DDAT - Lead Technical Architect, Cloud and Hosting

at  Ministry of Defence

JOB SUMMARY

Defence Digital ensures our Armed Forces remain among the most technologically advanced in the world. We do this by putting innovative and effective technology into the hands of over 200,000 users, from the boardroom to the front line.
We lead on cutting-edge data science, automation, and cyber security at scale. Our mission goes beyond the battlefield by leading humanitarian efforts and driving digital innovation that impacts lives across the globe.
Defence Digital forms part of Strategic Command which manages the MOD’s joint capabilities for the Army, RAF, and Royal Navy.
Working at Defence Digital
Passionate about using your skills to make a critical difference? Your next career move could be here!
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

JOB DESCRIPTION

A Lead Technical Architect plays a high-level role in ensuring technical strategies are developed, agreed, and followed, and works across the business with multiple teams on problems that require broad architectural thinking.
As a Lead Technical Architect responsible for the Cloud and Hosting domain, you will proactively lead and support activities while working alongside other technical specialists to develop and maintain technical standards, reference architectures, patterns and guidance used to ensure solutions and services fit into the broader strategy for Defence and wider government. As an expert in your domain, you will bring your skills and experience to help develop secure, resilient, and cutting edge cloud architectures that support our critical Defence activities.
You will be responsible for building a technical understanding of Defence’s diverse and complex cloud and hosting ecosystem, which includes cloud platforms and services, data centres, networking infrastructure, mobile, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing and other technologies used to support Defence outcomes. You will also work towards ensuring the benefits of NATO federated and cross-government alignment of systems and services is realised.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Architect for the whole context
• Architecture communication.
• Community collaboration.
• Making architectural decisions.
• Strategy design.
• Technical design throughout the life cycle

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,690, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,292 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• 25 days annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service
• Ability to roll over up to 10 days annual leave per year
• In addition to 8 public holidays per year you will also receive leave for HM The King’s birthday
• Minimum of 15 Days Special Leave in a rolling 12-month period to for volunteer military or emergency service reserve commitments
• Special Paid Leave for volunteering up to 6 days a year
• Enhanced parental and adoption leave
• Employee Assistance Programme to support your wellbeing
• Most sites have good travel links with free car parking; many also have other facilities such as a Sports & Social Club and Gyms
• A highly competitive pension scheme.

Discover my benefits for more information
This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £15,300 per annum. Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview and reviewed annually in line with departmental policy.

LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT

In Defence Digital we have a strong learning and development ethos, supporting you to fulfil your potential by providing –

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Professional and Personal Development of skills
• Access to thousands of training courses through Civil Service Learning, some free or paid by MOD
• Ability to obtain industry recognised qualifications supported by MOD

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.
The post does not offer relocation expenses.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.
MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.
Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

TYPE OF ROLE

Architecture and Data
Digital
Information Technology

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Iteratively create optimal technical reference architecture and patterns, aligning key factors such as user need, system requirements, security, and organisational objectives, to support Defence’s Digital Backbone and Common Technology Architecture (CTA).
• Contribute to the overall Technical Architecture (TA) vision, strategy and roadmap for cloud and hosting, including ‘as-is’ and ‘to-be’ and transitional states, by developing architectural principles, policies, patterns, and standards.
• Present to senior management and wider stakeholders architectural and technical recommendations which improve or enhance Defence’s cloud and hosting estate, and which support strategic goals.
• Contribute to the development of architectural practice, ensuring coherent and consistent strategies are developed across business, cyber, cloud, data, networking, and digital workplace architecture.
• Collaborate and advise partners across Defence, Government, NATO Allies, and Industry to ensure business, technology and data decisions are aligned with current Defence strategy.
• Develop, lead, and participate in architecture communities as required, including the Architecture Reference Authority (ARA) for Cloud and Hosting and various NATO working groups. National and International travel will occasionally be required to support these engagements.
• Carry out horizon scanning across industry, identifying emerging trends and their potential impact and opportunity, updating technical strategies and road-maps, as appropriate.
• Manage, coach and mentor more junior Technical Architects within the Cloud and Hosting team.
  For more information on the Technical Architects profession please see the Government Digital and Data Framework;
  Lead Technical Architect