Integration Architect

About Retail Reply:

Retail Reply is the Reply Group company specialised in helping clients accelerate their response to the opportunities of digital transformation and customer experience, both in-store and online, in the retail, fashion and consumer sector. Retail Reply supports clients' digital transformation across Digital Strategy, Planning, and Delivery. Our expertise includes IT architecture, digital product delivery, point of sale implementation, loyalty & promotion-engine development and execution, online and mobile customer experience, omnichannel implementation via microservices architecture, and capability-led planning. www.retail.reply.com

Role Overview:

The Integration Architect is responsible for defining and evolving the enterprise integration strategy, establishing a clear architectural "North Star" across APIs, events, data pipelines, and secure connectivity. The role ensures that integration solutions are scalable, secure, and aligned with enterprise architecture, data governance, and compliance standards. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Security, and Operations, the Integration Architect drives modernisation and consistency across the technology landscape.

Responsibilities:

• Define and maintain the enterprise integration architecture strategy, including API management, event-driven architectures, messaging, ETL/ELT, and streaming patterns
• Establish standards for secure transport, authentication and authorisation (e.g., OAuth2, mTLS), schema governance, and API lifecycle management
• Ensure alignment of integration solutions with enterprise architecture principles, security policies, compliance requirements, and data governance frameworks
• Lead the modernisation and simplification of the integration landscape, optimising for scalability, performance, and total cost of ownership (TCO)
• Promote reuse of shared services, enterprise platforms, and common integration patterns to reduce duplication and technical debt
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Security, and Operations teams to align delivery roadmaps with the defined architectural North Star
• Define and enforce architectural guardrails, governance processes, and best practices across integration platforms and delivery teams
• Provide technical leadership and guidance at squad and programme level, influencing design decisions and ensuring high-quality delivery outcomes
• Represent architecture in Communities of Practice, driving continuous improvement and knowledge sharing across the organisation
• Engage with senior stakeholders and third-party vendors to ensure integration solutions meet business and technical objectives

About the Candidate:

• Bachelor's degree (BSc) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related field, achieved at 2:1 or higher
• Proven experience (typically 10+ years) in enterprise architecture within large, complex organisations, with a strong focus on integration and distributed systems
• Demonstrated ability to translate business and technology strategy into clear, actionable architecture roadmaps, with a track record of delivering large-scale transformation initiatives
• Deep technical expertise in enterprise integration technologies, including platforms such as MuleSoft, Azure Integration Services, and IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE)
• Strong experience with event-driven architectures and messaging systems (e.g., Apache Kafka, Azure Service Bus), as well as microservices and container platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, Micronaut)
• Solid understanding of API-led architecture, RESTful API design, and API management platforms (e.g., Apigee, Azure API Management), alongside authentication and authorisation standards such as OAuth2 and OIDC
• Ability to evaluate emerging and disruptive technologies and align them to business needs, ensuring architectural decisions support long-term strategy and value delivery
• Professional proficiency in English (written and spoken); willingness to travel as required to support stakeholder engagement, workshops, and delivery alignment across locations

Reply is an Equal Opportunities Employer and committed to embracing diversity in the workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type regardless of age, sexual orientation, gender, identity, pregnancy, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, medical history, skin colour, marital status or parental status or any other characteristic protected by the Law.

Reply is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, please let us know of any Reasonable Adjustments you may need.