Principal Architect

Principal Architect – Investment Technology | Front Office Focus | £170k +

• London (Hybrid – 2 days in office)
• Up to c.£170k base + bonus

I’m working with a global asset manager who are building out a new architecture capability across their investment technology estate.

This is not a traditional enterprise architecture role – the focus is on front office and investment systems, working closely with engineering teams and stakeholders to shape how platforms are designed and evolve over time.

The role

You’ll operate as a senior individual contributor, owning architecture across a key investment domain (e.g. research, portfolio management, trading or data).

This is a role for someone who:

• Enjoys being close to the technology and the people building it
• Can influence decisions without relying on hierarchy

What you’ll be doing

• Shaping architecture across investment-facing platforms
• Working directly with engineering teams to guide system design and evolution
• Engaging with front office stakeholders (PMs, research, trading) to understand how systems support investment decisions
• Driving alignment across systems, data and workflows
• Helping define pragmatic architectural standards and long-term direction

What you need

• Background in financial services, ideally asset management or investment banking
• Experience working on front office / investment systems (e.g. trading, portfolio management, research, market data)
• Strong technical foundation – typically from a software engineering background
• Experience operating at system / platform level, not just high-level governance
• Clear, structured communicator who can engage both engineers and business stakeholders

Tech environment

• Moving toward Java-based microservices architectures
• Mix of legacy and modern systems (part of the transformation)
• Evolving data landscape (Snowflake, streaming technologies under consideration)
• Cloud-enabled environment (AWS primarily)
• Growing focus on pragmatic AI adoption

Apply here if you think you fit the above.