Principal Technical Architect -Department for Education-G6
Government Digital & Data -
Principal Technical Architect
Department for Education
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 16th June 2024
Details
Reference number
349404
Salary
£65,355
G6 London minimum - £68,744. A market supplement allowance may also be available for exceptional candidates, which would be non-pensionable.
Job grade
Grade 6
Contract type
Permanent
Business area
DFE - Schools Group - Standards and Testing Agency (STA)
Type of role
Architecture and Data
Digital
Information Technology
Working pattern
Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time
Number of jobs available
1
Contents
Location
Cambridge, East of England, CB2 8DR : Coventry, West Midlands (England), CV1 2WT : Manchester, North West England, M1 2WD : Sheffield, Yorkshire and the Humber, S1 2FJ : City of Westminster, London (region), SW1P 3BT
About the job
Job summary
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy
The Post: The post holder will be responsible for creating STA’s strategy for building, integrating and supporting its technology estate. They will also provide leadership to make sure it is followed, by managing a small team of developers in STA and a larger team of consultants.
This unit is part of the Assessment Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Division, and the post holder will report to the Deputy Director of Assessment Digital Data and Technology (DDaT).
The Division: The Assessment Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Division is accountable for the technology and data management used to produce and deliver assessments that meet the purposes set out by Ministers.
It is also responsible for a programme of transformation work that will allow greater use of automation, data and technology in the way that STA carries out its functions. This exciting programme will transform how technology is used to enable high-quality assessment and learning. It has potential to reduce teacher workloads and give them more data to inform their practice. We are passionate about making technology work in meaningful ways to support pedagogy, and we are looking for someone who shares this passion.
The Agency: The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is a fast paced, challenging and exciting place to work.
Our work supports a core strand of the Department of Education’s strategy, delivering national curriculum assessments that support a high performing, world class, education system.
STA offers a rare opportunity to bring together the work from policy inception, right through to delivery and implementation in schools.
Assessment is one of the Department’s highest-profile areas, with far-reaching changes taking place in recent years and with more to come. Ministers see assessment as one of their biggest priorities and work is often fast paced, both to respond to their requests and to support primary and secondary schools to embed reforms.
Job description
- Defining and championing the technical strategy for STA’s Digital Assessment services - keeping up to date with the latest technologies and trends in the assessment industry, whilst delivering working software early and often.
- Leading technical specialists in multiple projects and services across STA’s portfolio, on problems that require broad architectural thinking.
- Defining how we build and operate user-centred, open-source web systems in an agile environment, to serve a variety of stakeholder and government needs - setting the standards across STA and DfE.
- Being responsible for the technical design and development of STA’s services, including how they interact with their surroundings, and how they evolve over time.
- Challenging entrenched practices and influencing decision-makers, looking for deeper underlying problems to solve, and larger opportunities for digital transformation.
- Actively engaging across Government, supporting and influencing cross-Government change in digital assessment.
Key Responsibilities:
- Communicating STA’s technology needs and expectations clearly to suppliers, leading on quality assurance of their deliverables (architectural designs and software).
- Communicating the vision for digital assessment services to technical communities, working in multi-disciplinary teams that bring policy and delivery together.
- Play an active role in shaping governance and assurance across STA and DfE Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT), establishing controls and measures to ensure architectures comply with related frameworks and standards.
- Leading the Technical Architecture community in DfE, setting the standards for tools and techniques, and be an active member of related communities of practice and events, such as product, user research, design, platforms, security, etc.
- Helping to build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the Technical Architecture community, both in and outside DfE, growing awareness, inclusivity and balance.
- Working with DfE’s Head of Profession, colleagues and peers on profession-based activities (and cross-profession), such as defining standards and guidance around best practice.
- Supporting STA's procurement activities, by leading on specification and evaluation of technical aspects of tenders.
The postholder will also be part of the Assessment DDaT division’s management team and STA’s senior leadership team. This means they will work with colleagues in these teams on strategic areas, this includes:
- Developing the division and the agency’s overall strategy
- Managing strategic risks and implementing actions to mitigate them;
- Advising colleagues, Ministers and other policy-makers on technology capabilties; and
- Planning how to implement policy decisions arising from Ministerial priorities.
Person specification
It is required that you can demonstrate the following essential criteria at application and first stage interview:
- Experience working with cloud-first architectures on MS Azure (or similar) and how to build applications that take advantage of the opportunities they offer.
- Experience of software development in either Ruby, .Net (or similar) and open-source principles and technologies.
- Experience of introducing practices such as Test-Driven Development (TDD), continuous integration, automated deployment pipelines, version control with Git and DevOps.
- Experience leading technical teams and delivering user-centred services in an agile environment.
In addition, the following essential criteria will need to be demonstrated at the second stage interview:
- Practical knowledge at many levels of the web stack, from front-end code, down to infrastructure and networking.
- Experience of RESTful API design and loosely coupled microservices architectures.
- Experience of owning, shaping and influencing technical strategies, standards, patterns and policies.
- An ability to build consensus between diverse and often conflicting interests, working with technical and non-technical stakeholders to achieve agreement on plans and technology choices.
- Experience working with technology used to administer assessments at large scale; or the ability and willingness to understand applications used for educational assessment (e.g., those used by awarding organisations or exam boards).
Benefits
Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.
As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK, with an average employer contribution of 27%.
You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King's Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.
We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.
Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.
As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.
