Principal Technical Architect - Home Office - G6

Croydon, Salford, Sheffield

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

Home Office Digital designs, builds and develops services for the rest of the department and for government. Every year our systems support up to 3 million visa applications, checks on 100 million border crossings, up to 8 million passport applications and deliver 140 million police checks on people, vehicles and property.

Responsible for strategic architectural assurance and governance across Enterprise Services portfolio. Ensures alignment with organisational standards, compliance, and technology strategy. Provides oversight of service architecture, validates technical designs, and drives best practices for operational efficiency. Collaborates with stakeholders to optimise service delivery and identify opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement.

Join Enterprise Services Technology to shape high impact, cross government solutions. As a Principal Technical Architect, you'll lead strategy, drive modernisation, and influence decisions across diverse programmes. The role offers wide scope, meaningful purpose, and the ability to align teams and technology to deliver secure, scalable, user focused public services.

As Principal Technical Architect, you will define and execute the technical strategy for your responsibility, collaborating with senior leadership and diverse teams to ensure alignment with organizational, cross-departmental, and government-wide objectives. You will proactively seek opportunities to leverage emerging technologies - such as cloud and AI - and ensure that technical solutions are secure, user-focused, and capable of adapting to evolving business needs.

You will lead the design and review processes for complex systems and infrastructure, championing architectural best practices and governance. By bridging technical and business perspectives, you will resolve high-risk issues and shape initiatives that drive transformation. Your role includes guiding and inspiring other architects, facilitating professional growth, and establishing an environment where innovative thinking thrives.

Key responsibilities:

• Own and deliver the overarching technical strategy, guiding architectural decisions that balance risk, complexity, and delivery timelines.
• Lead governance and assurance processes, ensuring solutions remain secure, robust, and aligned with enterprise architecture principles.
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders to advocate for digital transformation initiatives, influencing decisions through clear, data-driven insights.
• Mentor and guide architects and engineering teams, nurturing a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Oversee integration of new systems, developing detailed plans that align with broader organisational and cross-government strategies.
• Assess current systems to identify areas for improvement, analyse potential risks, and promote emerging best practices in the field.
• Facilitate stakeholder discussions, serving as the key escalation point for complex or high-risk design challenges.
• Drive continuous improvement, incorporating lessons learned into future strategies and ensuring consistency in architecture across multiple domains.

The successful candidate will need to be adaptable and willing to work flexibly across the wider team as required, performing additional duties reasonably expected within the scope of the grade.

Line Management

You will manage a team, providing timely feedback, leadership and help in developing their capability and career, supporting and empowering staff to achieve their best potential, aspiring to make HOD an inclusive, enjoyable, and diverse team to work within whilst facilitating development as an individual.

Travel

Occasional travel may be required to other work locations within the UK according to business needs and may include overnight stays. All related costs will be reimbursed in line with Home Office policy.

Working Pattern

This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of compressed hours working. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 4 days / 28 hours per week due to business requirements.

Essentia Criteria

• Demonstrated leadership in delivering complex and innovative technical architectures at scale, fostering a collaborative, inclusive environment that empowers teams to contribute diverse perspectives and technical excellence.
• Ability to apply strategic foresight to anticipate emerging technologies, using evidence based analysis to identify opportunities for improvement, transformation, or optimisation that benefit a wide range of users.
• Experience working across diverse technology landscapes, including cloud services, multi vendor environments, and cross-departmental teams, ensuring effective coordination and respectful, inclusive collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders and suppliers.
• Strong understanding of engineering principles, agile methodologies, DevOps practices, and secure by design approaches, enabling the delivery of robust, resilient, and accessible solutions that meet the needs of all users.
• Proven track record of delivering technical solutions to agreed timescales and within scope, balancing budget, security, accessibility, sustainability, and quality considerations in line with equal opportunities and fair recruitment practices.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to explain complex technical information clearly and respectfully to different audiences, supporting informed decision making.
• Experience owning and developing technical roadmaps and strategies, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives, user needs (including those of under represented or disadvantaged groups), and evolving industry best practice.

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA8 framework- Use the levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skill listed). Please see below for the relevant skills for your role:

Strategy & Architecture:

• Strategy and Planning
  • Strategic Planning (ITSP) - Level 4
  • Innovation (INOV) - Level 4
  • Enterprise and Business Architecture (STPL) - Level 4
  • Solution Architecture (ARCH) - Level 5
• Advice & Guidance
  • Consultancy (CNSL) - Level 5
  • Specialist Advice (TECH) - Level 4

Desirable Criteria

• Championing best practices, inspiring teams to adopt improved processes, scaled agile frameworks, or commodity market products where appropriate.
• Experience in HR activities, including recruitment, performance assessments, and professional development of technical staff.