Advanced Solutions Architect

Light & Wonder — Chiswick, United Kingdom

iGaming:
If it’s iGaming, we know a thing or two. At Light & Wonder, It’s all about the games, and our digital team leads the global iGaming market, providing jaw-dropping content and innovative software that powers the world's most successful online gaming providers.

Position Summary

The Senior Software Architect is a senior technical leadership role within the iGaming Platform team. This is not a "heads-down coding" role, nor is it a purely advisory one — it sits at the intersection of hands-on delivery and architectural ownership. You will be expected to make and defend design decisions, lead cross-team technical alignment, and ensure the platform scales, integrates, and operates reliably at global scale.

You bring established architecture experience, deep software engineering instincts, and the credibility to influence without authority across multiple platform portfolios. You will contribute to the Architecture Review Board (ARB), own Architectural Decision Records (ADRs), and play a central role in shaping how the OpenGaming platform evolves.

Architectural Leadership

• Own and produce Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) for significant design decisions, ensuring rationale, context, and consequences are documented and retained

• Participate actively in the Architecture Review Board (ARB), reviewing solution designs across platform portfolios and applying the L&W Architectural Standards

• Define and enforce architecture patterns, integration contracts, and non-functional requirements (NFRs) across the Nova platform and adjacent systems

• Contribute to the Tech Atlas, Asset Registry, and governance artefacts that underpin L&W's architecture practice

• Lead threat modelling exercises using structured approaches (STRIDE, Threagile) and translate outcomes into actionable security requirements

Technical Design & Delivery

• Produce high-quality solution designs — from C4 context and container diagrams through to component and sequence-level detail — that can be directly implemented by engineering teams

• Design and evolve RESTful and event-driven APIs using OpenAPI specifications, establishing contracts that support independent team delivery

• Architect integrations with third-party systems including payment providers, identity services, regulatory reporting endpoints, and operator platforms

• Provide technical governance over CI/CD pipeline design, environment architecture, and deployment strategies using GitHub Actions, Kustomize, and ArgoCD

• Hands-on prototyping and proof-of-concept development when needed to de-risk architectural decisions

Engineering Quality & Standards

• Define and champion non-functional standards: performance baselines, resilience patterns, observability requirements, and security controls

• Lead or contribute to performance and load testing design, interpreting results in the context of SLAs and platform growth targets

• Establish and evolve coding and integration standards across Java/Spring services on the platform

• Drive adoption of structured security practices through the Security Champions programme and DevSecOps tooling integration

Collaboration & Influence

• Provide technical mentorship to Associate and mid-level architects and senior engineers, building architectural thinking across the team

• Translate complex technical positions into clear, concise communication for delivery leads, product managers, and executive stakeholders

• Drive alignment between iGaming and wider L&W engineering teams on shared concerns: API strategy, data platforms, observability, and shared services

• Participate in hiring and technical assessment processes for engineering and architecture candidates

Qualifications

Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or demonstrably equivalent experience. Professional certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP) are valued but not a substitute for practical architecture experience.

• 7+ years in software engineering with at least 3 years in an explicit architecture role — designing systems, not just building them

• Proven track record of owning architectural decisions end-to-end: from initial discovery and option analysis through to documented ADR and post-implementation review

• Strong Java/Spring Boot background with demonstrable experience designing cloud-native microservices at scale

• Experience designing and operating event-driven systems using Kafka or equivalent messaging platforms

• Hands-on exposure to API gateway technologies and federated API management across multiple consumer profiles

• Experience operating in a regulated or compliance-driven environment (gaming, fintech, payments, or similar)

• Demonstrable experience working within or contributing to a governance process — ARB, design authority, technical steering, or equivalent

• Comfortable producing architecture artefacts independently: C4 diagrams, ADRs, threat models, NFR matrices

Additional Information

Why would you enjoy working with us at Light & Wonder?

• Competitive benefits, an open and supportive environment as well as a modern and exciting workplace.

• The opportunity to interact with global teams on a regular basis and the possibility to switch teams and projects as you and our business continues to develop and grow.

• Exciting projects with opportunities for creating positive change to our game engineering ecosystem.

And if that is not enough; you will get to enjoy a stunning work location and flexible working whilst we provide you with the guidance and development skills you need to progress quickly and enhance your career.

#LI-Hybrid

#LI-iGaming