Consulting Solution Architect

Introduction

A career in IBM Consulting is built on long-term client relationships and close collaboration worldwide. You’ll work with leading companies across industries, helping them shape their hybrid cloud and AI journeys. With support from our strategic partners, robust IBM technology, and Red Hat, you’ll have the tools to drive meaningful change and accelerate client impact. At IBM Consulting, curiosity fuels success. You’ll be encouraged to challenge the norm, explore new ideas, and create innovative solutions that deliver real results. Our culture of growth and empathy focuses on your long-term career development while valuing your unique skills and experiences.

Your Role And Responsibilities

As an IBM Consulting Architect, you will act as a trusted technical advisor to our clients, shaping architecture decisions that enable complex business and technology transformation. You will operate across the lifecycle - from early discovery and design through delivery and transition - providing architectural leadership to ensure solutions are coherent, fit‑for‑purpose, and aligned to client objectives.

You will work closely with clients, delivery teams, and partners, bringing industry insight and structured architectural thinking to complex environments. This role requires strong stakeholder engagement, the ability to operate in multi‑supplier or ‘rainbow’ teams, and confidence guiding teams through ambiguity, trade‑offs, and change.

Core Responsibilities (Common Across All Architect Roles)

• Build strong relationships with client stakeholders and act as a trusted advisor, providing clear architectural guidance aligned to business outcomes.
• Lead and influence architectural decision‑making across teams, ensuring design integrity, quality, and consistency throughout delivery.
• Apply industry best practices, architectural patterns, and standards to shape pragmatic, sustainable solutions.

Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers, architects, and delivery leads, supporting capability development within teams.

Collaborate effectively across architecture, engineering, security, and platform communities to deliver cohesive outcomes.

Support architectural governance activities, including design reviews, assurance, and risk management where appropriate.

Operate effectively within consulting environments, balancing client needs, delivery constraints, and long‑term sustainability.

In addition to the core responsibilities above, a Consulting Solution Architect will primarily focus on:

Key Responsibilities

• Lead end to end solution architecture design across complex transformation programmes, from discovery through delivery and transition into live service.
• Engage senior stakeholders to understand business objectives, constraints, and priorities, translating these into clear architectural outcomes.
• Define target and transitional architectures spanning applications, data, integration, cloud, and security domains.
• Produce high quality architectural artefacts, including HLDs, solution designs, roadmap views, and trade off analyses.
• Support secure by design, resilience, and operability considerations within solution designs, working closely with security and platform teams.
• Guide delivery teams through design intent, resolving architectural decisions and risks throughout implementation.
• Support governance activities, including architectural assurance, design review boards, and investment decision processes.
• Facilitate workshops and collaborative design sessions with business, technical, and delivery stakeholders.
  
  

Preferred Education

Bachelor's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• Proven experience operating as a Solution Architect within consulting or enterprise scale transformation environments.

Strong understanding of modern technology architectures, including cloud, data platforms, integration patterns, and hybrid environments.

Experience designing solutions across multiple delivery teams and technology domains.

Ability to communicate architectural concepts clearly to both technical and non technical audiences.

Experience producing client ready architectural documentation and decision artefacts.

Consulting experience, including stakeholder management, structured problem solving, and delivery ownership.

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personal Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NVS) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV).

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

• Experience delivering enterprise or domain led transformations (e.g. public sector, healthcare, manufacturing).
• Exposure to hybrid or multi cloud environments.
• Familiarity with operating models, service design, and technology road mapping.
• Background in data led or digital transformation initiatives.