Public Sector Technical Architect — SC Cleared

Olive Jar Digital; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

High-profile government programmes

Career progression from Architect to H

Professional development

Job summary

Olive Jar Digital is seeking a Technical Architect to shape and deliver technical solutions across UK Central Government programmes. You will work with delivery teams and stakeholders to define strategy, provide architectural leadership and ensure secure, scalable, and government-compliant services.

This role requires translating business needs into technical direction, operating at strategic and delivery levels, and mentoring engineers.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Technical Architect within UK Central Government or large public sector organisations.
• Strong understanding of GDS Service Standards, Government Technology Code of Practice (TCoP) and DDaT frameworks.
• Experience designing cloud-based solutions across AWS, Azure or GCP including hybrid and multi-cloud architectures.
• Solid understanding of API-first design, microservices and modern integration patterns.
• Experience conducting technical discovery, AS-IS/TO-BE analysis and defining target architectures.
• Ability to produce high-quality architecture documentation including solution designs, C4 models and interface control documents.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills.
• SC Clearance held or willingness to undergo clearance prior to commencement.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the technical architecture for digital services across Central Government programmes
• Produce and maintain architecture artefacts including solution designs, technical blueprints, interface specifications and architecture decision records (ADRs)
• Lead technical design and assurance activities, including participation in Design Authority and Technical Design Authority (TDA) forums
• Translate business and user needs into scalable, secure and standards-compliant technical solutions
• Conduct AS-IS assessments of legacy systems and define TO-BE target architectures and transition roadmaps
• Champion GDS Service Standards, Government Technology Code of Practice (TCoP) and secure-by-design principles throughout delivery
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to engineers, developers and junior architects within the team
• Engage with senior client stakeholders and cross-functional teams to align technical direction with business objectives
• Identify and manage technical risks, dependencies and constraints across programme workstreams
• Support pre-sales and bid activity including technical input to SOWs, proposals and tender responses

Skills

GDS Service Standards

TCoP

DDaT frameworks

Cloud Architecture

Multi-Cloud

API-first design

Microservices

AS-IS/TO-BE

Architecture docs

Stakeholder Engagement

SC Clearance

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

ArchiMate

TOGAF

C4 Model

REST APIs

Confluence

Jira

Miro

Azure DevOps

Job description

Olive Jar Digital is seeking a Technical Architect to shape and deliver technical solutions across UK Central Government programmes. You will work with delivery teams and stakeholders to define strategy, provide architectural leadership and ensure secure, scalable, and government-compliant services.

This role requires translating business needs into technical direction, operating at strategic and delivery levels, and mentoring engineers.