Lead Technical Architect

As a Lead Technical Architect in DWP Payments, you'll operate at one of the highest levels of architectural leadership within DWP Digital.

Payments is one of the most critical service areas in government, responsible for ensuring accurate, reliable and timely payments to millions of people. We are one of the biggest payers in the UK, across benefits and pensions and we're modernising our payments estate.

We are moving away from legacy systems and designing future‑proofed, event‑driven, API‑led architectures that are resilient, scalable and secure.

You'll guide the technical strategy for major transformation initiatives, shaping how our next‑generation payments platform will work. You'll provide expert architectural leadership across cloud, on‑premise and hybrid environments, and work with multidisciplinary teams to design and govern high‑risk, high‑impact solutions. You'll collaborate closely with delivery teams and senior stakeholders, offering clear options and recommendations that influence technology decisions at scale.

This is an exciting time to join us. The scale is huge, the challenge is real, and the opportunities for impact are significant. You'll help transform the backbone of one of the UK's largest public services.

What skills, knowledge and experience will you need? 

• You know how to design microservice and API‑led architectures, and you understand the tools, techniques and best practices behind them.
• You have hands-on experience with event-based architectures, including pub/sub models, data streaming and modern integration patterns.
• You can design architectures that span cloud, on‑prem and hybrid environments, and understand networking, security, middleware, databases and integration.
• You use architecture principles, standards and patterns to guide design, making sure solutions align with strategy.
• You've shaped or supported delivery across agile, waterfall and hybrid environments, from initial concept all the way to go‑live.
• You can take complex business needs and turn them into clear, traceable technical solutions that stakeholders can understand.
• You use architecture modelling techniques and tools to represent designs in a way that supports decision‑making.

You and your role

As a Lead Technical Architect, you'll have a strategic role shaping how our Payments team designs, builds and operates the platforms that deliver billions in payments safely and reliably.

We're taking on a major modernisation - moving from complex legacy systems to modern cloud‑based, event-driven architecture. You'll help lead that change, ensuring our new platforms are robust, secure, flexible and future‑ready.

You'll work across multiple teams and programmes, guiding architectural direction, setting standards and ensuring solutions meet both technical and business needs. You'll inspire, mentor and support the architecture community, helping others grow and ensuring consistent and high‑quality design across the organisation.

Leadership in this role means influence: setting strategy, supporting communities, guiding decisions and creating clarity in complex environments.

You'll solve some of the biggest and most important challenges in government technology: modernising legacy payment systems, improving resilience, handling huge volumes of data, and ensuring that millions of people get the right payment at the right time. Your impact will be felt in the reliability and security of services that people depend on every day.

This is a role for someone who thrives on complexity, embraces large-scale transformation and wants to leave a lasting legacy in public service.

Details. Wages. Perks.

Hybrid Working: We work a hybrid model - you'll spend some time working at home and some time collaborating face to face in a hub.

Pay: We offer competitive pay of up to We offer pay up to £99,836. That's £75,026 salary plus a Government Digital and Data Allowance of up to £24,810 subject to our assessment of your capability at interview

Pension: You'll get a brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions worth 28.97%.

Holidays: A generous leave package starting at 26 days rising to 31 days over time.

Click APPLY for more information and to start your application.