Architecture Practice Operations Lead

Come join us and make a difference in the world!

Discover more at www.necsws.com

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

Please be aware this role can be hybrid office based or remote subject to location.

The Architecture Practice Operations Lead delivers the day to day operational activities that support the effectiveness of the Architecture and Design practice. Reporting to the Architecture Practice Manager, you will join a diverse architecture team comprising enterprise, security, and technical solution architecture specialists. The role provides essential people leadership, operational coordination and reporting within the Architecture & Design team and effective collaboration and interaction with the wider business.

The role is people and process focused, suited to someone who enjoys improving ways of working, and supporting teams to perform at their best.

Key responsibilities of the role are:

People Leadership & Team Support

• Provide line management to architecture team members, including regular one-to-one check-ins.
• Manage timesheets, annual leave, absence reporting, and routine people‑management tasks.
• Support the performance review lifecycle (objective setting, mid‑year, and year‑end reviews).
• Identify early wellbeing, behavioural, or performance concerns and escalate appropriately.
• Foster a supportive, inclusive, high‑trust team culture.
• Champion practice behaviours, role‑modelling professionalism, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Operational Coordination & Work Intake Administration

• Maintain the practice’s workload tracker with accurate, up‑to‑date information.
• Record and validate new work requests, assign resources and perform prioritisation.
• Track progress, ownership, dependencies, and priorities across all workstreams.
• Highlight delays, risks, or blockers promptly to relevant leads.
• Support coordination with Engineering, Delivery, Security, and Product teams.
• Prepare summaries and insights for monthly practice workload and capacity review sessions.

Reporting, Analytics & Insight

• Produce clear, structured reports and dashboards using Excel and Power BI.
• Track practice KPIs including throughput, work quality, lifecycle efficiency, and Learning & Development (L&D) engagement.
• Analyse trends to support planning, prioritisation, resourcing, and operational decision‑making.
• Provide insight on work patterns, delays, demand, and capacity utilisation.
• Maintain data quality standards across operational reporting.

Process Consistency, Governance & Improvement

• Maintain and continuously improve operational guides, work‑instructions, templates, and onboarding materials.
• Support consistent ways of working across the practice.
• Identify opportunities to simplify workflows, reduce friction, and improve operational efficiency.
• Work with other teams to align operational improvements, tooling, and governance frameworks.

Practice Culture, Learning & Development & Engagement

• Promote participation in learning sessions, workshops, knowledge‑shares, and communities of practice.
• Track L&D activity, maintain training records, and provide insight on development engagement.
• Support practice events, retrospectives, planning sessions, and initiatives that strengthen team culture.
• Maintain shared knowledge resources, documentation libraries, and repeatable assets.
• Encourage collaboration and ensure visibility of best practices and reusable artefacts.

 

NEC SWS values in action

• Involved: Helps maintain open communication and accurate information flow across teams.
• Inspiring: Supports a well organised practice environment that enables confidence and clarity.
• Innovative: Looks for practical ways to enhance operational tools and processes.
• Improve: Contributes to steady and meaningful improvements that benefit the practice and wider organisation.

Essential

• Proven experience in people leadership, including 1:1s, coaching, performance management, and wellbeing support.
• Strong stakeholder management and relationship‑building skills across technical and non‑technical groups.
• Experience coordinating or supporting project, operational, or delivery functions, including tracking actions and escalation paths.
• Solid understanding of technology‑enabled environments and modern delivery practices.
• Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills, with strong attention to detail.
• Strong communication skills, including clear written reporting and constructive challenge.
• Confidence with data, reporting, and dashboarding (Excel, Power BI).
• Ability to identify issues early, address behavioural risks, and hold individuals accountable fairly.
• A proactive, improvement‑oriented mindset with a passion for enabling team effectiveness.

Desirable

• Experience in IT, engineering, architecture, or digital delivery teams.
• Familiarity with work‑intake management, requirements elicitation, or clarifying stakeholder needs.
• Understanding of delivery lifecycles, operational workflows, and architecture/design processes.
• Experience in workflow improvement, operational optimisation, or governance frameworks.
• Coordination experience for L&D, capability development, or team training activities.
• Familiarity with planning tools, workload trackers, portfolio reporting, or work management platforms.

Who This Role Suits

Someone who:

• Enjoys structure, coordination, and enabling others.
• Thrives in an operational role within a technology environment.
• Values people leadership, high‑quality processes, and team culture.
• Is confident with data, insights, and driving accountability.
• Wants to shape how a growing architecture practice operates—without pursuing a technical path.

We pride ourselves in offering an excellent benefits package, including an above average pension scheme. When you join the team at NEC Software Solutions, you are provided with the following:

• Private Medical Cover funded by NEC for Employees (with the option to add family members at an additional cost)
• 25 days paid holiday with the option to buy/sell (FTE)
• 4 x basic salary life assurance cover funded by NEC (with the option to increase cover at an additional cost)
• A Group Pension Plan with fantastic employer contributions up to a maximum of 8.5%
• A selection of flexible benefits to suit your individual needs
• All colleagues get free access to LinkedIn Learning. Over 15000 courses covering a huge breadth of subjects. Learn about what you like, when you like, how you like.

OTHER INFORMATION

• Candidates must be able to demonstrate a pre-existing right to work and travel within the UK. Documentary evidence will be required.
• All offers are subject to satisfactory vetting, references and occupational health checks. 
• Depending on the nature of the role a Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check may also be required.

This position requires you to either currently have national security vetting clearance at the Security Check (SC) level or higher, Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV) Level 3, or the ability to gain Enhanced Security Clearance in addition to the Baseline Personnel Security Standard.

NEC Software Solutions is an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from all communities. If you require any reasonable adjustments or have specific accessibility needs during the recruitment or interview process, please feel free to share these with us. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive and accommodating experience for all candidates.

Who We Are:

We’re NEC Software Solutions (part of global tech giant NEC Corporation). While you read this ad, our software is helping to dispatch ambulances, support families, keep trains on the move, locate missing people and even test the hearing of newborn babies.

Working with us, you’ll be helping our 3,000+ employees push the boundaries of what’s possible and support amazing public services.

We work with governments, hospitals, police forces, housing providers, local authorities and more. We help them pay financial support faster, speed up treatments for patients and respond to emergencies in the right way. The more we do, the more our customers can do for others. And together, we make a world of difference.

We’d love your help. And we’ll support you all the way.