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# Solutions Architect

- **Company:** gb
Secret Intelligence Service MI6
- **Location:** UK (Remote available)
- **Salary:** £80,875.0 - £89,475.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Systems Engineering, Encodings, Knowledge-Based Systems, Data Analytics
- **Published:** July 31, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.totaljobs.com/job/solutions-architect/secret-intelligence-service-mi6-job107774464

## About the Role

Flexible Working: We support full-time, part time, compressed, and flexible working hours. We're committed to offering remote working across our organisation; however, our ability to do so depends on role requirements and business needs. Home working is not possible., Ideally, you'll have led significant elements of product and system delivery and change. Experience as a technical domain subject-matter expert is important, as is having worked as a Solution Architect or as part of a solution architecture team on complex solutions. A solid background in applying enterprise and domain architecture, influencing stakeholders, and conducting trade-offs across requirements and solution spaces is essential. Knowledge of multiple architecture and delivery frameworks, along with experience of embedding these tools and techniques, is also expected.

Well-developed soft skills are key to supporting communication and decision-making, including curiosity, teamwork, and problem-solving. Being an effective communicator and influencer, with experience negotiating trade-offs across requirements and solution spaces, is important. The role involves line-managing junior solution architects and contractors, so confidence in leading and working within multi-disciplinary teams is essential. A commitment to continual learning and development is also important., * You'll be required to reach the pass mark for the Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which looks at your ability to problem-solve.

 * Demonstrate experience working in architecture or systems engineering functions.
 * Explain your motivation for applying to the organisation and the role.
 * Demonstrate applied experience in developing technology portfolios and/or playing a major role in digital transformation programmes

## Description

Architecture and technology are core to MI6's successful operations and intelligence delivery. There is a constant need to develop and maintain capabilities that provide us with mission advantage in a rapidly changing, technology- and data-driven world. We use agile and lean methodologies to innovate, deliver, and upgrade products. Whether you work on data analytics, knowledge systems, operational communications, or technical operations capabilities, the nature of our work presents unique and fascinating architecture challenges that you are unlikely to have encountered before.

We develop products that provide capability across MI6. Our multi-disciplinary teams are made up of architects & engineers who work alongside product owners, business analysts, and delivery colleagues to ensure MI6 gets what it needs by balancing tactical and strategic goals. As a Solution Architect, you'll lead the design and systems-engineering approach for a specific area of our organisation- creating new products and continually improving the capabilities of our existing ones.

You'll be part of a community responsible for design authority. Working with the Product Manager and Business Lead, you'll help to deliver a plan that considers user experience, cost, risk, time, and quality, while balancing product evolution with the immediacy of business need. In this role, you'll also deliver the architecture and systems-engineering elements of the product plan throughout its whole life cycle.

This will include:

 * Understanding the business problem and shaping the solution, while tailoring systems-engineering and architecture processes to address product risks in the context of scale and complexity.
 * Developing, maintaining and communicating the product's vision, architecture, and technology roadmap, including producing high-level designs, solution outlines, and key design decisions.
 * Managing technology risk and overseeing design evolution as the product develops, ensuring decisions remain aligned to business needs.
 * Supporting integration with other products and overseeing release to service, ensuring coherence across the wider product ecosystem.


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