Lead Technical Architect

You will provide senior technical leadership for DEFRA’s End User Infrastructure estate, covering devices, endpoints, operating systems, application delivery, and modern workplace platforms.

You will lead the architecture for complex and high-risk services and change initiatives, defining domain standards, patterns, and roadmaps aligned to enterprise strategy, security requirements, and cross-government standards.

Working across multidisciplinary teams, you will:

• Lead and assure technical designs and architectural decision-making
• Guide teams and suppliers to deliver coherent, secure, operable, and value-for-money solutions
• Identify and manage architectural risks across multiple services
• Communicate complex technical issues clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Support and develop architectural capability through mentoring and collaboration

This role suits an experienced Technical Architect who can balance strategic thinking with hands-on design leadership in a complex organisational environment., The post holder will be expected to:

• Define and maintain the domain architecture for End User Infrastructure, including principles, patterns, standards, transition states, and roadmaps for modernisation
• Lead the technical design of high-impact and high-complexity EUI services and changes, justifying and communicating design decisions clearly
• Guide and assure the work of other architects, delivery teams, and suppliers, ensuring designs fit the broader strategy for government and Defra
• Identify and manage architectural risks affecting multiple teams or domains, using governance and assurance to make and guide decisions at the appropriate level
• Provide leadership within the architecture community, including mentoring, coaching, and setting expectations for architectural quality in the EUI domain., 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:

• DDAT- Architect for the whole context — Practitioner
• Architecture communication — Expert
• Community collaboration — Practitioner
• Making architectural decisions — Practitioner
• Strategy design — Practitioner
• Technical design throughout the lifecycle — Expert, Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Further Information

Current Civil Servants (all contract types) will need to ensure that they are still employed as a civil servant at the point of starting in the relevant new post. If their contract ends (e.g. end of FTA contract or resignation) at any point during the recruitment/onboarding process for the advertised role, they will no longer be eligible and may be withdrawn.

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Near miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a lower grade, but have a potential skills match., Any move to DEFRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Feedback Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

See our vetting charter . People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks., * UK nationals

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Do you have experience in Presentation skills?, * Significant experience of complex IT programme and service architecture in infrastructure and end user domains, including dependency management and multi-supplier delivery.

• Strong hands-on expertise in one or more relevant technology areas, such as endpoint management, end user devices, operating system deployment, enterprise application delivery, digital workplace platforms, or identity-related client technologies, combined with a broad understanding of adjacent infrastructure domains.
• Experience of defining and maintaining domain standards, principles, patterns, and roadmaps, and of ensuring delivery teams implement and improve them in practice.
• Experience of architectural assurance, supplier challenge, options analysis, and evidence-based decision-making in a complex organisational environment.
• Experience of working with security, operational, service, commercial, and delivery stakeholders to shape coherent end-to-end designs.
• Strong understanding of secure-by-design approaches, government security expectations, and the operational realities of live service change.
• Experience of mentoring, coaching, and leading other architects or technical specialists through influence rather than line management., Technical Skills, This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Pulled from the full job description

• Childcare
• Employee discount
• Employee assistance programme
• Company pension
• Paid volunteer time
• Cycle to work scheme
• Season ticket loan, £56,375 - £69,105 National: £56,375 - £62,830, London: £62,000 - £69,105, plus industry leading pension and benefits. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’.

This post offers successful candidates the opportunity to be considered for an additional Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Skills Supplement. The level of the awarded supplement is determined following a separate skills assessment process, the outcome of which has no impact on the decision to make a job offer. This digital capability supplement ranges from £0 to £26,608 and you may be awarded a pay supplement within this range based on results of your additional skills assessment. For details of our pay on appointment policy, please see below under the heading ‘Salary’. A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% GBP, Alongside your salary of £56,375, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,331 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 25 days leave (rising to 30 days over 5 years) plus bank holidays.
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A day off per year for the King’s birthday.
• Access to a range of retail discounts (these include supermarket, tech, gym, holiday, phone and more).
• Flexible working options such as condensed hours, part-time and flexi time.
• 3 paid volunteering days per year.
• Funding for professional membership of a recognised professional body.
• Learning and development tailored to your role and budget for training or qualifications.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Health cash plan to help you manage health costs for a reduced monthly fee.
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme open 24 hours, 7 days a week, that provides support to you during any times of stress or difficulty.
• Free access to Headspace for wellbeing.
• Season ticket loan for public transport., New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Reasonable adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people’s day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) is the trusted team for digital across the entire Defra Group.

We have around 1000 colleagues across DDTS and our ambition is to make it easier and faster than ever for people to interact with Defra. If you are ready to drive innovation and push boundaries, we want to hear from you. Join us and together we will create a great place for living, and a green and healthy future for all.