Chief Enterprise Architect - DVSA - G6

Location

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

About the job

Job summary

Are you a strategic technology leader ready to shape impactful digital services?

Can you lead complex architecture with clarity while supporting and growing your team?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The DVSA is building a dedicated Enterprise Architecture (EA) team to act as the bridge between the business and digital and data delivery. The Chief Enterprise Architect leads a team of Enterprise, Technical and Solution Architects to deliver a strategically aligned architecture service, to deliver great customer outcomes and demonstrate business value. They will contribute to the development and delivery of new and evolving operating models, accountable for delivering enterprise-wide architecture capability to ensure the best and most cost-effective technology solutions are developed and deployed for DVSA’s services.

Operating effectively with multi-disciplinary teams of Digital & Data professionals, policy experts and service teams throughout the change lifecycle, the Chief Enterprise Architect will use business architecture to inform shape and define strategic business design. They will support design, building and delivering to meet user needs, understand business goals and be able to translate future needs into statements of capability.

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! 

Find out more about what it's like working at DVSA: Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Provide technical leadership in the development, operation, and continual improvement of complex, transformational digital services serving millions of users.

• Direct the development of enterprise-wide business design and information architecture, embedding the strategic application of technology into DVSA’s organisational management.

• Develop and communicate the organisation’s enterprise architecture strategy, ensuring robust governance, audit, control, and compliance across DVSA’s technology landscape.

• Lead the development of architectures for complex systems, ensuring quality, documentation, and alignment with both internal and external customer requirements.

• Oversee work delivered by external partners to ensure DVSA’s reference architecture is robust, scalable, open, secure, and delivers a high-quality user experience through effective system design and API integration.

• Champion and manage an evolutionary architecture approach, communicating architectural direction across the Department for Transport family and wider government.

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 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

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

• A strong track record in providing hands-on, pragmatic architectural leadership across a geographically dispersed, multi-service, and technologically diverse environment—working with both internal teams and external service providers.

• Considerable experience in developing and defining strategic target business architecture to support improved organisational outcomes, strategic decision-making, architectural governance, and optimal business design.

• An excellent applied knowledge of modern technical architectures, cloud technology, IT infrastructure, data management, and software development lifecycle management—ideally with experience in enterprise systems such as CRM, compliance, and automation platforms.

• Considerable experience of driving and delivering technological change at pace within a context of organisational transformation, operating across functional and organisational boundaries with shifting priorities.

• Demonstrable experience in developing technical capability within an organisation, including empowering, supporting, and developing staff to achieve high performance.

• Strong relationship-building, influencing, and negotiation skills to provide effective technical and professional leadership to the wider architecture and technology community.

Additional Information 

The role is equivalent to Level 4 Principal EA: Enterprise architect - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework

and utilises an enhanced Capability–Based Pay Framework which provides access to a Digital and Data allowance. 

The base pay is £64,108. In addition to this the role includes a Digital and Data allowance of up to £31,492. 

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. 

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.  

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

Visa Sponsorship  

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 must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application. 

Qualifications

You will need either:
A degree level qualification in a Digital Development and Technology discipline; OR
A formal architectural qualification in either BCS, The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), Zachman, Gartner’s Enterprise Architecture Method; OR
A formal cloud architecture qualification either Microsoft Azure Solution Architect Expert and/or AWS Solution Architect Associate; OR
A formal architecture modelling qualification in either Archimate, UML (Unified Modelling Language) or BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation); OR
Be able to demonstrate relevant experience at an equivalent level to the above.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership

Technical skills

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

• Principal Enterprise Architect - Making Architectural Decisions (Level: Expert)
• Principal Enterprise Architect - Problem Definition and Shaping (Level: Expert)
• Principal Enterprise Architect - Architecture Communication (Level: Expert)
• Principal Enterprise Architect - Commercial Perspective (Level: Practitioner)