Defence Business Services (DBS) Senior Technical Architect - MoD - SEO

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference? 

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?  

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement. 

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability. 

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.  

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working. 

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.  

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2026

Come and join the DBS community today! 

Job description

Automation Garage Senior Technical Architect

Within the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Senior technical architect provides technical leadership and architectural design for digital services. As a GDS Technical Architect in the Defence Business Services (DBS) Automation Garage you will work collaboratively in small, multi-disciplinary agile scrum teams to ensure the appropriate infrastructure is specified to enable the smooth running of the Automation Garage teams and services.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Automation Garage teams to solve architectural problems and advise on any changes required to the MOD D2S platform, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or MS Power Platform Create and maintain detailed solution documents to support a wide range of applications, infrastructure, data, security, integration and operations
• Evolve and define governance, taking responsibility for collaborating and supporting other staff in wider governance. You know how to assure services delivered by technical architects across sets of services, particularly in relation to compliance with the GDS Service Standard.
• Fulfil the role of lead technical architect at GDS assessments, demonstrating how services have met the GDS Service Standard to senior stakeholders and specialists from across Government.
• Work with stakeholders from across the business to solve complex technical problems across both internal and external platforms and ensure services have the correct level of technical assurance in line with the Government Technology Strategy, GDS Design Manual and MOD by Design standards.
• Ensure that presented use cases are suitable for implementation;
• Understand the GDS Service Standard and design patterns to ensure services meet them
• Responsible for the overall solution design for Automation Garage processes, ensuring they meet both customers' business and operational requirements are robust and supportable;
• Responsible for the identification and implementation of upgrade and Patching requirements for the Applications and ofthe Databases;
• Oversee investigation and analysis of incidents and process exceptions with a view to resolving and improving the service; Ensure the relevant service monitoring is in place;
• Advise on test strategy including Pen Testing, Performance Testing, Accessibility Audits; Identify and complete migration activities between environments to enable controlled go live;
• Identify key project risks and issues and identify mitigating actions; Support the development team through the implementation ofthe processes;
• Be an advocate of Digital Services, User Centred Design, the GDS Service Standard, Automation and the Automation Garage. A technical architect is responsible for the design and build of technical architecture.

At this level, you will:

• Undertake structured analysis of technical issues, translating this analysis into technical designs that describe a solution
• Be consulted about design and provide design patterns
• Identify deeper issues that need fixing Look for opportunities to collaborate and reuse components, communicating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Skills needed for this role Bridging the gap between the technical and non-technical. You can speak on behalf of technical teams and facilitate relationships with indirect stakeholders. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Governance. You understand how governance works and what governance is required. You can take responsibility for the assurance of parts of a service and know what risks need to be managed. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Making and guiding decisions. You can make decisions characterised by managed levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You can resolve technical disputes between peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Strategy. You can apply strategy, using patterns, standards, policies, road maps and vision statements. You can challenge them and provide guidance. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Turning business problems into technical design. You can design systems characterised by managed levels of risk, manageable business, and technical complexity and meaningful impact. You can work with well understood technology and identify appropriate patterns. (Relevant skill level: working)
• Understanding the whole context. You can understand trends and practices outside your team and how these will impact your work. You can see how your work fits into the broader strategy and historical context. You can consider the patterns and interactions on a larger scale. (Relevant skill level: working)

Person specification

Essential:

• Experience in creating technical design documents;
• Experience in network designs and an ability to provide advice and guidance in this area;
• Experience in virtualisation and an ability to provide advice and guidance in this area;
• Experience in Active Directory and Database interactions and an ability to implement and maintain Databases
• The ability to work as part of a small agile team, and across multiple teams in the wider Automation Garage; The ability to work within the constraints of best practice, GDS Service Manual and Standards and Automation Garage standards, whilst also retaining an enquiring mind and a willingness to challenge when appropriate
• Attention to detail
• Proven ability to communicate – both written and verbal
• Highly motivated and resilient
• An ability to communicate technical issues to a non-technical audience

Desirable:

• PHP and Javascript application design, Experience in Blue Prism or another RPAtool; Experience in cloud architecture; Knowledge of packaging, analytics/reporting solutions and CITRIX hosting Experience of GDS projects

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Architect for the whole context
• Architecture communication
• Community Collaboration
• Technical Design throughout the lifecycle