Lead Technical Architect

NHS Connecting for Health; London; Hybrid; GBP 66,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading organization dedicated to preserving the UK's digital heritage as a Lead Technical Architect. You will coordinate teams, design systems for digital archiving, and communicate a strategic vision for innovative digital services. With a focus on collaboration, your expertise will shape the future of digital record accessibility, contributing to important cultural preservation efforts.

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

On-site gym

Discounted rates at on-site cafe

25 days annual leave

Opportunities for training and development

Qualifications

• Deep knowledge of digital archiving technologies and standards.
• Strong communication skills for representing the organization.
• Experience in scaling digital services.

Responsibilities

• Architect solutions for digital archiving.
• Build communication lines across development teams.
• Mentor colleagues to foster a positive technical culture.

Skills

Digital archiving

Cloud architecture

Technical consultancy

Education

Degree in computer science or related discipline

Tools

AWS

Job description

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As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting.

In our strategic vision:Archives for Everyone,we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring.

That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.

Job Overview

Salary: £66,000 per annum, plus £5,000 market supplement (non-consolidated and non-pensionable)

Contract type: Permanent

Band: G / Grade 7

Closing date: Thursday 12th June 2025 at midnight

What will the future know of today? Archives, as the homes for our collective memories, are in the future business. Your work will ensure that today’s digital records are accessible to the next generation of citizens, researchers and historians.

Archives matter. Without records, we could not hold government to account, carry out pioneering research or learn from the past. Whether they are websites, the evidence heard by inquiries or the algorithms which support decision-making in official institutions, the survival of our digital public records is vital. In this role, you will create the technical platforms that will enable us to deliver our ambitious vision to build the disruptive digital archive of the future.

About The Role

Our digital strategy sets out the ambition to transform ourselves into an archive that is digital by instinct and design, embracing disruptive innovation to re-invent what it means to be an archive in the digital age. This role is about building our future, harnessing user research and technical innovation to create solid foundations for services that channel digital records into the archive, preserve them for the future and widen access.

About You

You will have the vision and technical expertise to design a robust and scalable architecture for digital archiving and build strategic alignment across our digital teams. You will help shape the future of our digital archiving services and communicate this vision to stakeholders across government and the international digital archiving community. We are looking for an excellent communicator who thrives working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams and is passionate about applying technology to solve problems.

This is an opportunity to work with committed and talented developers, data specialists, engineers, designers, archivists and researchers who share a passion for creating high quality, user-focused digital services for a range of audiences.

This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.

A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

Join us here in beautiful Kew, just 10 minutes’ walk from the Overground and Underground stations, and you can expect an excellent range of benefits. They include a pension, the option to work part time or job share and discounts with local businesses (e.g. beauty salons and bars). We also offer wellbeing resources (e.g. on-site therapists) and have an on-site gym, restaurant, shop and staff bar.

How To Apply

To submit your application please click the 'Apply' button on this page. You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words. In your statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section.

We understand that you might use artificial intelligence (AI) and other resources to assist with your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

SC-level Security Clearance or willingness to obtain SC clearance is mandatory for this role and requires that you have lived in the UK for the last 3 years. The length of required residency may depend on individual circumstances.

Job Description

Role and Responsibilities

Leadership, collaboration and technical consultancy

As a Lead Technical Architect, You Will

• Architect solutions (models, infrastructures, applications and standards) for digital archiving.
• Build clear lines of communication across multiple development teams to identify strategic requirements and technical dependencies.
• Build relationships and networks with practitioners and researchers across government, the digital archiving community, suppliers and The National Archives to identify good practice and share your own experiences (for example, through meet ups, blog posts, papers or technical talks at conferences).
• Identify specific technical issues, gaps or requirements, scope and carry out focused technical investigations to develop an understanding of the problem domain. You will research, pilot and validate different approaches to digital preservation, communicate technical options and recommend solutions.
• Contribute to the evolution of a robust and scalable technical architecture for digital archiving, provide technical leadership to both internal and external development teams, help design services, plan system integration, advise on platforms and technologies and ensure technical design and infrastructure meet the needs of users and the organisation.
• Work with product managers to build and maintain technical roadmaps, looking ahead for future opportunities or blockers and ensuring decisions by development teams align with our digital strategy.
• Enable a positive technical culture: mentor colleagues (developers, systems administrators, DevOps engineers, researchers), contribute to building digital skills within the team, set standards, apply agile methods and develop quality assurance practices to ensure delivery targets are met.
• Help develop secure, robust, accessible services and enable the reuse of patterns, tools, and components across the government and archival landscape by contributing code, testing technologies and producing rapid prototypes.
• Champion the principles of ‘Secure by Design’ across the organisation. Engage with the external cybersecurity community across government and beyond to understand and apply good practice.
  
  

Above all, you’ll want to make our digital archive better, which may sometimes involve challenging the status quo.

Working Conditions

• Normal office environment
• Display Screen Equipment user
• May come into contact with distressing material
  
  

Person Specification

Essential

• A deep knowledge of current and emerging technologies, standards and practices for digital archiving or digital records/information management. Qualified to degree level (or with equivalent experience) in computer science or a related discipline.
• A demonstrable passion for applying technology to create and evolve great, user-focused digital products and services.
• Strong oral and written communication skills with the presence and confidence to represent The National Archives nationally and internationally.
• Able to bridge the gap between software engineering, delivery management and service management to translate problems into optimised technical designs and solutions, aligning user needs with system requirements and organizational strategies.
• Strong ability to understand the wider implications of an issue, seeing beyond the immediate technical problem to understand historical context, relate to broader strategies and identify future impact, looking for deeper underlying problems and opportunities.
• Capable of responding to technology strategy to create, refine and challenge patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements to meet business needs.
• Able to understand and resolve technical disputes across varying levels of complexity and risk and explain clearly how decisions have been reached.
• Good experience of at least three of the following, with a demonstrable commitment and ability to develop expertise across all of these areas:
• scaling digital services
• designing and implementing cloud architectures (specifically AWS)
• designing and implementing secure services
• open source technologies
• application architecture
  

Desirable

• Current SC level security clearance.
• An understanding of technical governance and the UK government service standard with an ability to participate in the assessment and assurance of a service.
• Able to adapt quickly to new technologies, maintain your awareness of the technology landscape, prototype and evaluate new approaches, tools and products.
• Experience of applying Agile techniques and iterative approaches to make and guide effective decisions.
• Experience and enthusiasm for mentoring and developing technical staff.
  
  

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.

Benefits

Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 25 days per calendar year (rising to 26 days after 2 year’s service, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

Any move to The National Archives 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. Determine your eligibility athttps://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk; (opens in new window)

Selection process details

Reasonable adjustments

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.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact The National Archives via [e-mail] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional
  
  

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

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must completebasic personnel security standardchecks. (opens in new window)

Nationality Requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in new window)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in new window)

Working for the Civil Service

TheCivil Service Code (opens in new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission'srecruitment principles. (opens in new window)

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

This vacancy is part of theGreat Place to Work for Veteransinitiative. (opens in new window)

Contact point for applicants

• Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team
• Email: [e-mail]
  
  

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: [e-mail] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Engineering and Information Technology

• Industries

  IT Services and IT Consulting

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