Principal Digital Specialist - Applications Architect

Scottish Water; Scotland; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 74,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

38 days holiday incl. holidays

Flexible working

Company pension

Life assurance

Bonus scheme

SW Splash rewards

Job summary

Scottish Water is modernising its application landscape under the Digital Strategy, Architecture & Platforms function. The Applications Architect will lead technical direction across the national organisation, mentoring teams and shaping cloud-native patterns, APIs and security-by-design practices.

You will collaborate with Enterprise Architecture, Cloud Architecture and Cyber Security to ensure alignment with strategic roadmaps and operational goals.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in .NET development and solution design.
• Understanding of modern application architecture including APIs and cloud-native development.
• Mentor developers and lead engineering practice across CI/CD, testing and security.

Responsibilities

• Reinvent and modernise the Line of Business and .NET application estate.
• Define application standards, patterns and principles for long-term maintainability.
• Provide architectural oversight for major application refresh projects.
• Collaborate with Cloud, Enterprise and Cyber Security teams to align with roadmaps.

Skills

NET development

Architecture leadership

CI/CD

Security by design

Tools

Azure

Power Platform

Job description

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland. Principal Digital Specialist - Applications Architect Shape the Future of Scottish Water’s Application Landscape

Scottish Water is modernising how we design, build and run the applications that support our people, customers and operations across the country, and we are looking for a talented and forward-thinking Applications Architect to lead the reinvention of our Line of Business and custom application estate. This role sits within the Digital Strategy, Architecture & Platforms function and reports directly to the Digital Architecture Manager.

About the role

As Applications Architect, you will drive the transformation of our diverse application landscape, spanning major Line of Business systems, custom .NET services and Power Platform solutions. You will work closely with Cloud Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Cyber Security, Platforms and business stakeholders to ensure alignment with strategic roadmaps and Scottish Water’s digital ambitions. This opportunity is ideal for an experienced .NET engineer or tech lead who is ready to step into architecture and influence technology direction across a national organisation.

What you’ll be doing

In this role, you will reinvent our Line of Business and .NET application estate using modern engineering and architectural approaches while defining application standards, patterns and principles that support consistency, quality and long-term maintainability. You will collaborate closely with Digital Innovation teams to mentor, coach and upskill developers into confident .NET engineers and promote best practice across CI/CD, code quality, testing, secure development and cloud-ready design. Alongside this, you will work with the Enterprise Architecture team to shape application strategy, lifecycle plans and future roadmaps, ensuring solutions align with cloud architecture principles and contribute to wider digital transformation goals. You will also provide architectural oversight for the refresh of major Line of Business applications, working with Cloud Architects to ensure solutions meet standards for security, scalability, resilience and operational support.

A key element of the role is championing security by design and modern cloud patterns, including APIs, microservices, event-driven design and the use of serverless technologies where appropriate. Partnering with business teams, you will design modern tools and applications that simplify work, improve experiences and deliver real‑world value for Scottish Water staff.

What you’ll bring

To be successful, you will bring strong experience in .NET development, ideally with exposure to solution design, and a solid understanding of modern application architecture covering APIs, integration patterns, cloud-native development, DevOps, code quality and secure engineering. You will have a passion for mentoring developers and building high-performing engineering capability, along with the ability to influence technical direction, build strong relationships and communicate clearly with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders. Curiosity, creativity and a continuous improvement mindset will also be important. Experience with Azure, Power Platform, Line of Business system modernisation or working in a regulated environment would be advantageous but is not essential. You will join a collaborative and future‑focused digital organisation, with the opportunity to make a tangible impact on how Scottish Water builds and supports applications across the business. You will help shape modern engineering culture, uplift capability and deliver tools that support thousands of colleagues across Scotland.

Looking out for you

• full-time role (35 hours per week)
• 38 days of holiday every year (including public holidays). And you can even buy five more if you need a little extra time.
• you can also take time off to volunteer in your community.
• when it comes to major life events we have family-friendly policies around adoption, maternity, and parental leave.
• and for the everyday? We embrace flexible working.
• for your future, there’s our pension (the 'know-what-you'll-get-when-you-retire' kind), and life assurance.
• as for some nice extras? You will participate in a company bonus scheme.
• not to mention access to SW Splash – handy rewards that can save you money on holidays, bills, and shopping.

The not-so-small print

This role will be a Grade 8. If you’re new to Scottish Water, you’ll join us on a starting salary of £54,776. Performance-driven pay progression would then allow you to move through the range to a maximum of £74,386.

midnight on 15th October 2026.

We operate Balanced Hybrid working at Scottish Water and we encourage people to work half their time in a Scottish Water location. Job offers at Scottish Water are conditional, and will be confirmed on completion of our pre-employment screening, e.g. referencing, criminal record checks, license checks, etc. Screening is conducted on our behalf by a third party, and must be completed before your start date. Don’t worry - we’ll only start these checks once you’ve accepted an offer.

A few final things worth knowing

Research shows that some people avoid applying for jobs unless they can meet every single criteria. If you’re interested in this job, but don’t tick all the boxes, apply anyway! We hardly ever hire people who can do every part of a job from Day One. Everyone has a learning curve. So don’t rule yourself out! Let us know if there are any changes we can make to our recruitment process to help you perform at your best.

Lots of our people have disabilities or neurodiverse conditions (including some of our recruiters!). We're also aware that some people might be experiencing temporary challenges because of life events, like menopause. We’re very used to making adjustments, so please don’t be afraid to ask.

If you join us, your home address will need to be in Scotland. If you don’t already live here, you'll need to commit to moving here within your first three months. Candidates should be aware that a valid UK driving licence is required for driving on Scottish Water business and claiming business mileage expenses. Please note, Scottish Water takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, colleagues and customers very seriously and as such you may be subject to Drug & Alcohol testing in line with our policy.

Finally (finally!), candidates who haven’t submitted an application in the last 12 months will have their records removed from our recruitment database. You won’t need to do anything. Your data will be automatically deleted. We’re here to help.

Ask us anything at [e-mail]

Together we are Trusted to Serve Scotland.

Working at Scottish Water you'll be making a real difference to the lives of the people and communities in Scotland who rely on the vital water and waste water services we provide. We offer a broad range of career opportunities and our approach to inclusion and diversity means we can make a real difference together. Our people are essential to providing our customers with the very best service in communities around Scotland. We're passionate about attracting, developing and retaining the best people who can make a positive difference to our business.

If you would like to join our team at Scottish Water you can find out more about our latest vacancies here. Please note that candidates who have not submitted an application in the last 12 months will be automatically removed from our system records For further information on how Scottish Water manages your data, please see the Privacy Notice here: Data Protection - Recruitment Privacy Notice.