Lead Technical Specialist Architect – Applications Department for Work & Pensions

Reference

15457

Location

Blackpool or Manchester

Salary

Up to £80,000

Work hours

37

Employment type

Permanent

Job benefits

A brilliant Civil Service pension with employer contributions circa 20%, generous annual leave, flexible working, great work life balance and lots more.

Closing date

15 October 2019

Job description

Do you want to be part of something really big? If you’re creative and curious to learn, want to be empowered to make decisions and challenge the norm, and want to bring BIG ideas to a MASSIVE digital challenge then you’ll love it here. And we’d love to hear from you.

DWP are looking for an experienced, ambitious Technical Architect with domain/application architecture and leadership experience to work with us on in a once-in-a-generation digital transformation. Our people work on projects that are revolutionising products and services that are used by millions of people every day.

We know that better digital services in government will mean better public services. Using fresh ideas and leading edge technologies – and putting the user at the centre of everything we do – we create innovative digital solutions that make a difference to the lives of our 22 million users.

DWP has a very large number of projects and applications that need to be built and maintained. It’s an architecture challenge unlike anything else out there in terms of scope, scale and impact.

As a Lead Applications Domain Architect here in DWP you will be a recognised expert and a role model across our DWP Architecture community. You will help to lead the community and drive quality in architecture products and services, using industry best practices.

About your role

Our Lead Technical Domain Architects are responsible for supporting our teams, blending leadership, architecture and development skills and representing the Architecture community at a senior level. You’ll bring a breadth of understanding across a range of technical domains and a depth of knowledge and experience in one of more areas. They are responsible for blending a variety of different competency areas – strong developmental and architectural skills are as vital as leadership or communication skills.

For this role we are looking for a candidate with solid infrastructure engineer experience, and someone who has considerable experience as an architect. Good experience would include a previous role as a solutions architect, or from a background software engineering before a move into architecture

You have knowledge and experience in the application of technology and driving applications strategy for specific technology services. You’ll be our expert for decisions on application frameworks, user needs, generation of ideas, methods, tools; and leading or guiding others in best practice use.

You will collaborate with Engineering teams to support the design, development, delivery and maintenance of IT products and services usually for a specific project or strand of a programme. You’ll also take on project design assurance and governance of solutions, and be involved in application roadmapping to track how applications develop or are used over time.

What skills, knowledge and experience are we looking for?

• Strategic direction and transformation roadmap planning.
• Architecture design and modelling techniques, tools and standards.
• Software architecture, frameworks, technologies, tools and best practice e.g. Java, JavaScript-based software, PHP, Python.
• Agile / DevOps delivery methodologies and best practice.
• Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) delivery methodologies, tools and best practice.
• Microservice and API-led architecture and integration design tools, techniques and best practice.
• Public Cloud technologies, cloud hosting and networking design patterns, tools and best practice, e.g. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform.
• Shaping and supporting technology initiatives, projects, programmes and portfolios.
• HM Government Digital Service (GDS) Technology Code of Practice.
• Governance activities to enable effective management and decision-making.

Where You’ll Work

You’ll join us in our easy-to-reach digital hub in Blackpool or Manchester,

Our Blackpool hub is based on the outskirts of the city and is a 15 minute drive from the station. There are also local buses that stop nearby. Its facilities include a gym, TechBar, canteen, coffee shop, deli bar, vending machines, ATM banking, cycle shelter and showers.

Our Manchester hub is based in the city centre and is easily accessible by tram, bus or rail. Its facilities include a TechBar, café, cycle shelter, showers, Wudu washing facilities, GDS Academy, user experience lab and UX command centre.

We’re the UK’s biggest government department with over 80,000 diverse and brilliant people on our team. We are an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications regardless of age, gender, race or sexuality.

Our Offer

In return for your skills we offer competitive salary of up to £80,000 a brilliant civil service pension, and a generous leave package. We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

CLICK APPLY for more information and to start your application. If you want to talk about this opportunity before you apply contact me via dean.simon@dwp.gov.uk

Apply now