Solution Architect (AI)- London or Edinburgh

FDM is a global business and technology consultancy seeking a Solution Architects to work for our client within the Financial Services sector. This is initially a 6-12 month contract with the potential to extend and will be a hybrid role that will be based in London or Edinburgh.

The Solution Architect is responsible for solution design and architecture delivery- providing architectural direction to teams and driving the implementation of real enterprise AI systems. You will be accountable for leading the solution design of an AI system end-to-end. Working within the AI Hub Architecture team, this role partners closely with operational stakeholders, fellow solution architects, development teams, software suppliers, infrastructure providers, enterprise architects, and subject matter experts to shape technology that delivers measurable outcomes..

From early engagement through to delivery, the Solution Architect elaborates design options, champions innovation, drives technical strategy, and ensures that solutions meet both functional and non-functional requirements- all while adhering to our client's architectural principles, security policies, and regulatory standards.

The role takes an active part in evolving the Architecture framework, governance processes, and reference patterns- increasing the value the team delivers by reducing cost and complexity, managing technical risk, and enhancing change flexibility across the technology estate.

This role is about building actual systems, working closely with the engineering teams to provide them with the practical design and blueprint required for a safe, secure and scalable system.

As the Solution Architecture Leader, you will lead the design and delivery of one or more of the following key AI initiatives:

• Agentic AI systems that autonomously orchestrate complex workflows across back- and middle-office operations
• Conversational AI & voice agents capable of resolving customer interactions with human-level understanding
• Document Intelligence platforms using advanced AI/OCR to interpret, classify, and process structured and unstructured data at scale
• AI-powered SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle)—from augmented engineering to fully agentic development accelerating delivery
• Fraud and Cyber AI systems - Autonomous monitoring agents for fraud detection, cyber resilience, and real-time operational intelligence

Responsibilities

• Provide solution design services in support of prioritised AI use cases, from early engagement through to delivery assurance.
• Design high-quality solutions that are innovative, scalable, stable and resilient — conforming to architectural principles, security policies, and regulatory requirements.
• Collaborate with development functions, business lines, product teams, and CTO stakeholders to define the technology future state and supporting roadmaps.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and perceptions, acting as a trusted advisor on architectural decisions and trade-offs.
• Monitor technology trends and evaluate the practical application of existing, new, and emerging technologies to drive competitive advantage.
• Champion reuse of common components, patterns, and share platforms to reduce cost, complexity, and time to market.
• Ensure solutions meet non-functional requirements including performance, availability, disaster recovery, and observability.
• Actively contribute to the ownership and evolution of governance, assurance frameworks, standards, and policies with a focus on improving design quality and consistency.
• Contribute to the Design Community, providing guidance, facilitating collaboration, and ensuring clear communication across the organisation.
• Define high-level transition plans to address gaps between current and future state, aligned to IT budgeting and planning processes.
• Lead analysis of the current technology environment to detect critical deficiencies, technical debt, and end-of-life risk- recommending solutions for improvement.
• Oversee and support the research, evaluation, and selection of new software technologies, platforms, and architecture standards
• Embed Responsible AI, security, privacy and regulatory requirements into architecture (controls, model risk, auditability, human-in-the-loop), working with Risk, Security and Compliance
• Engage senior stakeholders and vendors, translating business strategy into an architecture roadmap and influencing investment and prioritisation decisions