Solution Architect - FH&B International

As part of the M&S Engineering team, you’ll be joining a well-loved historic brand, shaping technology solutions that serve millions of loyal customers and thousands of colleagues. Technology is central to how M&S continues to modernise, differentiate and grow, and architecture is a key enabler of that transformation.

As a Solution Architect within our International Fashion, Home & Beauty (FH&B) domain, you’ll design the B2B and/or B2C systems that power M&S’s international growth. Your focus will span direct-to-customer digital commerce, market-specific customer experiences, partner and franchise integrations, wholesale propositions, and the integration patterns that connect our platforms, partners and legacy estate.

Working closely with Engineering, Product, Architecture, Delivery and partner teams, you’ll connect business ambition with pragmatic architecture choices. You’ll guide decisions across APIs, events, data movement, security, resilience and operational supportability, balancing strategic direction with the realities of delivery.

This is a high-impact role for someone who enjoys working across business models, markets and integration landscapes. You’ll own and influence solution direction, define reusable patterns, provide architecture assurance through delivery and help build the foundations for reliable international growth.

Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.

What You'll Do

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Define end-to-end solution architectures for M&S International B2C and/or B2B systems, covering technology, data, integration, security, resilience, service boundaries, interface contracts and operational supportability.
• Design secure and scalable integration architectures across cloud-native, on-premises, partner and legacy systems, selecting the most appropriate patterns across APIs, event-driven architecture, synchronous integrations, file transfer and messaging.
• Evaluate integration options through Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), balancing risks, costs, FinOps considerations, business value and long-term maintainability.
• Produce High-Level Designs (HLDs) and reusable reference patterns that provide engineering teams with clear guidance and accelerate delivery.
• Provide architecture assurance throughout the delivery lifecycle through design reviews, technical governance, prototype validation and operational feedback.
• Collaborate across product teams, platforms, engineering functions and external partners to align dependencies, architectural decisions, risks and delivery plans.
• Assess emerging technologies, modernisation opportunities and architectural improvements that strengthen resilience, delivery pace, operational effectiveness and customer outcomes.

Who You Are

Your skills and experience will include:

• Proven experience as a Solution Architect or senior technology leader designing complex, enterprise-scale integration solutions.
• Experience designing B2C and/or B2B solutions including direct-to-consumer commerce, franchise, wholesale, partner or marketplace integrations.
• Experience producing High-Level Designs, Architecture Decision Records and architecture patterns that can be applied consistently across engineering teams.
• Strong understanding of integration architecture, distributed systems, cloud platforms, data movement, security, resilience and operational architecture, including APIs, event streaming, messaging and file-based integration patterns.
• Experience designing for non-functional requirements including scalability, resilience, latency, observability, retry mechanisms, failure handling, security and operational supportability.
• Commercial awareness with the ability to assess suppliers, evaluate options and balance technical, financial and delivery trade-offs to support investment decisions.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to bring senior stakeholders, engineers, product teams and partners on the journey through clear, outcome-focused communication.

Desirable Experience

• Experience designing transition-state architectures that allow legacy and modern platforms to coexist safely while reducing long-term complexity.
• Experience within retail, international commerce, marketplace, wholesale, franchise or partner integration environments.
• A passion for innovation, continuous improvement and customer-centric technology decisions, combined with a pragmatic approach to delivery.

Technology Landscape

You will work across a broad and evolving FH&B International technology landscape, including:

• Architecture Domains: Solution Architecture, Integration Architecture, Data-Driven Architecture, Cloud Architecture, Security, Resilience and Operational Architecture.
• Cloud & Infrastructure: Azure services, container platforms, Infrastructure as Code and secure platform patterns.
• Integration & Messaging: APIs, event streaming, managed file transfer, enterprise messaging and batch integrations.
• Data & Analytics: Operational data flows, reporting, data quality, Power BI and architecture models supporting data-driven decision making.
• Engineering Enablement: CI/CD, automated quality gates, secure engineering practices, observability and continuous incident learning.

What’s in it for you?

Working at M&S means being part of something bigger – helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.

Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:

• 20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation.
• Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more.
• Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours.
• Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future.
• Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one.
• Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal.
• Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave.
• 24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services.
• One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you.

Everyone’s Welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

#LI-NO1 #LI-Hybrid