Within the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Senior technical architect provides technical leadership and architectural design for digital services. As a GDS Technical Architect in Defence Business Services (DBS) you will work collaboratively in small, multi-disciplinary agile scrum teams to ensure the appropriate infrastructure is specified to enable the smooth running of the services.
Responsibilities
Solve architectural problems and advise on any changes required to the MOD D2S platform.
Create and maintain detailed solution documents to support a wide range of applications, infrastructure, data, security, integration and operations.
Fulfil the role of lead technical architect at GDS assessments, demonstrating how services have met the GDS Service Standard to senior stakeholders and specialists from across Government.
Work with stakeholders from across the business to solve complex technical problems across both internal and external platforms and ensure services have the correct level of technical assurance in line with the Government Technology Strategy, GDS Design Manual and MOD by Design standards.
Ensure that presented use cases are suitable for implementation;
Responsible for the identification and implementation of upgrade and Patching requirements for the Applications.
Oversee investigation and analysis of incidents and process exceptions with a view to resolving and improving the service; Ensure the relevant service monitoring is in place;
Advise on test strategy including Pen Testing, Performance Testing, Accessibility Audits; Identify and complete migration activities between environments to enable controlled go live;
At this level, you will:
Undertake structured analysis of technical issues, translating this analysis into technical designs that describe a solution
Be consulted about design and provide design patterns
Identify deeper issues that need fixing Look for opportunities to collaborate and reuse components, communicating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Skills needed for this role Bridging the gap between the technical and non-technical. You can speak on behalf of technical teams and facilitate relationships with indirect stakeholders. (Relevant skill level: working)
Governance. You understand how governance works and what governance is required. You can take responsibility for the assurance of parts of a service and know what risks need to be managed. (Relevant skill level: working)
Making and guiding decisions. You can make decisions characterised by managed levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You can resolve technical disputes between peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions. (Relevant skill level: working)
Strategy. You can apply strategy, using patterns, standards, policies, road maps and vision statements. You can challenge them and provide guidance. (Relevant skill level: working)
Turning business problems into technical design. You can design systems characterised by managed levels of risk, manageable business, and technical complexity and meaningful impact. You can work with well understood technology and identify appropriate patterns. (Relevant skill level: working)
Understanding the whole context. You can understand trends and practices outside your team and how these will impact your work. You can see how your work fits into the broader strategy and historical context. You can consider the patterns and interactions on a larger scale. (Relevant skill level: working)