Atkins has recently defined a “One Atkins 2020” Organisational strategy. To support this strategy, ATKINS has defined an operating model for 2020 to revolutionise the way information services and technology is provided to the organisation, moving from a BAU focus to a Business Value driven organisation. Key concepts include: adopting digital design, using agile and LEAN ways of working across the organisation, leveraging cloud, and a focus creating & delivering new digital products and services to provide better outcomes for our clients.
Atkins Digital operates within ATKINS with a mission to identify, develop & commercialise digital products that will add value to the business by enabling us to: win work at higher margins, deliver work more efficiently and at lower cost and develop new revenue streams. One of the three business focus areas for Atkins Digital is Digital Engineering where we are working with the business and with third parties to develop and deliver innovative solutions that will revolutionize the AEC sector.
Job Details
Atkins is looking to hire a Senior Solutions Architect for Digital Engineering Systems & Platforms. This role would jointly report to the Directors of Atkins Digital and Digital Engineering Systems. It will work with Atkins Digital and DES teams, the business and clients to identify, design and architect innovative solutions that will transform and compress the design process (e.g. through real-time optioneering) or enable Atkins to generate new revenue streams through the provision of new services to our clients. We are looking for an individual with extensive experience in architecting integrated solutions to optimize digital design for a range of asset types from property through to linear assets. Ideally you will have an engineering background that will enable you to communicate effectively with clients and business customers. This role will be responsible for ensuring that applications are designed and developed within a coherent digital services architecture and technology framework. The applications we are developing have web and mobile clients and are delivered globally from the cloud. We experiment with new technologies to enable us to provide better solutions faster, and are currently exploring the Big Data space including advanced analytics and machine learning techniques.
You will bring creativity, technical knowledge, architectural experience, solutioneering expertise and experience with digital design systems that will support the development of new products, as well as reviewing and improving the architecture of existing applications, as needed.
You will also demonstrate strong customer & stakeholder facing skills and experience. You will have presented to clients, sought to understand client pain points and business needs, and designed solutions to address them. You will enjoy working in an agile, fast paced environment in a rapidly evolving industry where the ability to respond rapidly to changing business needs is critical.
You will also provide technical leadership ensuring Atkins remains up to date on new developments in the area of digital/computational design systems, automation & new ways of working.
Responsibilities
• Collaborate with the Atkins Digital team and the global Digital Engineering Leadership to identify opportunities for providing solutions that optimize the design process, provide better outcomes to clients and either improve operating margins or generate new revenue streams.
• Work with Product Owners, Product Managers, Solution Managers and Clients to understand customer & client requirements and design solutions for new and existing digital products and services. Architect innovative solutions that address client pain points and provide better outcomes.
• Design the architectures for new and existing digital engineering applications, including components such as user interface, middleware, data storage and infrastructure ensuring that the resulting solution is scaleable, globally deployable and easy to maintain.
• Review and advise on technical solutions proposed by the product delivery teams to ensure they are the most appropriate solution for the product.
• Maintain knowledge of technology developments in the field and ensures Atkins GroupIS keeps up to date in its use of tools and software solutions
• Liaise with the Digital Development, Technical Services and Third Party Suppliers to estimate the required effort and cost to deliver a proposed solution.
• Liaise with the Enterprise Architecture team to ensure alignment with overall IS and technical strategies e.g. cloud architectures, containerization.
• Collaborate with the DES and Digital Development teams to ensure that Atkins has sufficient expertise and competence in the applications and tools that can deliver new DES products.
• Provide consultancy and advice to the business in support of bids and customer engagements
• Provide technical evaluation of potential acquisition opportunities
• Foster and support technical improvement
• Contribute to the objectives and goals of the Digital Services Team, Group IS and the One Atkins2020 initiative
Essential Requirements
• Proven experience in the design of technical solutions and architectures for commercial software products and have of working knowledge of the full digital product Lifecyle from Idea through to operate.
• Demonstrable experience in architecting scalable software solutions that are globally delivered – in the cloud and on premise.
• Have designed solutions that involve significant system integration using APIs and common data environments
• Experience with digital design solutions including Autodesk and Bentley products and with the programming of workflows and custom add-ons.
• Experience with the design of architectures for web, mobile and cloud-based products.
• Hands-on experience with a wide range of technologies including (but not limited to) SQL, NoSQL, mobile development software,.NET, C#, Python, Javascript environments (e.g. Angular, node.JS, bootstrap, REACT), Hadoop & Apache technologies, AWS/Azure Cloud environments.
• Experience of LEAN and Agile ways of working (Scrum, Kanban)
• Strong commercial focus and stakeholder engagement skills. Track record of direct client engagement in the development of software solutions.
• Excellent communication skills: verbal and written. Ability to explain highly technical concepts to a non-technical audience.
• Ability to build relationships and communicate at all levels
• Ability to build and maintain efficient working relationships in a team based environment
• Ability to share technical knowledge and support colleagues
Behavioral Competencies
• We use our curiosity, innovation and creativity to solve problems
• We seek out opportunities, and really listen to our customers’ problems
• We work together in a dynamic and agile way to make change happen quickly
• We’re not afraid to try different ways of doing things
• We’re champions for new ideas and tools
• Building close, trusted partnerships really matters to us
• We share our knowledge and work in a collaborative ways, joining together for the best results
