Lead Technical Architect Chief Technology Office - HO - G6

The Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) profession enable the Home Office to keep the UK safe and secure. They do this by designing, building, and running the services that help people apply for visas or passports, support policing and counter-terrorism operations, and protect the UK’s borders. 

Team members have specialised knowledge and a calling to build on it. We want the best people to come to the Home Office and work in the diverse roles and communities they’re passionate about. This is how we produce exceptional outcomes. 

Due to business requirements this post is available on a Full Time/Job Share/Flexible Working basis. Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Queries can be raised to the address at the bottom of the advert. 

We value diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from the widest diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. We encourage applications from women, people with disabilities and LGBT+ as they are currently under-represented in the Home Office at this grade level. Appointments will be made on merit based on fair and open competition.

Job description

As a Lead Technical Architect, you will play a crucial role in shaping and delivering innovative technical and infrastructure solutions that drive the organisation’s future business capabilities and desired outcomes. You will lead the technical design of systems and services, ensuring they align with broader strategies, standards, and best practices across government.

This position requires strong leadership, strategic thinking, and technical expertise to create and implement strategies that embrace modern technologies such as cloud computing, AI, IoT, blockchain, edge computing, and immersive experiences. You will oversee multiple projects, providing architectural guidance, mentoring other architects, and ensuring that solutions meet both business & user needs and inline with Enterprise architecture.

Key responsibilities include:

• Defining, leveraging and delivering enterprise-wide technical strategies and architectures.
• Leading integration design and ensuring internal and  cross-government alignment of systems and services.
• Promoting innovation, continuous improvement, and the adoption of best practices.
• Building collaborative partnerships with diverse teams and stakeholders.
• Join us to shape the future of technical architecture in a dynamic and impactful environment.

Person specification

Your main day to day activities will be:

• Design Leadership: Create optimal technical designs, understand & integrating user needs, system requirements, and security within organisational objectives.
• Strategy & Architecture artefacts Development: Define and deliver enterprise-wide technical strategies, roadmaps, and architectures.
• Technical Oversight: Lead design reviews for new solutions, ensuring “Secure by Design” principles are incorporated along with best of architecture practice'
• Collaboration: Work across Home Office teams and with external partners to align systems and services with government objectives.
• Continuous Improvement: Drive innovation by evaluating technologies, integrating lessons learned from projects, and promoting best practices.
• Mentorship: Coach and mentor junior architects, fostering a culture of technical excellence and professional growth.
• Contribution: to the development of architectural practice, ensuring a coherent and consistent strategy across architecture domains.

Essential Skills:

We are looking for a passionate and innovative Technical Architect with the following essential skills:

• Broad Architectural Expertise: Demonstrated experience working across multiple projects or teams on complex problems that require strategic architectural thinking, delivering solutions within scope, time, and quality constraints.
• Technical Leadership & Innovation: Ability to drive cutting-edge designs and foster a culture of technical excellence, advising on emerging technologies and enabling innovative business models that align with future opportunities.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement: Proven track record of working with third-party suppliers, cross-government teams, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment with organisational objectives, government priorities, and business needs.
• Technical Roadmaps & Strategy Development: Proficient in defining, owning, and contributing to technical roadmaps and strategies, ensuring alignment with business capabilities and the long-term vision of the organisation.
• Specialised Technical Knowledge: Deep knowledge in at least two areas, including infrastructure and network design, APIs, middleware, storage, database management, virtualization, or multi-cloud technologies. Experience with Enterprise or Data Architecture and frameworks like DAMA / TOGAF/ ZACHMAN is highly desirable.
• Mentorship & Leadership in Architecture: Experience leading and mentoring architects, ensuring technical designs align with business outcomes, and driving continuous improvement and innovation in architectural practices and methodologies.

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA framework- Use the Skill descriptions to understand what would be expected for each technical skill listed).

We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process. 

SFIA levels of responsibility – Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each Technical Skill listed below. 

Please see below for the relevant skills for your role:

Strategy & Architecture:

• Strategy and Planning
  • Innovation (INOV) – Level 3
  • Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) – Level 3
  • Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 3
  • Solution Architecture (ARCH) – Level 5
• Advice & Guidance
  • Consultancy (CNSL) – Level 4
  • Specialist Advice (TECH) – Level 4

Technical skills

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

• Innovation (INOV) – Level 3
• Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) – Level 3
• Strategic Planning (ITSP) – Level 3
• Solution Architecture (ARCH) – Level 5
• Consultancy (CNSL) – Level 4
• Specialist Advice (TECH) – Level 4