Platform Design Architect

Nucleus is undertaking a significant and exciting Transformation to re-platform from multiple legacy systems to a newly constructed strategic platform for the Nucleus Group as part of a major outsourcing and technology agreement with FNZ. The transformation is business wide underpinning a new Operating Model for the business and unlocking new capabilities to support our growth strategy.

This role will be responsible for working with the business teams to develop the vision for the Nucleus platform, defining any specific features and functions, along with prioritisation of the backlog for future platform delivery.

The successful candidate will provide thought leadership and recommendations on strategy for platform design for all propositions and the roadmap to inform the decommissioning of historic platforms.

The role will also own the scoping the boundaries and approach to solution validation for the strategic platform.

The role holder will report into the Director of Architecture, Oversight and Governance and work alongside Business and Technical Architects.

The Platform Design Architect will play a lead role in managing the risks associated with the design of the new platform in conjunction with a 3rd party and therefore needs to have significant experience of the design of complex platforms supporting similar propositions to Nucleus.

The role is core to the delivery of the strategy of Nucleus underpinning a significant increase in capability, control and service quality for our customers and colleagues and supporting the growth and the value of our business.

Responsibilities

The key accountabilities for the role include:

• Working with business stakeholders to define the Platform vision
• Manage scope and prioritisation of feature development with stakeholders; bridging the business priorities of Proposition and Distribution stakeholders with a pragmatic approach for efficient delivery
• Work with Change management to embed the prioritised feature list into the change roadmap
• Work with FNZ to understand their propositional roadmap to identify if we would be able to leverage the functionality for our own proposition
• Provide thought leadership and recommendations on strategy for platform design for all propositions
• Provide recommendations on strategy and the roadmap for decommissioning legacy platform technology
• Lead functional owners to prioritise platform functions & features within the backlog
• Review and sign-off proposed solutions via the Design Authority
• Own the solution validation process
• Challenge FNZ on design and scalability of solutions being implemented
• Champion building and retaining platform knowledge
• Support and inform due diligence of any future acquisitions that will move to the strategic platform

About you

An expert in the wealth management platform industry, who has considerable experience of leading platform design. You will be extremely comfortable with ambiguity and able to exercise excellent judgement considering business-wide factors and strategy.

You will have experience of large-scale Transformation of both Platforms and consequential Operating Model changes, working with both outsource providers and internal delivery teams.

Your peers describe you as “both visionary and realist, someone who helps business stakeholders define their vision, but translates this into a commercially viable plan.”

You have exceptional communication skills and can deal effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

Key Competencies (Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours)

• Extensive wealth management experience, understanding how platform businesses like Nucleus operate including knowledge of core regulatory bodies such as the FCA and PRA
• Significant experience of analysis with proven experience in a lead design position with in-depth knowledge of:
• complex platform release requirements both internally and externally as part of a 3rd party business, platform launch and migration
• risk management of complex technology implementations and ideally direct experience of developing new platforms with FNZ
• Significant organisational transformation knowledge and experience
• Highly collaborative, excellent stakeholder management skills and able to influence widely to drive solutions in complex situations
• Operating at a senior level, providing vision and direction to staff whilst understanding the detail
• Able to operate with credibility at all levels from front line to Board
• Capable of succeeding in a fast-paced environment
• Very strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent management skills to maximise the team’s capability and delivery
• Excellent presentation, written and verbal communication skills
• A flexible approach with the ability to remain calm under pressure
• Ability to think outside the box, i.e. can look beyond the issue symptom and take ownership for addressing the cause
• Ability to distil complex information and tailor it to audience specific key messages and recommendations

As part of working within Nucleus you will;

• Take responsibility in everything you do to deliver good outcomes for our customers.
• Positively demonstrate the Nucleus Smart, Heart and Courage values and behaviours.
• Ensure compliance with Code of Conduct at all times.

A little about us

We are the Nucleus Group Services Limited and we help make retirement more rewarding. Here at Nucleus, people come first - whether it’s our colleagues, or the advisers and customers we support, we know that working in partnership and collaboration leads to the best outcomes. Together, we’ve shaped the platform to how it is today. We work hard, and we celebrate hard too.

Our ambition is to create a platform with a difference, putting the customer centre stage meant tearing up the rule book and starting from scratch. We’ve come a long way since then, but our mission remains just as focused. That’s why our culture, values, and social responsibility are things we keep at the top of our agenda – because we know they matter and have a big impact.

Our culture is one of the many things that sets us apart from the pack. We want to have an environment where our people feel that they can make a real difference, know they’ll be rewarded for their efforts and more importantly, enjoy themselves at work.

Are we a perfect match? Check out this video and find out!

Inclusion and diversity at Nucleus

As with most things in life, who cares, wins. We really care about inclusion.

For us it’s not a tick box exercise; inclusion and diversity are embedded in our culture and everything we do. It’s a commercial imperative. It isn’t about being PC. It’s about being future-relevant and durable. We owe it to ourselves and the industry to ensure we are playing our part in creating a fair, balanced and transparent financial services sector.

More diversity means broader experience, a wider set of perspectives and a better collective ability to problem-solve. And it means being more representative of customer groups, which supports areas such as product development.

At Nucleus, we offer a generous blend of benefits for the things that really matter to our people, including a non-contributory pension, bonus, enhanced parental leave, paid time off for emergencies, health and wellbeing initiatives and flexible working options.

If you’d like to find out more about us or the role, get in touch with Hannah in our People team.