Solution Architect

What’s the role
As a Solution Architect, you’ll be a key technical leader providing end-to-end architecture development, consultancy, and assurance across projects, ensuring that applications are well-designed and aligned with Shell’s standards and reference architecture. You will be working specifically in the Products portfolio for Shell’s Trading and Supply business. You will specifically work on a project team implementing a global Energy Trade and Risk Management (ETRM) solution on Azure to create a scalable, secure, and strategic landscape that enables the transformation of the Trading capabilities.
Key responsibilities include:
1. Architecture and Technical Leadership
• Provide strong leadership skills, including fostering collaboration, driving consensus, and effectively communicating complex technical concepts.
• Not only lead in your area of expertise but also play a key role in shaping and transforming the role itself—identifying opportunities, driving innovation, and delivering impact that extends beyond the initial remit. As the organization grows, your role is expected to evolve, offering continuous opportunities for development, influence, and leadership.
• Serve as the primary contact for architectural aspects of IT projects.
• Integrate business process, data, application, technical, and information security dimensions into cohesive IT solutions.
• Ensure solution architectures are documented using standard templates and tooling complying with Shell’s architectural standards.
• Guide detailed designers and business analysts during the design phase.
• Review and formally approve detailed solution designs.
• Support Lead Architect and participate in Architecture Review Board sessions as required.

2. Reference Model Stewardship
• Actively contribute to the documentation, enhancement, and maintenance of Reference Models in BizzDesign or any other standard tooling.
• Elevate project deliverables to conceptual and logical architecture levels.
3. Technology Foresight
• Monitor emerging IT technologies and apply this insight to design future-ready solutions for Shell.
4. Standards Alignment
• Stay informed of developments in Shell’s IT standards and services, ensuring they are incorporated into solution designs.
5. Community Engagement
• Champion architectural excellence within the organisation.
• Engage with stakeholders to address architectural concerns and drive strategic improvements.

What We Need from you
• Industry Knowledge:

• Knowledge of the end-to-end Trading Business from deal inception through to settlement

Technical Architecture & Design:

• 10+ years in software and architecture delivery.
• Own and drive technical architecture, design, and standards for software products in Commodities Trading.
• Confidently lead architecture decisions across portfolios, managing divergent opinions.
• Create pragmatic, implementable technical designs balancing risk, complexity, cost, and value.
• TOGAF (or similar framework) experience and Enterprise Architecture tooling.

• Collaboration & Communication:
• Collaborate with business and IT stakeholders for strategic and day-to-day technical decisions.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with 5+ years' experience in trading environments.
• Listen to and interpret needs of technical and business stakeholders, manage expectations, and facilitate discussions.
• Be an active participant in the wider Tech Lead and engineering communities.

• Problem Solving & Innovation:
• Diagnose problems and implement innovative solutions fitting into the wider Shell Trading picture.
• Manage dependencies, overcome obstacles, and maximize value against constraints, managing trade-offs or technical debt.

• Technical Skills and Mastery
Desirable Technologies & Programming Languages:
• Expert in one or more of the programming languages (Node.js, .Net, .Net Core, Python etc) with Cloud Native Platform Development (Azure/AWS)
• Expert in one or more of the front-end development technologies (specifically React and Micro frontend).
• Expert in one or more of Data Development (SQL Databases, No SQL, Cloud Datastores etc) technologies
• Exposure to OpenLink Endur, SAP HANA, Salesforce, API management, Multifactor authentication.
• Azure Platform & Cloud Native:
• Hands-on experience in architecting applications into the Azure platform, including migrations/re-platforming of legacy on-premise systems.
• Engineering and architecture experience in designing and building containers, Microservices, Cloud Native applications, and federated Data platforms (Data Mesh).
• Data Architecture, Data Management & Diverse Data Types:
• 3+ Years experience in Data Architecture including Logical data models
and designing solutions using data platforms and medallion architecture.
• Strong knowledge of data management: engineering, pipeline development, warehousing, storage, lifecycle management, privacy, security.
• Experience with diverse data types: big data, high velocity streaming, IoT, low latency event triggers, longitudinal time series.
• Proficient in SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Azure Services & Integration:
• Significant experience with Azure Functions, Web Apps, distributed/event-driven architecture (event hub, event bus, Kafka), ELK.
• Intermediate to advanced exposure to Azure Active Directory, Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake, Azure Storage, Azure Kubernetes Service, CosmosDB, Azure SQL.
• Integration experience with Confluent/Kafka, API Management, Logic Apps.
• CI/CD & DevOps: 5+ years in CI/CD delivery using Git/GitHub, VSTS/Azure DevOps, Terraform, Ansible.

• Agile & Engineering Standards:
• Practical agile experience in both start-up and enterprise environments.
• Lead the engineering community to follow Shell Engineer Management standards, ensuring consistency and reuse.
• Understand and deliver core engineering GPA objectives.
• Create a collaborative environment for technical roles to drive clear decisions and consistency.

• Documentation & Coordination:
• Address Business Process, Data, Application, Technical, and Information Security aspects of IT Solutions, documenting in High-Level Design documents.
• Coordinate and develop information with third parties (Data Architects, IRM, Support Operations teams, Business stakeholders), internal and external to Shell.