Lead Technical Architect - Crown Prosecution Service - G7

Location

This post can be based in any location within England and Wales where a CPS office is located. Whilst it’s an expectation of the role to travel to CPS locations as per business needs, CPS is disability confident employer and all reasonable adjustments will be considered in line with Equality Act of 2010.

About the job

Job summary

The Lead Technical Architect operates at a strategic level within the Digital and Information Directorate (DID), reporting to the Principal Technical and Enterprise Architect.  The role is pivotal in shaping the technical direction of digital services across multiple teams and projects.  Its primary purpose is to ensure that systems are robust, scalable, secure, and aligned with organisational and government standards.

Key responsibilities include guiding technical design, making critical architectural decisions, and assuring solution quality through reviews and adherence to architecture principles.  The role promotes reuse, interoperability, and cross-organisation and cross-government collaboration, identifying opportunities for shared platforms and services to deliver better value.

Beyond technical oversight, the Lead Technical Architect plays a leadership role in mentoring other architects and technical staff, fostering continuous learning and professional development.  They will be a leader in the architecture community, embedding best practices and driving innovation and architectural alignment across delivery teams.

Strategically, the position requires maintaining awareness of emerging technologies, government digital strategies, and socio-political trends to ensure architectural decisions remain forward-looking.  The architect will engage senior stakeholders to influence strategic direction and inform planning and investment decisions.

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. There’s no guarantee that we will grant this approval.  

You must be aged 16 before starting in this role. The start date is expected to be 8-12 weeks after the application deadline.   

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities. 

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• You define and own technical architecture for complex digital services, ensuring alignment with organisational and government standards (e.g., GDS framework).
• You provide strategic technical leadership, influencing design decisions and guiding delivery teams across multiple projects.
• You assure solution quality through architecture reviews, governance, and adherence to enterprise principles such as scalability, security, and interoperability.
• You promote reuse and shared platforms, identifying opportunities for cross-government collaboration and cost-effective solutions.
• You mentor and develop technical staff, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth within the architecture community.
• You engage senior stakeholders, translating technical concepts into business value and influencing investment decisions.
• You stay ahead of emerging technologies and trends, ensuring architectural decisions remain innovative and future-proof.
• You lead on risk management and compliance, including security standards and technical assurance processes.
• You champion best practices, embedding agile and DevOps principles into architecture and delivery approaches.

A copy of the full job description is attached. 

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need to:

• Have substantial experience in technical architecture, including designing and assuring complex digital services that meet organisational and relevant sector standards, preferably HMG standards.
• Demonstrate strategic thinking, with the ability to see the bigger picture, align technical decisions to long-term organisational goals, and anticipate emerging technologies and trends.
• Show leadership capability, including mentoring technical staff, fostering professional development, and leading architecture communities to embed best practices.
• Possess strong stakeholder engagement skills, able to influence senior leaders and communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences.
• Be adept at promoting reuse and interoperability, identifying opportunities for shared platforms and cross-organisation and cross-government collaboration to deliver value.
• Have a proven ability to assure solution quality, through governance, reviews, and adherence to enterprise architecture principles such as scalability, security, and sustainability.
• Understand agile and DevSecOps practices, working with these principles in architecture and delivery approaches.
• Hold or be eligible for SC clearance, as this is mandatory for the role.

You also need to demonstrate the following technical skills:

• Cyber Security Architecture
• Systems & Infrastructure Engineering
• Cloud Engineering
• Software Engineering
• Networking
• Integration & Middleware