Lead Technical Architect - Companies House - SEO

Location

Remote working (anywhere in the UK)

About the job

Job summary

A fantastic opportunity has arisen to join the Companies House architecture team as a Lead Technical Architect, a key role in a small, high performing team within an organisation that truly values its staff. The team is responsible for developing technical architectures that deliver business objectives, while supporting and encouraging one another to create the most effective designs with a focus on delivering value. Team working is highly valued along with a willingness to challenge established thinking and ways of working.  

This is an opportunity to advance your knowledge and technical understanding in a high-profile role which has an impact across the organisation, developing systems that are used nationally and at high volume. We're currently fulfilling around 14 million search requests per day with users including the general public, businesses, the police and other government organisations.  

In this role you will work with the wider Digital and Technology Directorate, working closely with business stakeholders to develop technical designs that address business priorities and guide the development teams in creating robust, secure solutions. This is an opportunity to work with the latest cloud technologies, develop microservice architectures and shape the technical direction of the organisation. You will have excellent technical skills, proven architecture design experience and a background in software engineering.  

Watch this video to find out more about working in Digital at Companies House

Companies House offers a flexible and welcoming culture that promotes a healthy work life balance as well as a proactive approach to wellbeing that allows us to be our best at work.  We recognise that people are the key to our success so offer a fantastic benefits package including flexible working with no core hours, 30 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays and 1 privilege day as well as enrolment into the Civil Service Pension scheme with a contribution rate averaging 28%.   

Find out more about what a great place Companies House is to work

Please note:

• Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. 
• Security Clearance is an essential requirement (minimum residency criteria is in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years). 
• Remote contracts will only be offered to successful candidates who are not a commutable distance to our Cardiff, Belfast or Edinburgh offices. 

Please see 'Things you need to know' and 'Where you will be working' sections below for more information.  

Job description

We’re looking for a Lead Technical Architect whose responsibilities will include:  

• Providing technical guidance and architectural designs to help shape the future digital services at Companies House, and effectively communicating these to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. 
• Helping establish and maintain architectural principles, strategy, governance and technical direction for Companies House services.  
• Working closely with the architecture team to ensure designs are consistent and fit for purpose. 
• Keeping up to date new technologies and processes and applying this knowledge to improve our services. 
• Working closely with development teams, ensuring their output adheres to the architectural designs. 
• Some of these roles will be inclined towards Cloud, Security, Infrastructure and Automation. Candidates will be able to demonstrate their proficiency in these specialisms as well as the broader technical architecture role. 

This is an exciting opportunity in digital services, designing and delivering quality services to our users. By helping us to shape our services, you’ll have the opportunity to be at the forefront of digital transformation in government.  

We are looking for someone to be part of our team in a time of great change and to play an integral part in shaping the architecture and design of future digital services that are used worldwide, help tackle economic crime at a national level and provide confidence to the UK economy.  

We want someone keen to improve their skills using new and exciting technologies and develop their career working on diverse projects with a focus on continuous improvement, while being part of a supportive high-profile team.  

We are seeking a talented individual who not only excels in architectural design but also possesses exceptional communication skills to effectively engage with colleagues and stakeholders across the business.  

Read more detail on the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework

About us 

Our aim is to be the best registry in the world achieved through brilliant people working on brilliant systems delivering brilliant services. We are currently delivering an organisation wide transformation programme focussing on a complete redesign of our digital services, target operating model and culture. This change will need different skills, capabilities and mindset where adaptable, bold and curious behaviours are the norm and empowerment is encouraged and utilised. 
 
To find out more about the great things we're doing at Companies House please have a look at our blog posts and podcasts.  
 
Companies House values its people, their contributions and has created a real sense of community where people seek to create strong connections. Our commitment to learning and development is exceptional, and we believe passionately in the employee experience with is prevalent through the engagement, wellbeing and development strategies which have resulted in Platinum Investors in People and MIND index awards. 
 
We encourage professional development, celebrate success and live our values to effect real change.  

Person specification

Experience  

We are looking for the following experience, which will be assessed at sift and at interview. 

Experience in the following is essential:   

• Proven experience designing scalable, distributed services within a production environment. 
• Technical lead experience.  
• Hands on experience of building infrastructure following microservice architecture patterns. 
• Experience of public cloud service offerings, especially IaaS / PaaS. 
• Experience of integrating third party and in house developed systems. 
• Demonstrate experience of translating user requirements to solution designs. 
• Knowledge of architectural tools, methods and industry best practice. 
• Demonstrate ability to think strategically whilst having a strong focus on technologies and operational service delivery.
• Communication and collaboration with multiple teams over a range of projects. 

Technical experience  

Our current technology stack primarily comprises: node.js, Java/Spring, Kafka and MongoDB running in AWS and some exposure to these technologies would be beneficial. 

Proven commercial experience of a selection of the following technologies/skills is essential:

• Microservices Architectures
• API Development
• Cloud Computing Platforms
• Designing Secure and Scalable Systems

Proven commercial experience of a selection of the following technologies/skills is desirable:  

• Distributed Event Streaming
• NoSQL Databases 
• Relational Databases 
• Containerisation, Automation and DevOps practices
• Infrastructure, Platform and Software Delivery Operations 

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills

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

• Architect for the whole context
• Architecture communication
• Strategy Design
• Technical design throughout the life-cycle
• Making architectural decisions