Lead Architect - British Petroleum in London

Job title Lead Architect

Req ID 41494BR
Job category Information Technology & Services
Sub-category Architecture & Design
Countries (State/Region) United Kingdom - South East
Location London
Stockley Park
Role synopsis The Strategy and Operational Excellence Strategy and Architecture (S&A) organisation is the BP centre of excellence for strategy, innovation and all aspects of IT architecture and architecture capability. The purpose is to standardise and simplify BP’s IT&S solutions, to reduce costs, deliver reliable and efficient systems and to enable BP’s business strategy.

The team has a high profile in IT&S and has enjoyed considerable success reaching the finals of the BP Helios Awards in 2010.

The Solution Architect, reporting to the Head of Solution Architecture has the following accountabilities and responsibilities:

1 – Lead and participate in the architectural assurance of all IT projects in excess of $10m lifetime spend

2- Assist in the Delivery of true Enterprise Wide Architectures as required. Examples would be Identity and Access Management or Mobile.

3 – Participate n in a programme to establish new solution architecture capability

4 – as required lead or consult on key projects and/or resolution to critical risks. A current example would be the architectural design for single sign on

5 – Participate in a programme of continuous improvement of solution architecture by establishing a solution architecture community, harvesting projects for assets, the solution architecture process and tools

To achieve these goals the candidate should have the following capabilities:
• Operate in a highly collaborative way. All aspects of the role require working with and building relationships with senior leaders, project staff and delivery teams in BP and with vendors and suppliers
• Have good organisational and planning skills to ensure architecture reviews are performed on time and at a high level of quality for every project
• Be influential – BP is a highly federated organisation and the deliverables will require the individual to influence other areas outside of direct control to adopt methods, change their architectures, etc
• Have good experience as a solution architect and use of architecture methods, tools and intellectual capital in order to hold credibility with projects
Key accountabilities Lead the architectural assurance of all CIO-level projects ($10m+ lifetime spend).

- Lead or participate in the execution of architecture reviews of all Group CIO projects in collaboration with Project delivery and Digital Security
- Establish relationships with all applicable projects to set out the review process and ensure the best possible architectural design for BP
- Harvest best practices and knowledge from projects and feed these back into the solution architectural process and supporting intellectual capital

Participate in the delivery of enterprise wide architectures.

- As required support the delivery of enterprise wide architectures such as Identity and Access Management, or, Mobile Applications
- Research industry best practices and competitor use of technology

Participate in the development of solution architecture capability through collaboration with the BP segments, vendors and suppliers to:

- Help deliver a new initiative to deliver group wide reference architectures and architectural technique
- Support the delivery of technical roadmaps beyond the current scope which includes only infrastructure
- Examine opportunities for new standard services, develop business cases for them and possibly deliver them if funding is provided

Consult on key projects

- As required, lead or assist with the architectural design of key or critical projects (current example is Identity and Access Management)
Essential Education - Degree Qualified or equivalent experience.
- TOGAF Certified (Version 9) – License to Work requirement
[if not already certified, will be expected to complete within 6 months].
Essential experience and job requirements - Must have experience in solution architecture as a lead architect on complex projects.
- Must have experience in enterprise architecture delivering reference architectures, roadmaps and architectural techniques.
- Must have strong experience working in a federated organisation to achieve buy-in from all levels of the organisation and deliver against those agreements.
- Must be able to produce clear communications through advanced presentations with high graphical appeal.

Additional Characteristics
- Ability to deal with ambiguity, seek and integrate diverse views into designs and manage by influence.
- A self-starter and a completer finisher – can start and run with complex work to a conclusion without assistance.
- The candidate must be a strong completer-finisher with a delivery focus.
Other essential skills and knowledge Courage:
Demonstrates courage in constructively raising difficult issues to uphold high ethical and safety standards.

Excellence:
Demonstrates rigorous thinking, good judgement and clear understanding of how value is created for the business.

Reduces complexity and addresses inefficiencies in processes, systems and structures.

One Team:
Facilitates effective teamwork and builds collaborative relationships across internal and external boundaries.

Provides a clear picture of strategic and operational goals and priorities, ensuring alignment of people and resources.
Desirable criteria & qualifications Ideally the candidate would have experience of:

- BP or working in an Oil and Gas company.
- Continuous improvement methods
- Knowledge and experience of ITIL, COBIT or PMP
- Knowledge of, and experience with Change Management methods
Relocation available No
Travel required Yes - up to 10%
Is this a part time position? No
About BP Our business is the exploration, production, refining, trading and distribution of energy. This is what we do, and we do it on a truly global scale. With a workforce of 80,000 employees, BP operates with business activities and customers in more than 80 countries across six continents. Every day, we serve millions of customers around the world. We are continually looking for talented, committed and ambitious people to help us shape the face of energy for the future.

BP is one of the three largest energy companies in the world, operating in over 100 countries across 6 continents. Information Technology & Services (IT&S), provides a full range of IT services to BP's global business segments.

IT&S plays a critical role in the delivery of defined world-class operational services that BP businesses can rely upon in support of their own performance. Our specific accountabilities include the delivery of services to specified target levels, including availability, recoverability and cost to the corporation. These services must also be delivered safely and secured against the growing risk of viruses and other security threats.

We aim to benchmark our performance favorably against a defined peer group of the world's best and intend to deliver our services with professionalism to rival any major business corporation in the world - this is what we mean by being 'World Class'. To achieve this exciting level of performance will require a commensurate level of enthusiasm, commitment and expertise in our people.
Disclaimer BP is an equal opportunity employer

Deadline: 16/04/2013

How to Apply:

https://careers.bpglobal.com/2057/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?SID=^mm4wnizdMMv6DXcF3m9v6cbh7hvkV_slp_rhc_DmVkdfmFko4sU9GGK63WHVejG9BkhfnsCk&jobId=53142&type=search&JobReqLang=140&recordstart=1&JobSiteId=5012&JobSiteInfo=53142_5012&GQId=1396