About RM
At RM we provide technology and resources to the education sector, supporting schools, teachers and learners, with one goal, to improve education outcomes worldwide. What we do helps all levels of the industry, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification, our customers include schools, examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions. We have a clear purpose to enrich the lives of learners worldwide. 

To better reflect the society that we serve, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. To achieve this, we create teams of talented people from different backgrounds and experiences and strive to be a business where our people can bring their whole selves to work. 

RM Assessment

The Assessment division provides industry-leading digital assessment products and services to examination boards, government departments and professional organisations across the globe.
In addition to building on its significant UK market presence, RM is expanding internationally with customers worldwide, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore and the Caribbean. This success demands ongoing product development, innovative use of technology and major service evolution.

Our award-winning portfolio of products and services delivers digital assessment solutions for organisations globally in the general qualification, professional qualification, and higher education sectors. Our products carry out hundreds of thousands of on-screen tests yearly and mark millions of paper-based scripts. We have partnered with the world’s leading awarding bodies for over a decade to deliver intuitive, secure, and reliable e-marking solutions. Every year more than a million people worldwide get the marks they deserve thanks to RM software products and services.

Job Purpose

• The Head of Architecture is responsible for defining Assessment’s technology strategy, leading the design and architecture of Assessment’s product portfolio, and ensuring it is correctly deployed and managed through an appropriate governance framework.
• The Head of Architecture directs and oversees the product, application & infrastructure architecture functions across our three geographies, developing a single, globally integrated capability that builds on the strengths of RM’s global workforce.
• This role requires a deep understanding of modern architecture, technical strategy, software development & operational practices. The Head of Architecture will work closely with other technology leaders, product managers, and business stakeholders to ensure the alignment of product technology solutions with business objectives.

Main Responsibilities
Commercial & Organisational

• Build the global architecture organisation, integrating the UK, India, and Australia teams into a single matrix architecture organisation.
• Develop globally consistent management reporting for the architecture organisation.
• Develop and implement geographic resiliency into the organisation, embedding process and culture to document, share and communicate product, application, and infrastructure architecture knowledge.
• Build effective, globally consistent cost reporting and management for development, operations and infrastructure and plan & implement measures that bring meaningful contributions to the Division’s P&L.
• Develop the capability to support Assessment Solutions Consultants in refining and validating new customer proposals for major new bids or change programmes.

Architecture

• Working with Product Management & Delivery leadership to ensure each product has a clear technology strategy and roadmap that meets our proposition needs and addresses technical debt.
• Build a technology strategy that moves Assessment products towards a highly scalable, autonomous SaaS delivery model supporting 100,000s simultaneous users.
• Ensure that products are architected to formal functional and non-functional criteria and that there is an effective governance forum and process to guide and support architecture and technical decision-making.
• Ensure that products are architected to formal security criteria and controls and that there are effective controls, procedures and guidance in the software development lifecycle and operational management processes.
• Develop and run the management processes required to identify product technical risk and remediation plans.
• Develop the data architecture (conceptual, logical & physical) for Assessment’s products, enabling the creation of new customer facing Reporting and Analytics products.
• Identify opportunities to leverage Assessment data to generate additional value to internal users and external customers.
• Ensure that the Software Development Lifecycle has effective database design processes and that data assets are thoroughly documented.

Proven experience:

• Leading a focused, culturally diverse architecture team across multiple locations to build and operate bespoke mission-critical products for a global customer base.
• Building and maintaining trusted relationships with senior business & technology stakeholders, partners, and suppliers.
• Defining and implementing effective technology and architecture governance processes that balance risk against the pace of innovation and change.
• Working with organisations to build products and services that meet and exceed geographically diverse regulatory requirements, including data and privacy.
• Transforming product organisations using modern architecture & organisational practices to define, drive, measure and embed radical improvements to the quality, cost, pace, and reliability of change to a product portfolio.
• Evolving or transforming existing products and operations to a SAAS delivery model that is secure, reliable, highly scalable & robust by design. Using automation & modern cloud practices to deliver high-margin products and services that can scale seamlessly and cost-effectively from 1,000 to 500,000 simultaneous users.

You will be:

• Relentlessly focused on ensuring our products and services are secure, reliable, and robust and that our teams have the guidance and governance processes required to enable them to operate at pace.
• A strong collaborative team player able to work well with the other senior managers in the UK, India & Australia, to ensure all functions work in concert to design, deliver and operate business-critical services.
• A confident, pragmatic decision-maker who can demonstrate sound technical, commercial & risk judgment in various complex scenarios.
• A data-driven individual with a track record in identifying the critical information and measures that support architecting, designing, and building global-scale products and services.

You will have:

• Authentic leadership, providing clarity, conviction & congruence in the delivery of transformation and change.
• Demonstrable drive, energy, and passion with an appetite for change and experience in successfully leading change.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, a highly personable, engaging approach and a strong alignment to RM's core values: Customer success, high standards, respect for others, innovation, openness, and enjoyment at work.
• Background in product/software architecture, development and engineering & operations for organisations delivering commercial products and services, ideally supporting mission-critical services to 100,000s of users.

Desirable experience:

• Managing architecture teams across multiple geographical locations, including the UK, India & Australia
  Mergers, acquisitions, and subsequent integration of acquired IP into an existing product portfolio.
• Assessment or Education Technology knowledge.
• Knowledge of data protection/privacy requirements.
• ISO 27001, 22301, 9001 & experience in responding to customer audits.
• Although not hands-on, it would be advantageous to have worked in an agile organisation with diverse technology stacks (including Azure, AWS, C#, PHP, MS SQL, Postgres, and Terraform).

What’s in it for you? 

At RM we recently introduced My Work Blend @RM which provides office-based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working options to suit them. As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process. We expect how we make best use of hybrid working may continue to adapt as we adjust to our new ways of working. 

RM is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all permanent and temporary staff to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and all successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks. 

At RM we are committed to making the recruitment process as inclusive as possible for everyone. Should you require additional support with your application or through the interview process, please contact us at recruitment@rm.com. 

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, some roles are also eligible for a performance-related bonus. 

There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign for a health assessment, or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.