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UC Solution Architect
CPSReading, England, United Kingdom
Not disclosed
Salary
Not disclosed by employer
£54,900
Going rate
Skilled Worker going rate
This role likely qualifies for a Skilled Worker visa
Our predicted code SOC 2133 (76% match) is an eligible occupation, with a going rate of £54,900, and CPS is a licensed sponsor. That is our reading of the published rules. Whether they issue a Certificate of Sponsorship is still their call.
About the role
UC Architect
CPS has successfully built one of the UK's Microsoft solutions practices. We are a long-established and highly respected Microsoft partner with an extensive portfolio of high-profile clients that continues to grow.
Due to our continued growth, we are looking for a Unified Communications (Converged Communications) Architect who is experienced in defining, shaping and delivering Unified Communications solutions to our client base, ensuring time, cost and quality expectations are successfully achieved.
The focus of the role is to provide technical leadership across customer engagements, ensuring that business challenges are fully understood and that proposed solutions deliver measurable outcomes. The successful candidate will combine deep technical expertise in Microsoft Teams Voice and Unified Communications technologies with the ability to shape service offerings, support revenue growth, and drive innovation across the CPS UC portfolio.
The role extends beyond solution delivery and includes responsibility for developing new service propositions, supporting go-to-market activities, influencing technology strategy, and ensuring CPS remains at the forefront of Microsoft's Modern Work and Communications ecosystem.
Specific Role Requirements
CPS has successfully built one of the UK's Microsoft solutions practices. We are a long-established and highly respected Microsoft partner with an extensive portfolio of high-profile clients that continues to grow.
Due to our continued growth, we are looking for a Unified Communications (Converged Communications) Architect who is experienced in defining, shaping and delivering Unified Communications solutions to our client base, ensuring time, cost and quality expectations are successfully achieved.
The focus of the role is to provide technical leadership across customer engagements, ensuring that business challenges are fully understood and that proposed solutions deliver measurable outcomes. The successful candidate will combine deep technical expertise in Microsoft Teams Voice and Unified Communications technologies with the ability to shape service offerings, support revenue growth, and drive innovation across the CPS UC portfolio.
The role extends beyond solution delivery and includes responsibility for developing new service propositions, supporting go-to-market activities, influencing technology strategy, and ensuring CPS remains at the forefront of Microsoft's Modern Work and Communications ecosystem.
Specific Role Requirements
- A self-starter, keen to further develop both their personal and the company's knowledge and skillset, with a 'make it happen' attitude
- Deliver a range of Unified Communications solutions to a broad client base, ensuring that technical strategy, adoption, long-term sustainability and commercial awareness are considered throughout
- Ensure clients are delighted by their experience when engaging with CPS
- Ensure solutions are designed to the highest standard and exceed customer expectations
- Broad knowledge of solution delivery patterns, architecture methodologies and project lifecycle management
- Someone passionate about developing innovative services and propositions that help organisations modernise communications, collaboration and employee experience
Requirements
Key Responsibilities
Pre-Sales, Delivery and Evangelism
- Design, build and demonstrate Unified Communications capabilities to prospective clients
- Lead customer workshops, discovery sessions and strategic conversations with stakeholders from technical teams through to executive leadership
- Gather and document business, functional and technical requirements
- Produce current-state assessments, strategic recommendations, roadmaps and target architectures
- Create high-quality solution designs capable of being handed over to delivery teams for successful implementation
- Assist in writing compelling proposals, responses to tenders and statements of work
- Estimate delivery effort and support solution costing activities
- Provide technical leadership and governance throughout customer engagements
- Ensure all customer-facing deliverables meet CPS quality standards
- Promote CPS as a recognised leader in Microsoft Unified Communications through blogs, webinars, events, conferences and customer engagements
- Contribute to internal standards, methodologies and reusable assets to improve the consistency and quality of delivery
- Lead the creation, development and evolution of the CPS Unified Communications service portfolio
- Define and maintain service propositions covering areas such as Teams Phone, Direct Routing, Operator Connect, Teams Rooms, Contact Centres, telephony migrations, assessments, managed services and adoption programmes
- Expert knowledge of Microsoft Teams Phone, Teams Rooms and the related Microsoft 365 Modern Work platform
- Extensive experience designing and delivering enterprise voice transformation and telephony modernisation programmes
- Deep expertise in Teams Direct Routing, Operator Connect, Calling Plans and PSTN connectivity architectures
- Strong understanding of SIP, VoIP, voice networking, QoS and call flow design across enterprise environments
- Experience designing and implementing Session Border Controller solutions, including AudioCodes and Ribbon platforms
- Proven experience migrating organisations from legacy telephony and collaboration platforms including Skype for Business Server, Avaya, Mitel and Cisco Call Manager
- Strong knowledge of contact centre technologies, including Anywhere365 and integration with Microsoft Teams
- Experience with compliance recording and voice governance solutions, including Verint and related regulatory recording platforms
- Broad understanding of Microsoft Entra ID, Active Directory, identity federation, authentication and access management technologies
- Strong knowledge of Azure infrastructure, networking, PKI, security and supporting technologies required to deliver resilient UC architectures
- Personable and able to build strong relationships quickly with customers, colleagues and partners
- Excellent interpersonal, customer care and stakeholder management skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical topics clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
- Confident facilitator who can lead workshops, service reviews, design discussions and executive-level conversations
- Confidence in own abilities, with the judgement to lead technical conversations and make clear recommendations
- Imaginative problem solver with the ability to analyse complex issues, identify options and recommend practical solutions
- Structured, organised and detail-focused, with a strong appreciation of quality standards and internal governance
- Able to work effectively as part of a team of specialists while also providing leadership, guidance and mentoring to others
- Commercially aware, with the ability to recognise customer opportunities, support growth and balance technical quality with business outcomes
- Fast assimilator of information, able to understand new technologies, customer environments and business challenges quickly
- Resilient, appropriately persistent and comfortable managing difficult situations or challenging customer conversations
- Strong drive for excellent customer service and delivering high-quality outcomes for clients
- Passionate about technology, innovation, continuous improvement and the development of scalable service propositions
Benefits
Current at the time of writing. Subject to change.
Current at the time of writing. Subject to change.
- 9 Day Fortnight (compression of 10 working days into 9 to be able to not work every other Friday)
- PMI with Vitality Health
- Medical Cash Plan with Medicash
- Life Assurance (Death in Service) with YuLife
- Employee Assistance Programme
- 25 days holiday (plus all Public Holidays) - increasing to 26 days after 1 year, to 27 days after 2 years and to 28 days after 5 years
- Your birthday day off
- Access to Costco Membership
- Salary Sacrifice Scheme, applicable to:
- Workplace Pension https://www.nestpensions.org.uk/schemeweb/nest/about-pensions/why-save-with-a-workplace-pension.html
- Employer contribution is currently 5.5% of qualifying salary (above legislated minimum and will increase if we achieve certain business targets)
- Employee contribution is 4% of qualifying salary (legislated minimum but you can elect to increase)
- EV Car Schemes
- Discounted Gym Membership
- Cycle Schemes
- Home & Tech discounts for IKEA and Curry PC World
- Holiday Exchange Scheme: buy up to 10 additional day per year and sell up to 5
- Quarterly and annual star performer awards - voted for by your peers and colleagues
- Spot Awards of £25 and up, to instantly recognise excellence in you and your colleagues
- Annual professional and personal training budget to support your PDP
- Career Development Frameworks
- Reward schemes that are designed to thank you for your hard work and make life a little more affordable.
- Monthly employee experience/engagement survey
- Quarterly company meetings
- At least one, usually the kick-off in March/April, will typically be in-person.
- The others are conducted as Town Halls
This description is the source posting as it read when we added it. We are not affiliated with CPS, so check their own site for the current details.
Where this offer sits in the market
SOC 2133 · UK · ONS ASHE 2025 · ~163k in sampleP25 £46kP75 £82k
£36kmedian £60kgoing rate £55k£100k
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Does this job guarantee visa sponsorship?
Not necessarily. CPS holds a sponsor licence, but sponsorship for a specific hire is always the employer's decision. Be upfront in your application that you'll require it.
What salary is needed for this role to be eligible?
The offer must clear both the general threshold and the SOC 2133 going rate of £54,900. New-entrant and shortage discounts can lower it.