POSITION: Lead Principal Architect – Salesforce CoE

POSTING END DATE: 11/08/2024

LOCATION: Gaydon, Warwickshire (UK)

SALARY: Competitive

JLR is a House of Brands. Range Rover. Defender. Discovery. Jaguar. Truly distinct, global brands that embrace our modernist design philosophy and are emotionally compelling and unique. JLR’s Reimagine strategy - to realise our vision to be proud creators of the most desirable, modern luxury brands, for the most discerning of clients - is delivering a sustainability-rich vision of modern luxury by design and we are transforming our business to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The Salesforce platform is a key technology component supporting JLR’s five enterprise objectives to drive JLR transformation initiatives that will enable JLR’s digital backbone.  To recognise the importance of Salesforce, JLR IDT has taken the opportunity to build and implement a brand-new Centre of Excellence function dedicated to ensuring all capabilities relating to Salesforce are managed through a single organisation, to ensure this is achieved. As the Lead Principal Architect, you will be owning the Salesforce Technology Architecture and will be accountable from a technology perspective for the entire JLR global Salesforce Ecosystem’s. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to play a leadership role in helping JLR business both core and NCS’s to understand and assure any Salesforce technical solutions whilst leading other Technical Architects to ensure that the customer/user goals are central in both the architecture design and execution.

THE ROLE

Key Responsibilities

Accountabilities

• Actively engage and lead strategic engagements, both technical and business focused to build winning, differentiated Salesforce capabilities and value within JLR.
• Manage and execute the Global Salesforce Design Authority Life Cycle to ensure that all design and delivery activities performed by Partners is in an efficient, quality and compliant manner.
• Operate the process of brokering and confirming key architectural and technical decisions at a Salesforce ecosystem.
• Develop and sustain effective, "trusted advisor" relationships with stakeholders - including senior leaders with in JLR, SI Partners and Suppliers- to provide credible Salesforce and JLR process insight and advice about leveraging Salesforce technology for business effectiveness and competitiveness.
• Initiates and fosters relationships and drives outcomes in partnership with Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure, Security
• Provide technical guidance and directions within the Salesforce CoE (Centre of Excellence) and to implementation/supporting partners.
• Have a strategic mindset with the capability of establishing a comprehensive yet pragmatic vision based on a strong base of analysis.
• Provide the business and SI Partners with guidance during periods of change to ensure all new developments build on the existing Jaguar Land Rover Salesforce technology solutions. This includes investigating new and emerging Salesforce capabilities.
• Drive innovation and proactive industry research into local and global IT products, services, trends and developments to ensure appropriate and effective digital business planning within the Salesforce Ecosystem
• Assess and review submitted standards from the CoE and wider teams for consistency and validity against the principles and policy framework within the Salesforce CoE
• Assess the requirements and present architectural recommendations that are in line with the strategic vision for the Salesforce Ecosystem.
• Ensure that appropriate Salesforce product roadmaps are maintained and that appropriate plans are in place for review and are aligned to the strategic goals of the organisation.

Responsibilities

Delivery:

• You will work with COE and wider Product managers to identify new features and capabilities.
• Define Salesforce Roadmap in consultation with CoE Product managers for all capabilities for next 5 years.
• Prepare and oversee all platform enhancements to support the health of the platform
• Provide strategic and operational leadership and guidance to the development, implementation, and improvement of the evolving Salesforce ecosystem.

Quality:

• Assist Salesforce Product Managers within SF CoE to drive quality products & processes through robust input into the designs and build.
• Identify and engage in continuous improvement & standardisation activities.
• Lead and coordinate structured facilitation across cross functional teams to develop an organisational design that can prevent and resolve Salesforce technical issues/challenges.
• Ensure Code Quality is ensured in every development across the Salesforce Estate
• Conduct monthly service review of SAP technology products.
• Chair the Salesforce Design Authority to ensure the design and implementation principles are adhered to.

Cost:

• Look for opportunities to ensure the right 3rd party capabilities that are used within the Salesforce Ecosystem are financial astute and are proportioned accordingly.
• Identify duplicate Salesforce solutions used and consolidate for cost optimizations.
• Identify Test automation opportunities and implement reducing cost of regression testing.

People:

• Develop the Architecture team, 3 x technical Architects (LL6) by mentoring and coaching members of their team
• Demonstrate exemplary Customer Love Principles to create a positive working atmosphere.

Key Performance Indicators

• Project Delivery and Success: - On-time Delivery: Percentage of projects completed on schedule. - Budget Adherence: Percentage of platform enhancements, completed within the allocated budget. - Project Milestone Achievement: Number of key project milestones achieved as planned to support platform growth.
• Quality Assurance: - Compliance with Standards: Percentage of projects that meet or exceed architectural standards and regulatory compliance. - Defect Rate: Number of design or architectural defects found during the project lifecycle or post-implementation. - Customer Satisfaction: Client or stakeholder satisfaction ratings post engagement reviews.
• Team Leadership and Development: - Team Utilisation: Effective utilisation rate of team members on projects. - Skill Development: Number of professional development sessions conducted or attended, and improvement in team skills and capabilities. - Mentorship and Training: Number of mentoring hours provided to architects and other team members across the CoE.
• Innovation and Improvement: - Innovation Index: Number of new technologies, tools, or methodologies implemented successfully within the Salesforce Platform. - Process Improvement: Number of process improvements initiated and successfully implemented to support automation. - Research and Development: Time or resources invested in R&D activities.
• Risk Management: - Risk Identification and Mitigation: Number of risks identified and successfully mitigated during the platform lifecycle. - Issue Resolution Time: Average time taken to resolve issues or challenges that arise during platform lifecycle.
• Strategic Contribution: - Alignment with Business Goals: Degree to which architectural projects and initiatives align with the company’s strategic objectives. - Contribution to Long-term Planning: Participation in and contribution to long-term IT and architectural strategy planning

Key Interactions

• Head Global Centre of Excellence (Salesforce)
• Technical Architect (Salesforce)
• Enterprise Architect
• Digital governance board
• Digital centres of excellence
• Senior Product Managers - Business
• Product Squads - Business
• Enterprise Digital Product teams
• Project and Programme Delivery Leads
• 3rd party System Integrators
• IDT Vendors – Salesforce, Application Exchange partners & System Integrators
• IDT Digital Service Delivery Management
• IDT Digital Service Delivery Support Engineers
• External industry leaders and analysts

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Hard Skills:

• Exceptional hands-on track-record of software development where service quality & security is a priority.
• In-depth knowledge of the Salesforce eco system and how they can be configured, business capabilities and development.
• Coaching mindset – to be able to explore and challenge stakeholders positively
• Demonstrable ability to successfully interact with and influence senior stakeholders.
• Experience in Salesforce system Administrations & Upgrades
• Understanding of Agile & DevOps Methodology
• Experience of CI/CD Pipeline software like Copado
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
• Proven experience developing relationships with a wide group of stakeholders.
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment.
• Extensive Salesforce experience, administration or implementation.
• Experience with Agile methodology for delivery.

Soft Skills:

• Ability to work independently and proactively, taking full ownership and responsibility for own work; fully invested in achieving a successful result.
• You view things as a team rather than individual project level, considering the wider team needs.
• Strong interpersonal/communication skills, including ability to manage/lead/support relationships and communicate effectively at all levels.
• Good influencing skills.
• Previous experience and background Salesforce Platform and across cloud accompanied with a proven track record of successful delivery of Salesforce capabilities and architecture  
• Relevant degree or equivalent experience preferred / Relevant apprenticeship or equivalent experience preferred.

 Personal Profile

• Demonstrates our Creators' Code behaviours of Customer Love, Unity, Integrity, Growth and Impact
• Customer first mindset who is easy to do business with and makes people feel special, driven to deliver experiences that are personalised, transparent and dependable.
• Understands what our customers love
• Supports team unity, who actively develops and empowers other team members.
• Integrity & empathy who holds the customer experience above all else, even when it is challenged.
• Embraces a growth mindset; resilient and enthusiastic who responds constructively to new ideas and inputs.
• Understands their impact, who can work independently, is motivated by results, demonstrates tenacity, drive and perseverance with the ability to deliver solutions in a complex, highly demanding environment.
• Works independently, is results driven, demonstrating tenacity, drive and perseverance with the ability to deliver operational plans in a complex, highly demanding environment.
• Capability to combine a short term, pragmatic focus with medium term planning.
• A resilient and enthusiastic who responds constructively to new ideas and inputs.
• A good communicator with the ability to communicate complex ideas.
• An effective team player, actively develops and supports team members
• An individual with the ability to challenge existing thinking in a positive way whilst building credibility and trust through experience and personal style.

#WEAREJLR

At JLR, we are passionate about our people. They are at the heart of our business. We are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive culture that is representative of our global customers and the society in which we live; a culture in which every one of our employees can bring their authentic self to work and reach their full potential.

You will find the opportunities to further your career with a world-class team, access to select two of our luxury premium vehicles to lease at an extremely favourable cost compared to traditional company car lease schemes, membership of a competitive pension plan, private medical cover (which includes travel insurance) and performance related bonus scheme. All this and more makes JLR the perfect place to continue your journey.

This role may offer the opportunity for hybrid working where you can split your time between working from home and in the office. At JLR, hybrid working is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement providing employees with more choice and flexibility around how, when and where they work, if suitable for their role. Further details can be discussed with the Hiring Manager at interview stage.

Please be aware that we may close this vacancy for applications before the stated deadline if we receive a high volume of interest. We strongly advise you to submit your application as early as possible.