M&A IT Application Architect

M&A IT Application Architect
Job Role
Architecture
Group Company
Howden Group Services
Division
IT
Department
IT Strategy & Transformation
Reporting to
Head of IT M&A and IT Integrations
Role Summary

• This role forms part of the IT Strategy & Transformation team responsible for supporting IT Due Diligence and delivering IT integrations for the Group


• Dedicated full-time architecture support for the IT M&A team. Assume 50% of the work to be pre-deal and roughly 50% to be post-transaction.


• Detailed DD and shaping the IT integration of acquired entities to Group IT.


• Working directly with M&A Project Managers to support application architecture design across different regions, globally.
  
  A large portion of the role will be on pre-deal stage reviews, so requires the ability to work with limited access to people (at the target) and limited information on their platforms/technology etc. but cover enough ground to understand the business footprint, understand applications and their technology at a high level and assess critical risks (people, process, and tech) and infrastructure implications.


• The successful candidate must be an experienced Application Architect, preferably with Insurance domain knowledge but doesn't need to be an infrastructure expert, however, should be able to ask and understand basic IT infrastructure questions (end-user, core infrastructure and applications infrastructure).


• Would need adequate technical expertise to assess risks and back up risk assessments and recommendations (typically risk remediation provision in the M&A commercials).


• Key expectation would be to write up Exec friendly architecture review reports, summaries and present to M&A directors (business, finance, and IT).


• Post deal they will have applied detailed audit and assessment principles to produce recommendations on application alignment to best practices including development frameworks, security, and on-going change. They will be familiar running code assessment tools to locate vulnerabilities within application code and recommend areas to improve the bespoke development.


• They will have had experience analysing, designing, and migrating bespoke applications between environments as part of previous M&A experience.


• Assume lot of the work will be confidential and would need to operate independently with very little oversight.


• Insurance domain knowledge or awareness would be ideal, but a good, experienced Architect should be able to absorb enough to understand and have some meaningful discussions.


• Expect travel for the role. Frequent trips to locations in Europe. Occasional international travel.


Technical Skills Required:

• Experience with corporate acquisition projects involving cross forest application & data migration


• Azure AD/Entra ID experience including Azure AD B2B, Conditional Access Policies and App Registrations


• Experience migrating applications to Azure


• Azure IaaS & PaaS architecture, including security and networking principles


• Architecture framework experience, e.g. TOGAF certified


• Power Platform migration experience


Technical Skills Desired:

• Citrix experience


• Azure or M365 certified


• Good understanding of networking technologies, 3rd party firewalls, routing protocols, Azure based networking
  
  Howden Group Holdings


London, England

Who are we?
Howden is a collective - a group of talented and passionate people all around the world. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mind-set, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 15,000 employees spanning over 100 countries.
Our people are our biggest asset as well as our largest shareholder group and are everything that makes us unique; our inclusive culture, the quality service we offer our clients, and our continued growth, all come from our people-first approach. There's no such thing as individual success. We all need to play our part, contributing our skills and experience to make a true difference. That's Howden.
Why work at Howden?
We have always been employee-owned and driven by entrepreneurial spirit. Right from the beginning, we've focused on employing talented individuals and empowering them to make a real difference to the company, whilst building successful and fulfilling careers at the same time. Simply put, we hire talented specialists and give them what they need to make a difference for clients. Always have, always will.
People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It's what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down disappointed head-hunters for years. Whatever your priorities - work/life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering - you'll find like-minded people driving change at Howden., At Howden we value diversity - there is no one Howden 'personality type'. Instead, we're looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new


• We support each other, in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges


• We are determined to make a positive difference, at work and beyond


What do we offer in return?
A career that you define.
Our business succeeds by allowing our people to make a mark in the areas they care about most: personal development, volunteering, and fundraising for charity, or creating new insurance products that address society's greatest challenges.
And we know that separate home and work lives don't really exist. If you're happy and healthy at home, you're more likely to be happy and fulfilled at work - and vice versa. That's why we do our best to support our people in every aspect of their lives.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Howden, we consider our people our chief competitive advantage and as such we treat colleagues, candidates, clients, and business partners with equality, fairness, and respect - regardless of age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, or family circumstances.
Our sustainability promise
We're on a life-long journey to become an ever-more sustainable group. It's a commitment to taking care of our people and the world we live in, to doing good business, and to making a positive impact wherever we can. Our governance processes, company policies, and review systems are all geared towards our goal of making a positive impact in the world. You can read more about our sustainability work
here
.
Permanent