• Knowledge and understanding of different modeling languages, eg. UML
• Understanding and knowledge of IT standards and controls
• Organizationally savvy, with understanding of the political climate of the enterprise and how to navigate obstacles and politics.
• Ability to understand the long-term ("big picture") and short-term perspectives of situations and how they relate to achieving targeted business outcomes
• Ability to estimate the financial impact of technology alternatives
• Ability to apply multiple technical solutions to enable future-state business capabilities that, in turn, drive targeted business outcomes
• Ability to quickly comprehend the functions and capabilities of existing, new and emerging technologies that enable and drive new business designs and models
• Demonstrated ability to work well with others and be respected as a leader
• Trusted and respected as a thought leader who can influence and persuade business and IT leaders and IT development teams.
• Technology neutral: remains unbiased toward any specific technology or vendor choice, and is more interested in results than personal preferences
• Displays intellectual curiosity and integrity
• Motivated and driven by achieving long-term business outcomes

• 25 days annual leave + 3 (discretionary) days off at Christmas
• Volunteering days annually
• Day off for your birthday
• Pension contributions
• Seasonal social and charitable events
• Training and development

At Taylor & Francis we 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.

You must have the right to work and live in the UK
This role is based at our UK office or may be remote