Senior Technical Architect

Government Commercial Agency; Liverpool; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 69,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Generous pension scheme

Discretionary performance bonus

Remote working allowed

Flexi time scheme (B1-B6)

25 days annual leave

Job summary

Government Commercial Agency in the United Kingdom seeks a Senior Technical Architect to own and evolve the enterprise DDaT technical strategy. You will lead a unified team and oversee scalable, secure, and resilient solutions that impact public service delivery.

You will drive technical governance, mentor engineering groups, and translate national strategy into robust technical realities. The role balances strategic direction with hands-on architectural leadership and collaboration with

Qualifications

• Define and enforce architectural standards to manage technical debt.
• Lead secure by design for large-scale platforms and systems.
• Translate policy/strategy into concrete technical blueprints and articulate risks.
• Navigate complex trade-offs and define integration strategy for enterprise systems.
• Provide technical mentorship and coaching to engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the Technical Vision: Define the 'how' for all strategic change and ensure alignment with enterprise architecture.
• Lead Technical Governance: champion architectural standards, including Secure by Design, across major projects.
• Mentor and Guide Teams: provide technical leadership on complex design decisions.
• Manage Architectural Risk: identify and articulate technical debt early in the investment process.
• Ensure System Integrity: verify High-Level Designs are scalable, secure, and fit CCS ecosystem.
• Drive Strategic Alignment: translate strategic goals into robust technical blueprints.
• Review Supplier Capability: assess viability and integration methods for market solutions.
• Document Architecture: lead creation of clear architecture docs for senior leadership.

Skills

Enterprise architecture governance

Secure & scalable design

Strategic technical alignment

Complex integration & trade-offs

Leadership & mentorship

Job description

Job Description

Job Title

Senior Technical Architect

Band

Band 5

Salary

£59,877 - £69,457

(plus allowance up to £9,000 per annum depending on technical assessment)

Available Locations

Liverpool, Newport, Norwich or Birmingham.

Restricted Locations for contracted GCA staff

London, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester or York.

External applicants are not eligible for these sites. If you select one of these locations as an external applicant your application will unfortunately be withdrawn.

Contract Type

Permanent

Hours

Full Time

Closing Date

09/11/26

Interview Date(s)

1st - 4th Dec (subject to change)

Insight into GCA - Webinar

Watch our Webinar on the above link and gain valuable insight into GCA and our recruitment processes. Ready to step up from merely managing systems to designing the future of our entire technology ecosystem? We're seeking a Senior Technical Architect to drive our next generation of scalable, resilient, and innovative solutions. You will directly translate business strategy into technical reality, ensuring every architectural decision delivers maximum value for the nation. Do you possess the deep technical mastery to mentor a high-performing engineering team while navigating the complex trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality?

Job Summary

We seek a visionary Senior Technical Architect to own, evolve, and drive our enterprise-wide DDaT technical strategy and architecture. Operating within a unified, high-performing team (scaling up to 5) that blends Enterprise and Technical Architecture expertise, you will serve as a defining authority, responsible for architecting scalable, secure, and resilient solutions that directly impact public service delivery. In this role, you will lead technical governance, mentor engineering teams, and translate national strategy into robust technical reality. While we leverage supplemental support from preferred partners, our internal architects always maintain full control—establishing the critical guardrails and steering the strategic direction of our complex digital transformation journey.

Key Accountabilities

• Own the Technical Vision: Define the 'how' for all strategic change, ensuring solutions align with the long-term enterprise architecture.
• Lead Technical Governance: Champion and implement architectural standards, including Secure by Design, across high-impact projects.
• Mentor and Guide Teams: Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineering and architecture teams on complex design decisions.
• Manage Architectural Risk: Identify and clearly articulate technical debt and architectural risks early in the investment process.
• Ensure System Integrity: Verify that new High-Level Designs (HLDs) are scalable, secure, and fit within the broader CCS technology ecosystem.
• Drive Strategic Alignment: Collaborate with Business Architecture to translate strategic goals into practical, resilient technical blueprints.
• Review Supplier Capability: Assess the technical viability and integration methods of solutions proposed by market suppliers (e.g., for the Self-Serve programme).
• Document Architecture: Lead the creation of clear, concise architectural documentation suitable for senior leadership.

Essential Criteria (to Be Assessed At Application Stage)

• Enterprise Architecture Governance: Proven experience in defining and enforcing architectural standards (e.g., through an Architecture Review Board or similar forum) to manage technical debt and ensure system integrity.
• Secure & Scalable Design: Deep expertise in designing and leading the implementation of highly scalable, resilient, and secure solutions, including applying Secure by Design principles to large-scale platforms (e.g., IDAM or high-volume transactional services).
• Strategic Technical Alignment: Ability to translate abstract business or policy strategy into concrete, actionable technical blueprints, and effectively articulate risks to senior stakeholders (e.g., GCF architecture presentation at 'level zero').
• Complex Integration & Trade-offs: Demonstrated experience navigating and making complex technical trade-offs (e.g., speed vs. cost vs. quality) and defining integration strategy for major enterprise systems.
• Leadership Experience in providing technical mentorship and coaching to technical teams.

Experience

Success Profiles (to be assessed at interview)

Technical skills (presentation sent 24 hours in advance)

• Architecture communication
• Architect for the whole context

You Will Be Assessed Against The Following Behaviours

• Leadership
• Seeing the big picture
• Communicating & influencing

Success Profiles Framework

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.

We want to make our recruitment process accessible to everyone, so if there is any way that we can support you, please contact [e-mail]

Working flexibly, delivering outcomes

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 time, you may work from home or another suitable location that meets business needs.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection Process

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, which the Civil Service may use to fill future suitably similar vacancies across government for candidates who are considered appointable following interview. Should you be placed on a reserve list and want to be removed please contact [e-mail].

Please note that as part of this recruitment process, if you are unsuccessful at the interview stage but are close to the benchmark score you may be considered for and offered a role at a lower pay band within the same job family.

#GCAIND

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

Complaints Procedure

Our recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles details of which can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-principles/

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact [e-mail] in the first instance.

If you remain unsatisfied with the response you receive you can then contact the Civil Service Commission at [e-mail]

Internal candidates should apply using their Workday account. Please use the careers hub for your application.