Head of Technical Architecture - DVSA - G7

£54,857 additional allowance up to £25,543
Published on

Full-time (Permanent) £54,857 additional allowance up to £25,543
Published on 29 July 2025 Deadline 6 August 2025

Location

Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Oldham, Swansea

About the job

Job summary

The Head of Technical Architecture will work within a team of Lead Enterprise Architects and Lead Solution Architects; you will report directly into the Chief Architect and play a vital role within the Architecture Management Office.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

• Lead a team who architect cloud based digital services and who are responsible for the creation and maintenance of solution architectures that are coherent, solve complex and high-risk challenges.
• Responsible for the team that creates and maintains as-is, transition and to-be Solutions Architectures which meet the needs of DVSA, whilst delivering value for money for their designated business capabilities.
• Be responsible for the solution architect team that lead technical designs of systems and services, and who articulate key design decisions effectively.
• Provide mentoring within teams and provide leadership to architects within DVSA architecture community.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

• Qualified to degree level in a digital or technology discipline.
• Hold formal architectural qualification in either BCS, TOGAF, Zachman or demonstrable experience at a similar level.
• Architecture modelling qualification in either UML, Archimate, BPMN or demonstrable experience at a similar level.

Required experience:

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Understanding of complex technological landscapes.
• Experience liaising with stakeholders and translating business requirements into relevant solution design artefacts.
• A track record in contributing to strategy and executing transformation initiatives, with hands-on involvement in business change efforts leveraging AWS and/or Microsoft Azure cloud ecosystems.
• Proficient in integrating various products and cloud services within these dynamic environments.
• Dynamic leadership, motivational prowess, and strong interpersonal skills that enables seamless collaboration with diverse stakeholders. Additionally, adept at communicating, presenting, and negotiating effectively, driving impactful change among senior decision-makers.

The base pay is £54,857. In addition to this the role includes a Digital and Data allowance of up to £25,543.

The value of allowance awarded will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated through the selection process.

Here are more details on the pay framework.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week. Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 30 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements. For more information on how this works for this role, please contact the Vacancy Holder (see below for contact details).

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your principal workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, visiting stakeholders and colleagues, or carrying out detached duty in another DfT or agency workplace. The chosen principal workplace will be the designated place of work and any remote or home working arrangement does not constitute a change to the designated place of work or contractual terms and conditions. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation. Applicants can request further information on how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see below for contact details).

Occasional travel to other offices will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

If you have questions regarding how hybrid working is practiced within the business area, or any reasonable adjustments or flexible working arrangements you may currently have or need in place if successful in your application, please contact the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates should ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Qualifications

• Qualified to degree level in a digital or technology discipline.
• Hold formal architectural qualification in either BCS, TOGAF, Zachman or demonstrable experience at a similar level.
• Architecture modelling qualification in either UML, Archimate, BPMN or demonstrable experience at a similar level.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Making architectural decisions – Level practitioner
• Technical design throughout the life cycle – Level expert