Lead Technical Architect (Command and Control) - Maritime and Coastguard Agency - G7

Location

Fareham, Southampton

About the job

Job summary

Are you ready to lead the architecture of a mission‑critical Command and Control platform (C2P) project that directly supports HM Coastguard’s lifesaving work?

Can you turn complex business problems into innovative, high‑impact technical designs that shape the MCA’s digital future?

Do you want to influence senior stakeholders, set architectural standards, and drive technology strategy across a national organisation?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is seeking a Lead Technical Architect to join the Digital and Technology Function which enables the organisation to deliver world class services. It is a centre of excellence that is responsible for the technology strategy, delivering a broad portfolio of change to transform the Agency’s legacy technologies, and deliver innovative new solutions designed around our customers’ needs. 

The Digital and AI team is responsible for the definition of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency digital strategy, the development of the solutions architectures required to realise this strategy and ensuring that architecture and technology principles are met and maintained.

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 and 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: Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

As the Lead Technical Architect you will be instrumental in the definition of technology roadmaps that are aligned to business and IT strategy that support business change as well as the definition of architecture solutions to resolve specific business and technology issues. You will be required to provide technical leadership to design and development partners, making the necessary design decisions when required to ensure the MCA digital strategy is realised, that business and IT requirements are met, and MCA architecture principles are adhered to.

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

1. Defining current and future solution requirements for coastguard command, control and coordination;
2. Working closely with senior stakeholders across the enterprise to understand goals, constraints and values, and define opportunities for improvement;
3. Horizon scanning for influences or risks to identify impacts and dependencies on the solution, ensuring alignment to broader government strategies and frameworks;
4. Investigating and recommending appropriate use of emerging technologies to support the solutions;
5. Defining solution principles, patterns, standards and best practices;
6. Ensuring solution design is aligned to current business processes or their definition, proposing necessary changes to realise the solution;
7. Ensuring solution design is interoperable with applications and infrastructure, proposing the necessary changes required;
8. Accountability for the assurance of partners’ solution designs through the Architecture Review Board;
9. Communicating the technology roadmap for Command and Control with both technical and non-technical stakeholders;
10. Ensuring the knowledge of the MCA architecture is maintained in the architecture repository as well as compliant with the architecture strategy and principles.

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

Required experience:

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

1. A functional appreciation of the data, application and technology architecture domains;
2. A strong understanding of multi-vendor deployment models, including; Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Serverless computing, and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS);
3. Strong experience of architecture methodology and tools, design and modelling techniques, and best practice;
4. An expert in turning business problems into technical design and can design systems characterised by high levels of risk, impact and business or technical complexity;
5. Proficiency in evolving and defining governance and take responsibility for collaborating and supporting services in wider governance;
6. Proficiency in defining and challenging strategies, patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements.