Senior Enterprise Architect

Job description

Job Title: Senior Enterprise Architect

Band: Band 5

Salary: £59,877 - £69,457

(plus allowance up to £9,000 per annum depending on technical assessment)

Available Locations: Liverpool, Newport, Norwich or Birmingham.

The following locations listed below are restricted to contracted GCA staff already based in one of these offices: London, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester or York.

External applicants are not eligible for these sites.  If you select one of these locations as an external applicant your application will unfortunately be withdrawn.

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Full Time

Closing Date: 02/11/26

Interview Date(s): 24th-27th Nov (subject to change)

Insight into GCA - Webinar 

Watch our Webinar on the above link and gain valuable insight into GCA and our recruitment processes. 

Ready to move beyond system design and drive a strategic roadmap that delivers true value for the nation? We are seeking a Senior Enterprise Architect to translate high-level strategy into a resilient, scalable digital estate for the public good.

If you’re prepared to own the architectural governance for products impacting millions of citizens, we want to hear from you. In this role, you will navigate the critical trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality—ensuring that every technical decision maximises efficiency and delivers public value across the organisation.

Job Summary

We are seeking a visionary Senior Enterprise Architect to act as the defining authority for our enterprise-wide DDaT strategy and architecture. In this high-impact role, you will perform as a versatile Enterprise Architect while bringing deep specialisation in data and integration—translating high-level strategic goals into coherent, resilient technical roadmaps and leading critical governance on investments and technical debt to ensure secure, scalable public service delivery.
You will lead, mentor, and grow a unified team of Enterprise and Technical Architects, establishing the technical guardrails and maintaining strategic control while steering our complex digital transformation journey and managing preferred delivery partners.

Key Accountabilities:

• Strategic Vision & Roadmap Delivery
  • Convert the annual business plan into a clear, step-by-step blueprint for the future technology environment (Target State Architecture or TSA). You will manage the plans for moving from the current system to the future one, specifically for major initiatives, to make sure all projects are connected and support the overall business strategy.
• Governance & Assurance Leadership
  • You will be the technical voice on the Architecture Review Board (ARB). Your role is to manage the 'Front Door' review process, making sure new projects are checked for architectural soundness and fit before budget approval.
• Investment & Technical Debt Management
  • Ensure strategic bids allocate a dedicated remediation budget (15–20%) to mitigate technical debt.
• Senior Leadership Communication
  • Maintain the "Level Zero" Architecture Map as a streamlined executive view of the GCA technology estate for Board and ExCo decision-making.
• Blueprinting & Business Alignment
  •  Partner with Business Architecture to create Enterprise Blueprints. You will take high-level strategic goals (e.g. "Improve SME Spend") and map them to specific technical capabilities and data flows required to deliver that outcome.
• Technical Standards & Principles
  • You will establish and enforce the Secure by Design and Data First architectural principles. You will set the non-negotiable rules that product teams must follow to ensure technical consistency, interoperability, and security across the organisation.
• Strategic Consultancy & Mentorship
  •  Provide Architecture-as-a-Service to senior stakeholders, moving from "activity-based" updates to "outcome-based" advice. You will mentor a team of up to 1-2 architects, establishing a formal competency framework to elevate the team’s strategic influence.
• Architectural Steering & High-Level Design (HLD)
  • Author Architecture Steer papers to align stakeholders on major investments, and personally develop High-Level Designs for critical, complex initiatives to ensure long-term resilience and strategic alignment.

Essential Criteria (to be assessed at application stage):

• Enterprise Architecture & Roadmap Delivery: Proven experience converting abstract business strategies into Target State Architecture (TSA) blueprints and managing transition roadmaps for complex digital estates. 
• Strategic Governance & Assurance: Experience leading technical assurance (e.g., an Architecture Review Board) and defining architectural principles, such as Secure by Design and Data First. 
• Risk & Technical Debt Management: Proven track record of identifying architectural risks and successfully articulating, managing, and securing investment to remediate technical debt. 
• Executive Stakeholder Communication: Ability to translate complex technical problems into simplified executive views (like a "Level Zero" map) to influence Board and ExCo-level decision-making. 
• Leadership & Technical Mentorship: Experience leading, mentoring, and developing the strategic capabilities of architecture teams while managing the technical guardrails for external delivery partners.

Success Profiles (to be assessed at interview):

Experience

Technical skills (presentation sent 24 hours in advance)

• Enterprise architecture - Enterprise Architecture presentation that clearly outlines strategic impacts across People, Process, Data, and Technology (PPDT). 

You will also be assessed against the following behaviours:

• Leadership
• Seeing the big picture
• Communicating & influencing

(A link to the Civil Service Success Profiles Framework is provided below)

Success Profiles Framework

Valuing our people:

• Competitive salary 
• Generous pension scheme
• A discretionary non-contractual performance related bonus 
• Working remotely in addition to working in advertised office location
• Flexi time scheme (available for B1-B6) 
• Minimum 25 days annual leave to a maximum service related 30 days excluding bank holidays

Want to make a difference? Find out more about the rewarding work that we do in our candidate pack. 

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

We want to make our recruitment process accessible to everyone, so if there is any way that we can support you, please contact [email protected]

Working flexibly, delivering outcomes

GCA operates a smarter working model that balances flexibility with collaboration. Successful candidates are expected to spend at least 26 days per quarter (approximately 2 days per week, pro-rata) at their contracted office, another GCA site, or off-site for meetings. For the remainder of the time, you may work from home or another suitable location that meets business needs.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. 

Selection Process

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, which the Civil Service may use to fill future suitably similar vacancies across government for candidates who are considered appointable following interview. Should you be placed on a reserve list and want to be removed please contact [email protected].

Please note that as part of this recruitment process, if you are unsuccessful at the interview stage but are close to the benchmark score you may be considered for and offered a role at a lower pay band within the same job family.

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Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. 

Complaints Procedure

 Our recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles details of which can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-principles/

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact [email protected] in the first instance.

If you remain unsatisfied with the response you receive you can then contact the Civil Service Commission at [email protected]

Internal candidates should apply using their Workday account. Please use the careers hub for your application.