Strategic Technical Architect for Government Programs (SC)

Olive Jar Digital Ltd; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working 3 days per week 2 daysW

Career progression

Job summary

Olive Jar Digital is seeking a Technical Architect to shape and deliver secure, scalable digital services for UK Central Government programmes. You will define technical strategy and lead architecture across delivery teams, client stakeholders and enterprise architects.

This role requires translating business needs into clear technical direction, ensuring alignment to GDS standards, ADRs and modern patterns such as API-first, microservices and multi-cloud.

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 AWS, Azure or GCP including hybrid and multi-cloud architectures.
• Solid understanding of API-first design, microservices architecture and modern integration patterns.
• Ability to produce high-quality architecture documentation including solution designs, C4 models and interface control documents.
• 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 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.
• 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.

Skills

Technical architecture leadership

Cloud architecture

API-first design

Documentation & ADRs

Security & compliance

Tools

Confluence

Jira

Miro

Azure DevOps

Lucidchart

Job description

Olive Jar Digital is seeking a Technical Architect to shape and deliver secure, scalable digital services for UK Central Government programmes. You will define technical strategy and lead architecture across delivery teams, client stakeholders and enterprise architects.

This role requires translating business needs into clear technical direction, ensuring alignment to GDS standards, ADRs and modern patterns such as API-first, microservices and multi-cloud.