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Director, Aladdin Solutions Architect

Locations: London, United Kingdom

Overview of Technology roles

At BlackRock, technology has always been at the core of what we do – and today, our technologists continue to shape the future of the industry with their innovative work. We are not only curious but also collaborative and eager to embrace experimentation as a means to solve complex challenges. Here you’ll find an environment that promotes working across teams, businesses, regions and specialties – and a firm committed to supporting your growth as a technologist through curated learning opportunities, tech-specific career paths, and access to experts and leaders around the world.

Job description

About this role

About this role

At BlackRock, technology sits at the core of our business, and Aladdin® is the platform that powers investment decisions, risk management, and operational workflows across the firm and for our clients globally.

We are seeking a Solutions Architect within Aladdin Engineering to lead solutions architecture and engineering delivery across critical business transformation initiatives. This role is focused on partnering with BlackRock Global Markets to define and deliver end‑to‑end solutions that solve complex business problems, while ensuring alignment with Aladdin’s broader platform architecture and engineering standards.

You will operate at the intersection of business, product, and engineering, transforming Investment and Trading processes into automated, scalable, and resilient solutions, and guide global cross functional teams to deliver at scale.

Role responsibilities

Solution Architecture

  • Own the endtoend solution architecture for key Business and Aladdin capabilities and workflows.
  • Translate business and product requirements into scalable, secure, and implementable technical designs.
  • Be the glue across core Aladdin Product and Platform teams.
  • Execute and accelerate the delivery of cross‑functional initiatives.
  • Be adept at operating with ambiguity and evolving requirements.
  • Define:
    • Solution boundaries, system interactions, and integration patterns
    • Data flows, APIs, and service responsibilities
    • Non-functional requirements (performance, resilience, scalability, security)
  • Ensure solutions align to enterprise architecture standards, while remaining pragmatic and delivery-oriented
  • Drive architecture decision-making and trade-offs (build vs buy, performance vs cost, speed vs robustness)

Engineering Leadership & Execution

  • Lead and scale globally distributed engineering teams to rapidly deliver solutions.
  • Own delivery across the full Agentic SDLC, from design through production
  • Ensure strong execution across:
    • High-availability distributed systems
    • Front-to-back investment and trading lifecycle workflows.
    • Client-facing and internal platform capabilities
  • Embed engineering excellence across:
    • CI/CD and DevOps practices
    • Observability, reliability, and incident management
    • Security and regulatory compliance

CrossPlatform Integration & System Design

  • Design and govern integration across Aladdin domains, including:
    • Trading, portfolio management, risk, and operations
    • Data and analytics platforms
    • External client and partner systems
  • Ensure solutions are modular, reusable, and interoperable.
  • Anticipate and resolve system-level dependencies and failure points.

Technology Strategy

  • Define technology strategy at the solution / domain level, including:
    • API-first, event-driven, and real-time data architectures
    • Adoption of cloud-native patterns and microservices
  • Evaluate emerging technologies and drive adoption where they create tangible business or engineering value.
  • Drive use of AI / GenAI capabilities in both:
    • Product features
    • Engineering productivity and automation

Stakeholder Engagement & Translation

  • Act as the primary technical bridge between:
    • Business and product stakeholders
    • Engineering and platform teams
  • Translate complex requirements into clear solution designs and delivery plans.
  • Influence senior stakeholders by framing architecture decisions in business terms (risk, cost, time-to-market, client impact)

Quality, Risk, and Governance

  • Identify and mitigate solution-level risks early in the lifecycle.
  • Ensure adherence to:
    • Architecture standards
    • Security and data governance policies
  • Lead architecture and design reviews across teams.
  • Drive consistency and quality across multiple concurrent solutions.

Experience

  • Extensive experience in solution architecture and software engineering leadership
  • Proven track record delivering complex, large-scale technology solutions in enterprise environments.
  • Experience leading cross functional programs with high business and client impact.
  • Background in financial technology or complex domain-driven platforms preferred.

Technical expertise

  • Strong system design experience across:
    • Distributed systems and microservices
    • API and integration architectures
    • Cloud-native platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP)
  • Deep understanding of:
    • Data flows and event-driven architectures
    • Scalability, performance, and resilience patterns
  • Ability to operate across platforms and multiple technology domains, rather than a deep specialization in one.

Leadership attributes

  • Ability to operate in complex market and organizational contexts, translating strategic objectives into actionable plans.
  • Proven track record of driving innovation, navigating ambiguity, and delivering measurable outcomes at scale.
  • Proven experience influencing cross-functional senior stakeholders.
  • Strong communication skills to distill complex systems into clear, decision-ready narratives.
  • AI-First, Human-in-the-Loop: Embrace AI-driven solutions as a default for efficiency and scale, while keeping expert human judgment in critical loops to ensure quality and trust.
  • Platform Over People: Prioritizes building robust platforms and automation over relying on individual heroic efforts, enabling sustainable and scalable growth.
  • Standardization Everywhere: Drives consistency in tools, processes, and data across the board, reducing complexity and improving interoperability and maintainability.
  • Deep Co-Ownership with Business partners: Fosters a culture of partnership with the BlackRock Global Markets Group, aligning closely on priorities, sharing roadmaps and KPIs, and co-owning outcomes to ensure the platform truly meets business needs.

Our benefits

To help you stay energized, engaged and inspired, we offer a wide range of employee benefits including: retirement investment and tools designed to help you in building a sound financial future; access to education reimbursement; comprehensive resources to support your physical health and emotional well-being; family support programs; and Flexible Time Off (FTO) so you can relax, recharge and be there for the people you care about.

Our hybrid work model

BlackRock’s hybrid work model is designed to enable a culture of collaboration and apprenticeship that enriches the experience of our employees, while supporting flexibility for all. Employees are currently required to work at least 4 days in the office per week, with the flexibility to work from home 1 day a week. Some business groups may require more time in the office due to their roles and responsibilities. We remain focused on increasing the impactful moments that arise when we work together in person – aligned with our commitment to performance and innovation. As a new joiner, you can count on this hybrid model to accelerate your learning and onboarding experience here at BlackRock.

About BlackRock

At BlackRock, we are all connected by one mission: to help more and more people experience financial well-being.  Our clients, and the people they serve, are saving for retirement, paying for their children’s educations, buying homes and starting businesses. Their investments also help to strengthen the global economy: support businesses small and large; finance infrastructure projects that connect and power cities; and facilitate innovations that drive progress.

This mission would not be possible without our smartest investment – the one we make in our employees. It’s why we’re dedicated to creating an environment where our colleagues feel welcomed, valued and supported with networks, benefits and development opportunities to help them thrive.

For additional information on BlackRock, please visit @blackrock | Twitter: @blackrock | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/blackrock

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics at law.

Job Requisition #
R264665
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BlackRock Principles

We look to hire people that will embody our BlackRock Principles:

  • We are a fiduciary to our clients.

    This is the bedrock of our identity; it reflects our integrity and the unbiased advice we give our clients.

  • We are One BlackRock.

    We work collaboratively to create the best outcomes for our clients, our firm and the communities where we operate.

  • We are passionate about performance.

    We are relentless in innovating and finding better ways to serve our clients and improve our firm.

  • We take emotional ownership.

    We have a deep sense of responsibility to our clients and to each other.

  • We are committed to a better future.

    We are long-term thinkers, focused on helping people build a better tomorrow.

Orange and yellow blocks

Career path

We recognize that our technologists benefit from a tailored approach to navigating and advancing their careers in the ways they envision. Our tech career paths are specifically built to support vertical and horizontal trajectories – including Enterprise Leadership (team manager) and Tech Leadership (individual contributor) ‘tracks’ as well as various other career moves.

  • Engineer I (Analyst)
  • Engineer II/III (Associate)
  • Senior Engineer I/II (Vice President)
  • Lead Engineer
    (Vice President)
    Engineering Team Manager
    (Vice President)
  • Principal/Sr. Principal
    Engineer (Director)
    Engineering Team Director/ Sr. Engineering Team Director
  • Managing Director
    Managing Director
  • TECH
    LEADERSHIP
    ENTERPRISE
    LEADERSHIP

Benefits

We care about your overall well-being and design our benefits package to support you in various aspects of your life.

  • Financial well-being

    We offer resources designed to help you build a sound financial future for you and your family, like retirement savings plans and tuition reimbursement.

  • Pay for performance

    Our pay-for-performance philosophy includes a base salary and a discretionary annual bonus.

  • Physical well-being

    Our healthcare plans and resources help you focus on your physical health, so you and your family can feel your best.

  • Emotional well-being

    We support our people's mental health and emotional well-being by providing access to an Employee Assistance Program and a network of Mental Health Ambassadors.

  • Life management

    You'll be able to focus on moments that are important to you with benefits designed to support life in and outside of work with Flexible Time Off, parental leave and more.

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