Senior Enterprise Architect

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Ready to move beyond system design and drive a strategic roadmap that delivers true value for the nation? We are seeking a Senior Enterprise Architect to translate high-level strategy into a resilient, scalable digital estate for the public good.

If you’re prepared to own the architectural governance for products impacting millions of citizens, we want to hear from you. In this role, you will navigate the critical trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality—ensuring that every technical decision maximises efficiency and delivers public value across the organisation., We are seeking a visionary Senior Enterprise Architect to act as the defining authority for our enterprise-wide DDaT strategy and architecture. In this high-impact role, you will perform as a versatile Enterprise Architect while bringing deep specialisation in data and integration—translating high-level strategic goals into coherent, resilient technical roadmaps and leading critical governance on investments and technical debt to ensure secure, scalable public service delivery. You will lead, mentor, and grow a unified team of Enterprise and Technical Architects, establishing the technical guardrails and maintaining strategic control while steering our complex digital transformation journey and managing preferred delivery partners., * Strategic Vision & Roadmap Delivery - Convert the annual business plan into a clear, step-by-step blueprint for the future technology environment (Target State Architecture or TSA). You will manage the plans for moving from the current system to the future one, specifically for major initiatives, to make sure all projects are connected and support the overall business strategy.

• Governance & Assurance Leadership - You will be the technical voice on the Architecture Review Board (ARB). Your role is to manage the ‘Front Door’ review process, making sure new projects are checked for architectural soundness and fit before budget approval.
• Investment & Technical Debt Management - Ensure strategic bids allocate a dedicated remediation budget (15–20%) to mitigate technical debt.
• Senior Leadership Communication - Maintain the “Level Zero” Architecture Map as a streamlined executive view of the GCA technology estate for Board and ExCo decision-making.
• Blueprinting & Business Alignment - Partner with Business Architecture to create Enterprise Blueprints. You will take high-level strategic goals (e.g. “Improve SME Spend”) and map them to specific technical capabilities and data flows required to deliver that outcome.
• Technical Standards & Principles - You will establish and enforce the Secure by Design and Data First architectural principles. You will set the non-negotiable rules that product teams must follow to ensure technical consistency, interoperability, and security across the organisation.
• Strategic Consultancy & Mentorship - Provide Architecture-as-a-Service to senior stakeholders, moving from “activity-based” updates to “outcome-based” advice. You will mentor a team of up to 1-2 architects, establishing a formal competency framework to elevate the team’s strategic influence.
• Architectural Steering & High-Level Design (HLD) - Author Architecture Steer papers to align stakeholders on major investments, and personally develop High-Level Designs for critical, complex initiatives to ensure long-term resilience and strategic alignment., GCA operates a smarter working model that balances flexibility with collaboration. Successful candidates are expected to spend at least 26 days per quarter (approximately 2 days per week, pro-rata) at their contracted office, another GCA site, or off-site for meetings. For the remainder of the time, you may work from home or another suitable location that meets business needs., * 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

• Enterprise Architecture & Roadmap Delivery: Proven experience converting abstract business strategies into Target State Architecture (TSA) blueprints and managing transition roadmaps for complex digital estates.
• Strategic Governance & Assurance: Experience leading technical assurance (e.g., an Architecture Review Board) and defining architectural principles, such as Secure by Design and Data First.
• Risk & Technical Debt Management: Proven track record of identifying architectural risks and successfully articulating, managing, and securing investment to remediate technical debt.
• Executive Stakeholder Communication: Ability to translate complex technical problems into simplified executive views (like a “Level Zero” map) to influence Board and ExCo-level decision-making.
• Leadership & Technical Mentorship: Experience leading, mentoring, and developing the strategic capabilities of architecture teams while managing the technical guardrails for external delivery partners., * Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills, This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills., Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check .

Alongside your salary of £59,877, Government Commercial Agency contributes £17,346 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides .

Valuing our people:

• Competitive salary
• Generous pension scheme
• A discretionary non-contractual performance related bonus
• Working remotely in addition to working in advertised office location
• Flexi time scheme (available for B1-B6)
• Minimum 25 days annual leave to a maximum service related 30 days excluding bank holidays

Want to make a difference? Find out more about the rewarding work that we do in our candidate pack.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.