Two orange chairs and a spotlight

Hear from some of our
Architect colleagues

Our Architecture Practice


Architecture is the glue between a business and its goals. Our Architects work closely to understand client motivations, shaping a technology approach and roadmap to support the design and development of internally-created products and propositions.

We've been bringing industry-leading experience to real-world problems in the Private Sector for many years. With broad knowledge covering a wide range of technology areas, we're capable of designing large-scale, complex, multi-faceted solutions.

Whether it's for financial, utilities or retail, our work has a long-term impact on consumers. As our Practice grows, we want to make sure our enterprise, solution and security services provide robust, future-proof IT solutions for our clients.

Ian and Steve share their experiences of working as Architects in Sopra Steria's Private Sector business area

Ian

Senior Solutions Architect

My career started when, as part of my degree, I did a placement with an energy company. Working within their IT department, one of my first jobs was rolling out Windows NT and Exchange across all their main sites. At the time, this was Europe’s largest deployment of Microsoft Windows NT and Exchange. By the end of my placement, the team I had been working with had formed their own consultancy company and they offered me a Technical Consultant role when I completed my degree. From here, I started specialising in designing and implementing Microsoft technologies. Over time, I have broadened my skillset; technical and non-technical, and grown from being a member of a project team to running project teams and being overall responsible for the design and delivery of customer solutions.

I have been with Sopra Steria since July 2022. A couple of ex-colleagues had joined Sopra Steria a few years ago and would always talk about Sopra Steria being a great place to work when we would meet up socially.

My role at Sopra Steria is as a Senior Solutions Architect, working with customers to understand their challenges and requirements in order to design and deliver solutions that meet, and hopefully exceed, their requirements and expectations. The role involves working closely with the customer, project teams and operational teams acting as a technical single point of contact to help with decisions and successfully delivering the solution.

I enjoy the variety of work, and that no two jobs are ever the same, so you never have time to get bored! For a large organisation, it does have the feeling of a smaller company, with senior management keen to engage with employees with regular meetings providing updates, feedback, and a chance for everyone to ask the management team questions. Sopra Steria also appears to have clear goals and objectives with an emphasis on doing the right thing, putting the customer first, and most importantly, listening.

Sopra Steria is very employee-focused, making you feel valued, respected, and supported, which I feel is very important and goes a long way to quickly making you feel part of the team.

Steve

Principal Solutions Architect/
Deputy Director, Architects Practice

What's your role at Sopra Steria?
My role is split in three different ways. First and foremost, I am a practicing architect working with Sopra Steria clients on their business needs and future strategies. Working across the Sopra Steria family to ensure solutions we develop can be supported by the business. Secondly, I have recently taken rotation of the Deputy Director role which sees me contributing to the architects practice and helping shape it for the years to come; It’s a role I have taken up with great pride and one I hope I can help mentor, influence and encourage the other architects within the practice. Thirdly, I am extending my own network within Sopra Steria, recently reaching out to research and academia to offer architecture guidance on future systems and research into areas such as vertical farming.

Why did you join Sopra Steria?
Simply put, Sopra Steria came knocking on my door at a time I was ready for a change. It was rather a twist of fate, as the timing was perfect for me having just completed a strategic programme of change moving on-premise solutions to the cloud for an entire organisation.

How did you start your career?
I have always had an interest in computing and electronics. I started my career by going to college, learning my trade, gaining real industry knowledge and developing my skills by working for a diverse range of organisations. My career started in software engineering, eventually moving from vertical applications into horizontal applications such as financials, human resources, manufacturing, CRM, working on global projects as a technical lead.  I eventually found my way into architecture and I have been successfully using those core skills having spent 6 and half years at Hewlett-Packard working in the key area of Transition and Transformation. Along the way I studied with the Open University, I recently past my Masters in Enterprise Architecture Management and have written and published a book ‘It’s All Geek to Me’ which catalogues my working life in IT over the past 35 years, both covering the good and bad of what I have experienced.

Have you had any development opportunities since being at Sopra Steria?
I always consider every day to be a school day. I am still fairly new into Sopra Steria and over the coming year I hope to continue my personal development and, who knows, eventually I hope that leads to me doing further research and studying for a Phd.

What do you enjoy most about your role?
The variety.

What do you think makes Sopra Steria different from other companies in the industry?
From what I have experienced so far, I believe Sopra Steria has a big heart and the people are very friendly. There also seems great opportunities to flourish and I look forward to seeing where my own journey takes me and seeing how the organisation changes over time.

Sopra Steria is recognised as a Great Place to Work®, what do you personally think makes it so great?
As previously mentioned, it’s the people. Your working life is generally long and it’s important that you are not just a number and work in an environment which is transactional. Sopra Steria is definitely not that. For sure, the company expects you to deliver, but the rewards, satisfaction of achievement and group collective a ‘feeling of belonging’ is as good as any company I have worked for. And having worked in this industry for over 35 years I can safely say that. Well done Sopra Steria!

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