Solution Architect Ecommerce

About The Role FDM is a global business and technology consultancy seeking a Solution Architect to work for our client within the Retail sector. This is initially a 12-month contract with the potential to extend and will be a hybrid role that will be based in London. Our client is seeking an experienced Solution Architect to join a full-scale ecommerce transformation for an online grocery brand. The programme is moving from a large monolithic commerce platform to a headless, modular architecture. Capabilities are being built in-house by the client's own engineering teams, rather than bought from a software vendor. Delivery is organised around customer journeys, with design and development running in parallel across several workstreams. The Solution Architect will own the end-to-end solution for one or two journeys at a time, working with engineering leads from each affected domain to show how all the pieces fit together. Key Responsibilities: Own the end-to-end solution design for one or two customer journeys at a time (for example account set-up, login and delivery slot booking), picking up further journeys as earlier ones move into implementation Build an understanding of the current platform and engineering landscape, and map what is being migrated from, what it is moving to, and how the target solution fits together Produce sequence diagrams and end-to-end design documentation for each journey, ready for engineering teams to implement Define the interfaces between systems and what the APIs should look like, without owning code-level implementation Define non-functional requirements and make sure the solution is secure, scalable and robust, and meets latency expectations across the whole journey Work through cross-system dependencies and contribute to the data map Work with the lead engineer assigned to each journey and an engineer from each impacted domain, bridging the gap between engineering leads so the solution hangs together Support the creation of domain epics and join journey scoping and design sessions in an iterative, agile delivery model About You Proven track record as a Solution Architect on large transformation programmes with many moving parts and interdependencies Retail experience, with ecommerce experience a strong advantage Experience designing headless, modular or API-led architectures, and moving away from a monolithic platform Able to produce sequence diagrams, interface definitions and API designs at solution level, without needing to write the code Strong grasp of non-functional design, including security, scalability, resilience and latency Experience with data mapping and data flows across multiple systems Comfortable working alongside engineers who build and maintain the platform themselves, and influencing lead engineers Able to talk through a case study of a comparable transformation, including the problems faced and how they were resolved Self-starter who can hit the ground running with minimal onboarding Able to attend the London office one to two days a week Minimum of 8 years' experience in solution architecture, including large-scale retail or ecommerce transformation About Us FDM is an award-winning global leader in tech and business talent solutions, backed by more than 35 years of industry experience. We have centres across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, and a global workforce of over 2500 employees. FDM has shown exponential growth throughout the years, firmly establishing itself as an award-winning employer, currently listed on the FTSE4Good Index and as a 2026 Financial Times UK ‘Best Employer’. Diversity and Inclusion FDM Group is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other status protected by federal, provincial or local laws. Why join us Career coaching, mentoring and access to upskilling throughout your entire FDM career Assignments with global companies and opportunities to work abroad Opportunity to re-skill and up-skill into new areas, develop non-linear career paths and build a skillset within your field Annual leave and work-place pension