Professional Summary
Brad Arnst is a Senior IT Architect with 30+ years of experience across enterprise, solution, infrastructure, digital, cloud, integration, and transformation roles. He brings broad architectural judgement, practical delivery experience, and the ability to create structure in complex or ambiguous environments.
His work focuses on making architecture fit the situation: shaping strategy, modernising platforms, integrating legacy and cloud-native systems, aligning delivery teams, and turning business goals into pragmatic technical direction. He has worked across finance, energy, retail, gaming, telecoms, government, and digital consultancy environments in the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and France.
He is currently applying this experience to architecture-led product development and consulting, combining cloud-native web platforms, structured content systems, and agentic AI development workflows under strong human technical governance.
Core Competencies
Enterprise & Solution Architecture
- Enterprise, solution, infrastructure, cloud, integration, and digital architecture
- Architecture strategy, target states, roadmaps, governance, and decision-making
- Practical use of TOGAF, ArchiMate, C4, and architecture modelling where useful
API, Integration & Data Architecture
- API strategy, API governance, microservices, event-driven architecture, messaging, gateways, ESB/EAI, and legacy integration
- Integration architecture across cloud, SaaS, packaged platforms, legacy systems, and enterprise data flows
- Data platform awareness across SQL, NoSQL, analytics, data warehouses, data lakes, and operational reporting
- Architecture patterns for scalable, maintainable, secure, and governable integration landscapes
Transformation & Modernisation
- Digital transformation, cloud migration, legacy containment, platform modernisation, and operating-model alignment
- Application portfolio rationalisation, integration strategy, and pragmatic transition planning
- Experience across finance, energy, retail, gaming, telecoms, government, and digital consultancy environments
Cloud, Platforms & DevOps
- Cloud-native, hybrid, serverless, edge, and container-based platform architecture
- AWS, Azure, GCP, Cloudflare, Kubernetes, Docker, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and observability
- Alignment of architecture with delivery, operations, resilience, scalability, and cost control
AI-Assisted & Agentic Delivery
- Agentic AI development workflows, AI-assisted software delivery, and human-in-the-loop technical governance
- Prompt/context management, repository-level agent guidance, code review, acceptance criteria, and quality control
- Use of AI coding agents and models to accelerate implementation while retaining architectural ownership
Leadership, Consulting & Documentation
- Technical leadership, mentoring, stakeholder engagement, and C-level communication
- Architecture Review Boards, Technical Design Authorities, vendor engagement, and delivery governance
- Strategic documentation, roadmaps, decision records, diagrams-as-code, and actionable technical documentation
Professional Experience
Independent IT Architect / Founder—Nexus Seven, France (Jan 2026 - Present)
- Registered and operating as a micro-entrepreneur in France, providing architecture-led digital product development and consulting services.
- Architecting and building World of Aletheia, a production web platform for structured content, campaign management, discovery, protected access, and future SaaS-style capabilities.
- Designed an Astro-first, Cloudflare-native architecture using Workers/Pages, D1, R2, Better Auth, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Node.js, and schema-validated content collections.
- Developed an Obsidian-first structured content workflow using Markdown/frontmatter synchronisation, metadata indexing, cloud-backed storage, and discovery-oriented navigation.
- Directed agentic AI development workflows while retaining ownership of architecture, product direction, code review, acceptance criteria, technical quality, and delivery governance.
Recent Career Break—(June 2024 - Dec 2025)
- Took time away from client work to renovate and sell a house in the UK, complete a permanent move to France, and renovate a new home in France.
- Continued technical development, product architecture work, and hands-on learning in modern web, cloud, and AI-assisted delivery practices.
Senior Solutions Architect—Euroclear, France (Nov 2023 - May 2024)
- Designed Azure-based digital transformation strategies, aligning architecture with global financial services.
- Led CIAM security frameworks to improve user authentication, access control, and compliance.
- Ensured GDPR compliance across data handling, identity management, and governance policies.
Lead Architect—Ubisoft, France (Jun 2022 - Oct 2023)
- Directed enterprise-wide architectural transformations across Sales, E-Commerce, HR, and Finance.
- Defined API-first strategies and cloud modernisation initiatives (AWS, Azure, Kubernetes).
- Architected ERP integrations and governance for large-scale business applications.
- Member of the Technology Advisory Board, guiding strategic IT decisions.
Senior Solutions Architect—Shell via Aubay, UK (Jan 2022 - Jun 2022)
- Consulting with Aubay UK; Senior Solutions Architect at Shell
- Led cloud-native transformation for trading and carbon analytics platforms.
- Designed data pipelines and integration solutions to improve real-time analytics and reporting.
- Developed DevOps and CI/CD strategies to enhance system scalability and performance.
Senior Digital Architect—The AA, UK (Jul 2021 - Jan 2022)
- Delivered digital transformation strategies and cloud-native architecture for high-performance systems.
- Integrated enterprise and data architecture with microservices and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure).
- Led architectural documentation (UML, HLDs), and played a key role in shaping decision-making through the Architecture Review Board.
Digital Architect—Post Office, UK (Apr 2021 - Jul 2021)
- Architected a cloud-native AWS platform, integrating legacy systems for scalability and resilience.
- Guided technical integration and supported vendor selection, while initiating and helping establish the Technical Design Authority function.
Principal Consultant—Buildit @ Wipro Digital, UK (2018 - 2020)
- Consulted on enterprise API strategy, cloud adoption, and microservices.
- Designed secure API platforms for banking and energy clients, ensuring high performance and scalability.
- Led engineering mentorship and transformation programs for technical teams.
Enterprise Architect & Consultant—Various Clients, Global (2010 - 2018)
- Delivered enterprise and solutions architecture across finance, energy, and public sectors.
- Designed API management platforms, cloud adoption roadmaps, and security frameworks.
- Led integration of legacy applications with modern microservices and cloud platforms.
Earlier Roles in Architecture & Leadership (1994 - 2010)
- Held senior architecture and technical leadership roles across finance, energy, telecom, and public sectors.
- Led enterprise transformation projects, including cloud migrations, security frameworks, and large-scale integrations.
- Designed and implemented API-driven architectures and service-oriented solutions before modern microservices adoption.
- Managed cross-functional engineering teams, driving agile adoption and DevOps practices in early implementations.
- Developed highly available, scalable IT infrastructures, setting groundwork for modern cloud-based architectures.
Technical Expertise
Web Platforms & Product Architecture
Astro, TypeScript, JavaScript, Tailwind CSS, Node.js, Cloudflare Workers/Pages, Cloudflare D1, Cloudflare R2, Better Auth, static-first/SSR hybrid architecture, content modelling, Markdown/frontmatter workflows, schema validation, FTS5 full-text search, SEO, email validation.
Agentic AI Development & Delivery Governance
Agentic AI coding workflows, AI-assisted software delivery, prompt/context management, repository-level agent guidance, architecture-led implementation, code review, acceptance criteria, quality governance, and human-in-the-loop delivery control.
Representative tools/models include Kilo Code, opencode, OpenAI Codex models, Anthropic Claude models, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor.
Cloud & DevOps
AWS, Azure, GCP, Cloudflare, AWS ECS, Kubernetes, Docker, Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, Ansible, CI/CD, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, CircleCI, GitLab CI.
APIs & Integration
MuleSoft, Apigee, AWS API Gateway, REST, OpenAPI, GraphQL, Kafka, Kong, Swagger, event-driven integration, messaging, ESB/EAI patterns.
Architecture
Enterprise architecture, solution architecture, TOGAF, C4, Domain-Driven Design, event-driven architecture, microservices, integration architecture, diagrams-as-code, PlantUML, Structurizr, Sparx EA.
Security, Compliance & Identity
OAuth, OpenID Connect, SAML, JWT, Active Directory, LDAP, IAM, CIAM, SSO, GDPR, PSD2, Open Banking, Zero Trust concepts, DevSecOps principles.
Development Tools
Git, GitHub, GitLab, Azure DevOps, Jira, Postman, VS Code, Neovim, GitHub Copilot.
Programming Knowledge
JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, bash, perl, Python, CSS, HTML, Sass, Tailwind CSS. Architected Java, Spring, and .NET projects.
Other Technical Background
Linux, Windows, macOS, DNS, Apache, Nginx, IIS, SSL/TLS, email, IMAP, AMQP, MQ, JMX, certificates, middleware, networking, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, NoSQL, MongoDB, data lakes, data warehouses, analytics.
Education & Certifications
Computer Science, Grande Prairie College
Business Impact Leadership Training
Work Preferences
France: Seeking permanent or contract roles (Hybrid/Remote)
Europe: Seeking contract roles (Remote)