Senior Technical Architect - Government Digital Service - G7

Manchester Digital; Manchester; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) seeks a Senior Technical Architect to own GOV.UK data infrastructure, turning data into actionable intelligence. You’ll define architectural strategy and design robust, scalable platforms, with autonomy and wide remit across government data services.

You’ll bridge your team with the wider GOV.UK tech community, enforce standards, govern data collection and processing, and mentor engineers to raise technical excellence across projects serving millions of users.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing and assuring large-scale, resilient architectures.
• Strong data engineering skills including modelling and orchestration.
• Translate complex business requirements into secure, scalable technical solutions.
• Expert knowledge of GCP, BigQuery, and AWS.
• Hands-on with GTM and GA to support data-driven decisions.
• Mentor engineers and architects to raise technical excellence.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical and architecture leadership and decision making for data platforms.
• Plan and prioritise the teams work with product and delivery managers.
• Ensure alignment across workstreams and adherence to standards.
• Design end-to-end data infrastructure to meet expanding data user needs across GOV.UK.

Skills

Data architecture

Data engineering principles

GCP BigQuery

AWS familiarity

Stakeholder communication

Mentoring engineers

Tools

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

BigQuery

AWS

Google Tag Manager

Google Analytics

Job description

Location

Bristol, Manchester

About The Job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services
• harnessing the power of AI for the public good
• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
• elevating leadership and investing in talent
• funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Job Description

As a Senior Technical Architect in the Insights and Analytics team, you will take ownership of the infrastructure that transforms GOV.UK data into actionable intelligence. You will have significant autonomy to define the architectural strategy, designing robust, scalable data platforms that enable the team to unlock insights from the UK’s most critical online services.

Beyond the technical build, you will champion the effective use of GOV.UK data by serving as a key bridge between your team and the wider GDS technical community. You will be responsible for designing and implementing policies and processes that ensure data infrastructure is both resilient and aligned with government standards, fostering a culture of technical excellence in how we collect, process, and derive value from the information our users trust us with every day.

As a Senior Technical Architect You’ll

• be responsible for technical and architecture leadership and decision making, assuring robust, secure, and scalable technical architectures for complex data-intensive systems
• work with product and delivery managers to plan and prioritise the teams work
• ensure the activities and work of the team technically align across workstreams and meet the required standards
• be responsible for designing an end to end data infrastructure that meets the expanding needs of data users across GOV.UK

Person specification

We’re Interested In People Who

• have extensive experience designing and assuring large-scale, resilient technical architectures for complex data platforms
• bring a deep understanding of modern data engineering principles, including pipeline orchestration, data modelling, and infrastructure as code
• are confident translating complex business and user requirements into secure, scalable, and performant technical solutions
• possess expert-level knowledge of Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically in leveraging BigQuery for data warehousing and analytics, alongside a solid working familiarity with AWS
• demonstrate strong experience with web data collection methodologies, including hands‑on proficiency with Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics (GA) to support data-driven decision-making
• communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders to build consensus and drive technical direction
• are passionate about mentoring engineers and architects, contributing to a supportive culture of continuous improvement and technical excellence