Global Head of Enterprise Architect

We’re looking for people to join the Access family, who share our passion for believing in better, and who will help us continue to grow.

Love Work. Love Life. Be You. - is central to our success and how we give our customers the freedom to do more of what's important to them.

What does Access offer you?

We offer a blended approach to office working, encouraging you to collaborate and connect in one of our thriving offices. We deliver on what we say, taking the development of our people seriously. We’ll work with you to progress your success plan and provide opportunities to accelerate your career.

On top of a competitive salary, our wellbeing days taking you to 25 days leave a year and a health contribution, you’ll also be able to choose from a range of benefits to suit you. We’re an organisation that likes to give back, so you’ll also have three charity days allocated to support a cause that matters to you.

About the Role

We're looking for people to join the Access family, who share our passion for believing in better, and who will help us continue to grow. Love Work. Love Life. Be You. is central to our success and how we give our customers the freedom to do more of what's important to them.

Access Group is seeking an exceptional Head of Global Enterprise Architecture to lead the strategic direction and evolution of our enterprise ecosystem across 40+ countries. This pivotal leadership role will define and execute the architectural vision for our global business platforms portfolio, spanning Customer Platforms (marketing, Sales, Customer Success and Customer Experiece), Employee Platforms, Finance Platforms, and Data Solutions.

As a key member of the CIO senior leadership team, you will drive alignment between business objectives and technology investments, lead the modernization of enterprise systems, and establish architectural standards that enable business growth while maintaining the highest levels of compliance, security, and operational excellence across diverse regulatory environments.

About Access Group GTS

Global Technology Services (GTS) is the technology backbone of Access Group, supporting operations across multiple countries and serving millions of users worldwide. We're committed to delivering reliable, secure, and innovative technology solutions that enable business growth while maintaining the highest standards of operational excellence and compliance.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture Strategy & Direction:

• Define and maintain the enterprise architecture strategy aligned with Access Group's global business objectives across our four centres of excellence
• Lead the development of target state architectures and architectural roadmaps for enterprise systems including ERP, CRM, HCM, and business intelligence platforms
• Drive architectural governance frameworks that balance innovation with risk management and compliance requirements
• Evangelise the value of enterprise architecture across the organisation, securing buy-in and investment from business sponsors

Business Platform Portfolio Oversight:

• Partner with Centre of Excellence leaders across Marketing & Sales, Customer Success, Employee, Finance, and Data platforms to understand strategic priorities and transformation initiatives
• Drive the evaluation, selection, and integration of enterprise systems across the global organization
• Ensure architectural decisions support scalability, integration, and platform synergies across the portfolio
• Lead architectural reviews and provide guidance on major technology investment decisions

Technical Architecture & Delivery

Enterprise Architecture Design:

• Design robust, secure, and scalable enterprise architectures that support operations across multiple countries and regulatory jurisdictions
• Lead complex system migration initiatives from legacy platforms to modern enterprise solutions
• Define integration patterns, API strategies, and standards that enable seamless data flow and process orchestration across business platforms
• Ensure architectural decisions support high availability targets (99.9%+ SLA) and disaster recovery requirements
• Drive cloud adoption strategies for enterprise systems, balancing performance, cost, and compliance considerations

Architecture Artefacts & Tooling:

• Develop and maintain enterprise architecture artefacts including capability maps, technology landscapes, and architectural roadmaps
• Apply EA methodologies and modelling languages (ArchiMate, UML, BPMN) to drive business-IT alignment
• Leverage Enterprise Architecture tooling (Ardoq preferred - our strategic choice) to maintain architecture repository and enable decision-making

Federated Architecture Leadership

Matrix Leadership & Influence:

• Lead in a highly matrixed environment, providing architectural leadership and mentorship (without direct line management) to senior architects working within centres of excellence and embedded across business functions
• Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing across distributed architecture teams through influence and thought leadership
• Establish and maintain architecture communities of practice to drive consistency and best practice sharing in a collaborative, non-prescriptive manner
• Build and develop a network of enterprise architecture capability spanning multiple teams and geographies

Experience & Track Record

Enterprise Architecture Leadership:

• Extensive architecture experience up to and including enterprise architecture
• Proven track record of leading an architecture team in complex, multi-platform commercial environments with significant scale, regulatory requirements, and global operations
• Demonstrated success in leading large-scale enterprise system implementations and migrations across multiple countries
• Experience working at senior leadership level with ability to communicate architectural value to C-level executives

Technical Expertise:

• Deep expertise in modern enterprise suites and cloud-based enterprise software architectures, preferably in ERP, CRM, HCM, or related business applications
• Extensive experience with cloud platforms (AWS and Azure) and cloud-native architectures
• Expert knowledge of enterprise architecture patterns, integration frameworks, and API management at enterprise scale
• Strong understanding of data architecture, master data management, and data governance
• Proficiency in security architecture and compliance frameworks

Leadership & Business Skills

Strategic Leadership:

• Exceptional strategic thinking and ability to translate business needs into scalable solutions
• Proven ability to lead and influence in highly matrixed organisations without direct reporting authority
• Experience establishing architectural governance and standards across federated teams

Communication & Stakeholder Management:

• Excellent communication skills with ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Strong stakeholder management skills with ability to influence senior executives and peers across business functions
• Experience managing budgets, vendor relationships, and cross-functional initiatives

What We Offer

As a member of our senior leadership team, you'll have the opportunity to shape the future of technology at The Access Group while working in an environment that truly values Love Work. Love Life. Be You.

• Leadership role with significant impact across the enterprise, shaping technical direction of a global technology organization
• Opportunity to work in a federated architecture model that empowers distributed teams whilst driving enterprise alignment
• Exposure to cutting-edge cloud technologies across multiple business domains
• Collaborative, innovative culture focused on giving our 100,000+ customers the freedom to do more of what's important to them
• Professional development and continuous learning opportunities
• Competitive compensation package including benefits and performance incentives
• Flexible hybrid working arrangements across our global office network

What are we all about?

The Access Group is one of the largest UK-headquartered business management software providers. It provides solutions that empower more than 160,000 small and mid-sized organisations in commercial and non-profit sectors across Europe, USA and APAC, giving every employee the freedom to do more of what's important. Its innovative cloud solutions and integrated AI software experience across multiple Access products transform how business technology is used.

With over 9,300 talented individuals driving innovation and customer excellence, we’re shaping the future of work. And we want you to be part of it. At Access, people are at the heart of everything we do. We’re committed to creating an inclusive, high-performing culture where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. If you’re excited about this role - even if your experience doesn’t tick every box - you might be exactly who we’re looking for.

We believe in equality for all and the transformative power of diversity. So why not join our vibrant team, where you can love what you do, love how you live, and most importantly, be authentically you?

Let’s make a difference together.

Love Work. Love Life. Be You.