Technical Architect (Senior) - HMRC - G7
Government Digital & Data -
Location
Bristol Regional Centre - 3 Glass Wharf
East Kilbride - Queensway House
Edinburgh Regional Centre - Queen Elizabeth House
Manchester Regional Centre - Three New Bailey
Leeds Regional Centre - Wellington Place
Liverpool Regional Centre - Water Street
If you currently work for CDIO and are based at either a transitional site or a site subject to workforce planning constraints, you may be eligible to remain at that site when you apply.
About the job
Job summary
Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.
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Are you a technical architect looking for a new opportunity? Now is a fantastic time to continue to build your career in our exciting, creative and world-class software development team. If you want to learn, lead and help others to deliver technological solutions and be part of delivering public service that makes a real difference, HMRC is a great place to do that.
HMRC is replacing legacy applications with SaaS and PaaS cloud services. We need a Senior Technical Architect who will act as the architectural authority for Business Developed Applications (BDApps), defining how we use our technology stack across the estate, including application structure, hosting models, security patterns, integration approaches and lifecycle management. You will guide teams on when Blazor is the right choice and when alternative approaches are more appropriate, making technology decisions based on fitness for purpose rather than novelty.
Job description
As a senior member of the multidisciplinary Technical Innovation team, you will work with Product Managers, Software Developers and technology specialists to provide architectural leadership for HMRC’s Business Developed Applications estate. You will oversee around 140 desktop and web applications, ensuring they are efficient, effective and aligned to HMRC’s wider technology strategy.
Your focus is shaping and governing the technical direction of BDApps as they move from legacy solutions to modern SaaS and PaaS services on AWS. You will define and maintain the BDApp Platform, setting clear standards, patterns and guardrails that enable teams to deliver safely and consistently. This includes providing strong direction on web architecture, Blazor based solutions and cloud native use of AWS, with decisions driven by user need, operational reality and value.
You will work closely with delivery teams, business partners and IT colleagues to review designs, challenge proposals and set clear architectural direction. You will support teams running live legacy applications while defining realistic, phased migration paths to AWS hosted web services and SaaS solutions. You will ensure BDApps integrate cleanly with the wider HMRC technology stack and support end to end digital services.
The role focuses on architectural leadership rather than hands on development. You will address issues across the BDApp estate, identify opportunities to simplify and standardise and assess emerging technologies where they add value. You will contribute architectural input to business cases and strategic decisions. You will not be expected to code, but you must be technically credible, comfortable working in ambiguity and able to explain complex technical concepts to non technical audiences.
Person specification
We are looking for a Senior Technical Architect who provides clear, pragmatic technical leadership across HMRC’s BDApp estate. You will shape and govern the architecture for around 140 desktop and web applications, balancing the need to run and improve legacy services with a steady transition to modern SaaS, PaaS and AWS hosted web solutions. You are comfortable working at pace in complex environments, able to make sound architectural decisions and explain them clearly to both technical and nontechnical audiences. You focus on service quality, sustainability and user need, selecting technology because it is appropriate to the problem and not because it is new. You work confidently with delivery teams, senior stakeholders and partners to ensure BDApps are efficient, secure and aligned to HMRC strategy. This includes
- Technical authority for the BDApp estate of around 140 desktop and web applications
- Architectural leadership for BDApp SaaS, PaaS and AWS hosted web services
- Ownership of architectural standards, patterns and roadmaps including Blazor usage
- Strong focus on service quality, operability and whole life cycle design
- Close collaboration with delivery teams without hands on coding responsibility
- Clear decision making and effective challenge in fastmoving environments
- Influence over strategy, investment and long term technical direction
Illustrative Technical Skills
- Architecture design for large application estates spanning legacy and modern platforms
- SaaS and PaaS solution design within enterprise environments
- AWS architecture including hosting, security and integration patterns
- Web application architecture including Blazor and related frameworks
- Service lifecycle design from discovery through live operation
- Technical governance, assurance and design review
- Integration architecture across enterprise technology stacks
- Security, accessibility and resilience by design
- Platform design and continuous improvement
- Producing clear architectural documentation and guidance
Essential Criteria:
- Proven experience governing high and low level designs across the full service lifecycle
- Ability to manage a quality service by designing for stability, security and supportability
- Strong decision-making skills with clear rationale and ownership of outcomes
- Experience translating business problems into effective technical designs at pace
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non technical audiences
- Experience setting and refining architectural standards, patterns and roadmaps
- Credibility when leading technical discussions with delivery teams and stakeholders
- Ability to balance immediate delivery pressures with long term architectural health
- Awareness of emerging technology trends and their practical application
- Demonstrated ability to deliver architectural outcomes in fast paced, ambiguous environments
Desirable Criteria:
- Experience defining, owning or evolving technical standards, architectural policies or reference patterns across multiple teams or services
- Experience contributing to the design or refinement of a shared application platform, including simplification or rationalisation of large BDApp estates
- Experience supporting or influencing cloud adoption on AWS beyond individual services, including cost efficiency, resilience or security guardrails
- Previous line management experience
