Lead Specialist, Technical Architect

**Role: Lead Specialist, Technical Architect** **Division: Assessment & Qualifications Delivery** **Location: Bangalore or Chennai, India** **About Pearson** _Pearson’s mission is to “add life to a lifetime of learning.”_ With more than 20,000 employees worldwide, we deliver high-quality, digital-first educational experiences that empower learners and educators. Our teams are passionate about creating accessible, sustainable solutions that drive real-world impact. **About UK Assessment & Qualifications** We are responsible for delivering nearly **4 million** exam results per year across A-Level, GCSE, BTEC and T-Level qualifications in the UK and international centres. Our in-house systems manage each learner from registration to marking and certification in a highly regulated environment. The division operates a hybrid estate of predominantly bespoke systems and is undergoing a strategic transformation from on-premise platforms to cloud-based, cost-effective, scalable and resilient services. **Role Summary** As a **Technical Architect (E30)** , you will design, validate and guide the implementation of technology solutions within our qualifications portfolio. Your primary focus will be on **Azure-hosted .NET applications** , leveraging services such as **Azure Container Apps, Azure Service Bus, Functions, Azure SQL and Cosmos DB** , along with modern .NET patterns (microservices, APIs, event-driven and serverless). While Azure and .NET are the core, the role also requires supporting legacy **on-premise** systems and some **AWS** components to ensure cohesive integration and interoperability. You will undertake structured analysis of technical issues and translate them into robust technical designs[1]. You’ll provide design patterns, identify deeper issues, and look for opportunities to reuse components while communicating effectively with both technical and business stakeholders. Through close collaboration with solution architects, developers, testers and operations teams, you will ensure that solutions meet both functional and non-functional requirements (security, performance, scalability, reliability). The role emphasises hands-on technical leadership, establishing and evolving technical standards, mentoring developers, and ensuring consistent quality across the lifecycle. **Key Responsibilities** + **Technical Design & Architecture** + Analyse complex requirements and evaluate technology options; design scalable, secure and maintainable architectures for **Azure-hosted .NET** solutions. Produce artefacts such as low level designs, **system diagrams, dataflow models, API specifications and sequence diagrams** . + Integrate and design solutions that bridge **on-premise** and **AWS** components with Azure services (for example, migrating SQL Server workloads to Azure SQL, or integrating event streams from on-premise or AWS into Azure Event Hubs). + Identify opportunities to reuse existing services and patterns, and advocate for consistency and efficiency across projects. + **Technical Leadership & Standards** + Lead and mentor development teams through design and implementation, providing hands-on guidance with **C#, ASP.NET Core, .NET APIs** and modern data access approaches. + Define, document and continually improve **technical standards, coding guidelines and architecture patterns** . Develop templates and guidelines to address gaps and drive quality and consistency. + Champion **DevOps and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC)** practices, integrating tools like **Terraform, Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions** for automated provisioning, deployment and testing. + **Collaboration & Stakeholder Communication** + Work with solution architects, product owners and business analysts to align designs with requirements; challenge assumptions and refine scope when necessary. + Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring design intent and impacts are understood. + **Technology Evaluation & Continuous Improvement** + Stay up to date with advancements in **Azure PaaS** and **.NET** technologies, as well as evolving practices like microservices, event-driven architectures and serverless computing. + Conduct proof-of-concepts and evaluations of new tools and frameworks, and recommend improvements for reliability, performance and cost efficiency. + **Compliance & Quality Assurance** + Ensure all designs conform to Pearson’s governance and security policies, as well as relevant data privacy regulations and industry standards. Participate in architecture reviews, identifying and mitigating risks[2]. + Verify implementations meet architectural intent by reviewing code, collaborating on testing strategies and supporting teams with observability and monitoring. + **Lifecycle Support & Operational Readiness** + Provide end-to-end support from design through deployment and post-release optimisation. Assist in troubleshooting production issues, conduct root cause analyses and propose improvements for future releases. + Promote resilience and operational excellence, including performance tuning, disaster recovery planning and capacity management. **Essential Experience & Skills** + **Strong .NET Expertise:** Proven experience designing and building applications using **C#, ASP.NET Core, RESTful APIs** and microservices. Familiarity with architecture patterns such as **clean architecture** , **domain-driven design** and event-driven design. + **Azure Cloud Mastery:** Deep working knowledge of **Microsoft Azure PaaS** services (App Service, Functions, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Event Grid, Service Bus, Key Vault, etc.) and how to design secure, scalable solutions on Azure. + **Integration & Platform Skills:** Experience architecting hybrid solutions connecting **on-premise** and **AWS** services with Azure; understanding of API gateways, messaging systems (e.g. Service Bus, Event Hub) and data integration. + **DevOps & IaC:** Demonstrated proficiency with **Infrastructure-as-Code** (ARM/Bicep, Terraform) and CI/CD pipelines using **Azure DevOps** or **GitHub Actions** . + **Leadership & Collaboration:** Ability to lead, mentor and collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams; strong problem-solving skills and decision-making under pressure. + **Communication & Influence:** Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to articulate design rationale clearly to developers, business stakeholders and leadership. + **Education & Certification:** Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field. Certifications such as **Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert** or **Azure Developer Associate** are highly desirable. **Desirable Skills** + **Cross-Platform Awareness:** Experience with on-premise technologies (e.g. Windows Server, IIS) and AWS PaaS services like **RDS/SQL, SNS, SQS** to support hybrid integration. + **Data & Middleware:** Knowledge of relational and non-relational databases and data modelling; experience with integration patterns and event streaming technologies (e.g. Kafka, RabbitMQ). + **Microservices & Serverless:** Familiarity with containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), serverless functions and **microservices architecture** on Azure. + **Agile Practices:** Experience working in Agile/Scrum teams, with a sound understanding of software testing frameworks and agile project management. + **AI/ML & Monitoring:** Awareness of AI/ML services and modern monitoring/observability tools to ensure reliability and performance. **Job Location and Hours** The role is aligned to our Bangalore or Chennai offices in India, working a 45 hour week 9am to 6pm IST. All our roles are hybrid working; our current policy requires our team to work from their base office 3 times per week. For this role there is a requirement to provide occasional out of hours support during business critical periods. **Who we are:** At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson. Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing TalentExperienceGlobalTeam@grp.pearson.com. **Job:** Architecture **Job Family:** TECHNOLOGY **Organization:** Assessment & Qualifications **Schedule:** FULL\_TIME **Workplace Type:** Hybrid **Req ID:** 22990