VP Platform - Engineering & Architecture

Mandate: To architect and engineer OneAdvanced's AI-native platform blueprint, unifying enterprise architecture with IQ platform delivery to drive a 6x delivery performance multiplier, accelerate Time to First Value (TTFV), deploy scalable, secure and resilient IQ platform services and maximise enterprise value at exit through COGS efficiency, technical debt rationalisation, and seamless M&A integration.

Position Overview

The VP Platform Architecture & Engineering is the organisation's lead Architect and engine room of technical velocity, tasked with bridging high-level investment objectives with high-velocity technical execution. You are the technical visionary and delivery owner responsible for migrating the portfolio from traditional "systems-of-record" to an AI-native, platform-driven architecture, and for building the "OneStack" Agentic SDLC and Platform-as-a-Product capability that brings that architecture to life.

Unlike traditional architects or platform leaders, your remit spans both strategic evolution and hands-on delivery: you provide the blueprints and guardrails, and you build the platform fabric, self-service products and Golden Paths that empower product engineering to ship at world-class velocity (6x acceleration). You are the primary authority for ensuring the target-state architecture and platform unlock intelligent services and customer value, while maintaining rigorous compliance with UK/EU ISO (27001/42001) and GDPR. You partner closely with the VP Global Reliability & Technology Operations, who owns the operational running, resilience and 24/7 stability of the live platform, to ensure what you architect and build is secure and resilient by design.

1. Architecture Strategy & Blueprinting

• Target Architecture: Define and execute the transition to an AI-first blueprint where agentic AI is embedded into the core "systems of work", transforming how customers interact with the platform. Ensure infrastructure (hybrid cloud), security, data, platform and product architectures are coherent, aligned and fit for purpose given the company strategy.
• 6x Delivery Performance: Architect application frameworks and patterns (e.g., modularity, high cohesion, spec-first API design) that enable a 6x improvement in product development cycles through agentic AI workflows.
• Commercial Delivery Support: Partner with product engineering to ensure the drive for "speed-to-market" is balanced with the disciplined evolution toward the platform-native target state defined in the technology strategy.
• Technical Debt Rationalisation: Own the product and platform technical debt inventory and modernisation roadmap, using the "5Rs" framework (Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Rewrite, Replace) to maximise EBITDA impact.

2. Platform Services Delivery & Growth Acceleration

• Platform-as-a-Product: Design, build and deploy the engineering roadmap for the core platform fabric and the suite of self-service platform products that abstract complexity and allow sector-focused teams to innovate without technical friction.
• Time to First Value (TTFV): Partner with Services and Support organisations to build automated provisioning and "graduation" services, ensuring the transition from heritage products to platform-native services is seamless, fast, and designed to enrol revenue instantly.
• COGS & Scale Efficiency: Architect and advocate for platform services that drive tangible COGS efficiency, ensuring that as OneAdvanced scales globally, platform unit costs decrease through extreme automation and architectural optimisation.

3. Intelligent Data Architecture & Regulatory Sovereignty

• Data Strategy for Innovation: Accountable for the enterprise Data Architecture, designing unified infrastructures that unlock AI-native services, behavioural intelligence, and cross-functional orchestration at scale.
• EU/UK Regulatory Compliance: Architect data flows and storage patterns to ensure absolute compliance with UK/EU GDPR and ISO 27001/9001/42001 (AI Management) standards.
• Privacy by Design: Embed automated PII redaction and privilege guardrails directly into the data services and AI model gateways.
• Compliance Orchestration: Implement "Compliance-in-Code", programmatically enforcing UK/EU GDPR and ISO 27001/42001 standards within the delivery pipeline, so product teams are compliant by default through automated security posture management and real-time governance gates.

4. OneStack Agentic SDLC & Engineering Acceleration

• Agentic Engineering: Deliver the "OneStack" Agentic SDLC, leveraging AI agents to automate the toil of testing, deployment, and remediation, and architect the integration of autonomous agents so that architectural and quality guardrails are in place, while DevEx leads the rollout.
• 6x Performance Multiplier: Evolve the engineering community's capabilities to ensure the SDLC transformation unlocks a 6x improvement in performance and quality across all R&D hubs.
• Role-Modelling Quality: Use the platform engineering and architecture team as the enterprise benchmark for engineering excellence, demonstrating the power of agentic workflows in high-stakes environments.
• Zero-Ops by Design: Design platform services to be self-healing and autonomous by default, eliminating manual intervention through policy-driven AI orchestration and building the foundational guardrails that guarantee the security, lineage and integrity of data used within AI-native services and agentic workflows.

5. Federated Architectural Leadership & Coaching

• Principal Architect Development: Functionally lead, coach and mentor the Principal Architects embedded in product and platform teams, levelling up their ability to balance immediate commercial value with long-term systemic technical health.
• Architecture Community of Practice (CoP): Lead the architecture community to ensure shared goals, common patterns, and consistent architectural language across global engineering teams.
• Community Contribution: Establish a model where solution design teams contribute reusable "assets" (templates, ADRs, pattern modules) back to the enterprise portfolio.

6. Investment & M&A Technical Leadership

• Technical Due Diligence (TDD): Lead deep-dive assessments of potential acquisitions, uncovering hidden technical debt and "technology value enhancers" that align with the investment thesis, including evaluating the "plug-and-play" compatibility of acquisitions with the OneStack platform.
• Integration Blueprinting: Design integration playbooks and primitives that rationalise disparate platforms and data silos into the unified platform ecosystem post-acquisition, allowing acquired SaaS portfolios to be onboarded and modernised within weeks.
• Investment Analysis & Recommendation: Lead enterprise technology evaluations and approval for material third-party technology selection and investment required to deliver the target architecture and platform.

Please note, applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK at the time of application.

Core Competencies

• Action-Oriented Systems Thinking: Ability to pivot instantly between high-level strategic planning and deep-dive tactical problem-solving for the product & platform portfolio.
• Operational Elimination Mindset: A fundamental belief that manual "Ops" is a bug to be engineered away through autonomous, self-service capabilities.
• Commercial Acumen: Fluency in SaaS metrics (ARR, EBITDA, CAC/LTV, COGS, TTFV) and the ability to translate technical and architectural choices into enterprise value.
• Executive Influence: Exceptional skills in distilling complex AI, data and platform concepts into clear, strategic insights for EXCO, PE Operating Partners and the Board.
• Strategic Partnership: Exceptional skills in navigating a peer-based leadership ecosystem, specifically partnering with Product, Reliability & Technology Operations, and Services leads.

Qualifications

• Experience: 15+ years of software engineering and architecture experience, with at least 5 years as a Chief Architect, VP Engineering, or equivalent VP-level leader in a PE-backed or high-growth SaaS environment.
• Track Record: Proven track record of architecting and delivering large-scale platform migrations, "Platform-as-a-Product" transformations, and M&A technical integrations.
• Technical Depth: Deep expertise in Data Architecture, distributed systems, cloud-native ecosystems (AWS/Azure), Kubernetes, Infrastructure-as-Code, and GenAI/Agentic AI frameworks.
• Regulatory Knowledge: Deep understanding of UK/EU regulatory environments, specifically GDPR and ISO standards relevant to AI and software platforms (ISO 42001 preferred).
• Commercial Impact: Demonstrated experience driving COGS efficiency and managing technical integrations for M&A.

Wellbeing that means something

• 26 days’ holiday + bank holidays (and the option to buy more) plus 1 paid volunteering day every year
• Exceptional family leave, 26 weeks fully paid maternity/adoption, 4 weeks fully paid paternity, 22 weeks fully paid shared parental leave, plus 5 days paid bereavement leave
• Robust sick pay of up to 13 weeks full pay + 13 weeks half pay
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme for confidential support
• Private medical insurance for everyone, no medical-history exclusions

Financial benefits that have your back

• Performance-based rewards tailored to your role, from company-wide bonuses to OTE and commission structures
• Income protection: up to 75% salary for 5 years if you ever need it
• Pension with 5% matched company contributions
• Life assurance worth 4x your salary from day one
• Free financial planning session with the option to engage in more tailored financial coaching.

Grow your career with us

• SkillsHub learning platform with leadership pathways, future-manager training, and a huge online library
• Access to external training and apprenticeships

Making a Difference

• MatchIt! Fundraise for a cause close to your heart and OneAdvanced will match part of the funding
• Pennies from Heaven donate the pennies from your pay check to help make a difference without lifting a finger

Plus plenty other flexible benefits to suit your lifestyle on our RewardHub, including:

• ULEV car scheme with 1,000+ models
• Dental insurance, Health Cash Plan, Critical Illness Cover, Partner Life Cover, Health Assessment, Gym Membership

At OneAdvanced, we are at the forefront of delivering sector-focused technology solutions that simplify complexity, drive meaningful progress, and help build a fairer, more inclusive society.

We’re much more than a software company. We deliver SaaS workflow applications and IT services that power organisations across Education, Government, Healthcare, Legal, Manufacturing, Housing, Retail, and more.

OneAdvanced is one of the UK’s largest business software and services companies. Based in Birmingham (The Mailbox), operating across the UK, Ireland, India, and Australia.

Our secure, scalable platform, including OneAdvanced AI, our private AI service for UK organisations, powers connectivity and innovation across critical sectors. Alongside our software are our IT services, including hosting, managed services, and application modernisation.

We strive to create an inclusive workplace that drives innovation and collaboration, championing diverse perspectives and ideas. Our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy is embedded in everything we do, guiding us to create meaningful impact for our people, our customers and the planet.

Join us and become part of a team that’s powering the world of work and making a real difference.

Learn more at www.oneadvanced.com