ServiceNow Solutions Architect

Methods is an established £100m Digital Transformation company, part of the Alten Group, which over the last 30+ years has provided innovative business and digital technology services. We have over 50 active clients many of which have been working with us for more than 10 years.

Since our establishment in 1990, Methods has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sector operates in the UK. Our mission is to improve and safeguard public-facing services. We apply digital thinking to ensure the future of our public services is centred around our citizens.

Our human touch sets us apart from other consultancies, system integrators and software houses - we have a customer-centric value system whereby we focus on delivering what is right for our clients. We passionately support our clients in the success of their projects while working collaboratively to share skill sets and solve problems. At Methods we have fun while working hard; we are not afraid of making mistakes and learning from them.

Predominantly focused on the public-sector, Methods is now building a significant private sector client portfolio. Methods was acquired by the Alten Group in early 2022.

Headquartered in central London, with seven regional offices, the company has over 300 colleagues in an organisation centred around distinct portfolio offerings and a further central support services function. Methods delivers multi-disciplinary and full-lifecycle services in a range of specialisms, all related to transitioning from monolithic legacy estates to new, user-centric, cloud and hybrid-based models. The company is a national leader in combining user-centred digital service design with cloud-based open architecture and modern technology services.

Managed Services Portfolio

The Managed Services Portfolio represents key Methods offerings to the marketplace, building on an outstanding reputation for quality, flexibility and creativity established to date. With focus on both SIAM and ServiceNow services, the team offer vital service management experience in a growing market. Additionally, the team is well placed to capitalise on the growing requirement for disaggregation services where government departments move away from legacy systems to best in class alternatives.

We are looking for an experienced ServiceNow Solutions Architect to provide thought leadership to our ServiceNow Operations Teams, work with our clients to design and build best in class ServiceNow solutions, support the sales cycle, and provide expertise to our strategic accounts.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design of end-to-end ServiceNow solutions that address complex business challenges, ensuring they meet the organisation’s current and future business needs.
• Collaborate with client stakeholders to gather, analyse, and document detailed requirements, translating them into actionable specifications.
• Conduct workshops, presentations, and training sessions to facilitate client understanding and collaboration.
• Develop the architectural blueprint for ServiceNow solutions, considering factors such as scalability, security, performance, and integration requirements.
• Assess new ServiceNow features, modules, and integrations to determine their suitability for our clients’ needs and advise on their adoption.
• Establish and enforce governance policies, best practices, and coding standards to ensure the consistency, maintainability, and security of ServiceNow configurations.
• Define and oversee integration strategy, including designing integrations between ServiceNow and other systems or applications, ensuring seamless data flow and interoperability to enhance the overall efficiency of the client's IT landscape.
• Ensure that ServiceNow solutions adhere to security standards, regulatory compliance, and data protection requirements and implement robust access controls and security measures.
• Architect solutions with scalability and optimal performance in mind, considering anticipated growth and usage patterns.
• Develop and maintain a ServiceNow roadmap and value realisation plan that aligns with the client’s strategic objectives, considering future enhancements, upgrades, and innovations.
• Stay informed about industry trends and emerging technologies to continuously enhance ServiceNow solutions.
• Provide quality assurance to ServiceNow implementations, overseeing thorough testing to ensure performance, functionality, and security, identifying defects during the development and testing phases.
• Create comprehensive technical documentation for solutions, including design documents, configuration details, and best practices, to support knowledge transfer and enable ongoing system maintenance.
• Communicate effectively with various stakeholders, including clients, project managers, and development teams, providing regular updates on project progress, challenges, and opportunities for improvement.
• Create and oversee internal mentoring, training, and development programmes to foster a culture of continuous learning.
• Implement coding and configuration standards to maintain consistency and quality.
• Support the sales cycle by providing inputs to Pre-Sales collateral and bid responses, demonstrating solutions, attending client presentations, and working with the wider teams on service offering development.
• Provide thought leadership and expertise to our strategic accounts, identifying opportunities for upsell and strengthening our relationships.
• Attain and maintain relevant ServiceNow certifications to stay current on platform developments and disseminate this knowledge to customers and internal teams.
• Contribute to the Methods’ brand awareness through blog creation, attending conferences / webinars, writing case studies / white papers etc.

Requirements

Experience, Skills, and Qualifications

• Strong relationship-building, influencing, negotiating, and facilitation skills with customers and colleagues.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, articulating complex technical information convincingly at all levels.
• Able to work with minimal supervision, consistently delivering quality to deadlines and escalating issues and blockers in a timely manner, being customer and relationship focused, process driven, results oriented and organised.
• Experience of working in a client-facing role in a professional services organisation.
• Expert knowledge of the ServiceNow platform, beyond ITSM (e.g. SecOps, HRSD, IRM, BCM, APM, CMDB, ITAM, ITOM, SPM).
• Design of complex integrations between ServiceNow and other enterprise solutions, e.g. based on Integration Hub, Mid Server, SSO, JSON, SOAP, LDAP, JDBC, ODBC, REST, SCP and SFTP.
• ITIL and/or TOGAF qualified.
• Experience of working with Agile SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle Management) methods.
• Experienced in data architecture and master data management.
• A high level of general, technical knowledge including current, emerging, and future technology market trends and their impact on business.
• Good knowledge of Business Architecture, including business and technology strategies, operating models, process models, business and technology capability models and taxonomies (desirable).
• Good knowledge and experience of modelling languages, e.g. UML, ArchiMate and BPMN (desirable.)
• Practical understanding of GDPR and ISO 27001 (desirable).
• Experienced in developing analysis, presentations, and support material to successfully implement strategy or change initiatives.
• Experience in managing large projects and programmes in an enterprise environment, leading project teams that help customers solve their most complex business problems through creative thinking and seeking innovative solutions.

This role will require you to have or be willing to go through Security Clearance. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard; details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website Gov.UK. If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria, then your employment may be delayed, or rejected . Details of this will be discussed with you at interview

Benefits

By joining us you can expect

• Autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience
• Be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society
• Strong, inspiring and thought-provoking leadership
• A supportive and collaborative environment

Development – access to LinkedIn Learning, a management development programme, and training

Wellness – 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme

Flexible Working – including home working and part time

Social – office parties, breakfast Tuesdays, monthly pizza Thursdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and commitment to charitable causes

Time Off – 25 days of annual leave a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year

Volunteering – 2 paid days per year to volunteer in our local communities or within a charity organisation

Pension – Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution

Discretionary Company Bonus – based on company and individual performance

Life Assurance – of 4 times base salary

Private Medical Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)

Worldwide Travel Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)

Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay

Travel – season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme

For a full list of benefits please visit our website (www.methods.co.uk/careers/benefits)