Principal Enterprise Architect

The role reports to the Chief Digital & Information Officer and is one of the small leadership group standing up GBE’s digital function, alongside the CDIO and the Chief Information Security Officer. The postholder chairs the Architecture Review Board, acting as GBE’s design authority and assuring investment proposals before they reach the Digital Investment Governance Committee, the CEO-chaired body that approves significant digital investment.

This is a rare greenfield mandate. The foundational work on GBE’s security standards and core technology is already underway, with every significant decision and its reasoning recorded so that the incoming postholder can review, confirm and own those decisions rather than start from a blank page. The budget and the mandate to build a small architecture team are in place. Few roles offer the chance to set the technology direction of a national institution this early in its life., * Take ownership of the architecture decisions made during the establishment phase: review the recorded decision log, confirm or adjust the recommendations against the evidence, and carry them into delivery.

• Land GBE’s foundational technology choices - cloud, GBE’s own productivity and collaboration environment, and staff identity and access - and lead the design of the move away from shared, inherited services.
• Stand up the Architecture Review Board and Technical Design Authority as working design authorities, with a proportionate, fast assurance route into investment decisions.
• Publish the first full set of architecture principles, standards and the target-state reference architecture, and put them to work in live procurements and delivery.
• Publish an enterprise capability and operating-model view linking business priorities, information, processes, people and technology to the target-state roadmap.
• Recruit the architecture team and build the practice, blending permanent hires with partner capacity.
• Be a part of the build team to execute the vision.
• Set the architecture requirements and standards for GBE’s strategic partner framework and assure the first major deliveries against them, including core business systems and the data platform.
• Establish the data and AI architecture patterns that let the business adopt AI quickly and responsibly, and turn successful pilots into scalable products.
• Oversee the establishment of GBE’s digital landscape - foundations that will serve the organisation for years to come - showing measurable value along the way.

• Hands on: willing to both govern and personally deliver key parts of GBE’s platform.
• A senior enterprise or chief architect with a track record in complex, fast-moving organisations, including building an architecture function or practice from the ground up.
• Real delivery behind the architecture: target-state designs that became working platforms, spanning cloud environments, modern workplace and collaboration estates, identity and access, integration, and core business systems such as ERP and CRM.
• Experience running design authority governance - chairing architecture review boards or equivalent, and assuring major designs and investment proposals - in a way that accelerates delivery rather than slowing it down.
• Strong commercial perspective, including whole-life value, reuse, interoperability, sustainability, sourcing choices and supplier assurance.
• Expert ability to architect for the whole organisational context, frame high-complexity problems, make high-risk architectural decisions and connect strategy across organisational boundaries.
• Depth in cloud strategy: shaping provider selection and multi-year cloud economics, and designing to keep options open and avoid lock-in.
• Practical experience architecting for data and AI, including patterns for the responsible, governed adoption of AI in a business.
• Experience of complex sourcing environments: setting the standards for, and assuring, work delivered through multiple partners and framework agreements.
• The communication skills and credibility to make architecture clear and compelling to executives, boards and non-technical decision makers.
• Comfort operating where structures, processes and ways of working are still being established, with the pragmatism to make sound decisions at pace with imperfect information.

Desirable:

• Experience in the energy, renewables, utilities or infrastructure sectors, or other asset-intensive industries, with an understanding of how technology enables investment, project delivery and operational performance.
• Experience in government or other high-assurance settings, including working to Government Digital Service standards and National Cyber Security Centre guidance.
• Experience separating an organisation from shared or outsourced services and standing up an independently owned technology estate.
• A recognised architecture method or certification (such as TOGAF), or an equivalent demonstrable approach.

Personal Qualities:

• Takes ownership, shows confidence in decision-making, and is willing to challenge constructively
• Focuses on delivering meaningful outcomes and making a positive, lasting impact
• Works collaboratively, valuing different perspectives and building inclusive relationships
• Proactive and adaptable, with a curiosity to explore new ideas and improve ways of working
• Resilient and resourceful in a fast-paced environment

• Competitive base salary
• Performance-related bonus scheme
• Excellent pension scheme
• 4x salary life assurance
• Group income protection
• 38 days annual leave
• Flexible working arrangements
• Ongoing professional development and training
• Supportive, inclusive working environment

Join Great British Energy and be part of powering the UK’s Clean Energy Future.

At GBE, we’re not just building an energy company - we’re shaping the future of the UK’s energy landscape.

Our mission is clear:

• Drive clean energy deployment across the UK as a strategic developer, investor, and owner of renewable projects
• Deliver benefits for communities and taxpayers, ensuring the clean energy transition creates jobs, boosts local economies, and increases public ownership
• We focus on innovation, sustainability, and impact, working on projects that matter - from large-scale national renewable investments to empowering local and community energy initiatives.

Joining GBE means

• Purpose-driven work Be part of a national effort to accelerate the clean energy transition
• Career growth Opportunities to develop expertise in cutting-edge energy technologies and strategic investment
• Collaboration and flexibility Work with passionate professionals in a dynamic, forward-thinking environment

If you want to make a real difference and help power a greener, fairer future for the UK, GBE is the place for you.