Information Commissioner's Office
Infrastructure Architect
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Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Manchester
Job Summary
Infrastructure Architect
Full time/Part Time
Salary: £57,815 - £65,021 pa, with potential for further progression to £73,211 pa with our pay progression scheme.
Location: Hybrid
Contracted to our Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.
Why work for the ICO?
- Pay progression scheme.
- Hybrid and flexible working options.
- 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
- Flexi leave (up to 24 additional days leave per year).
- Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
- Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
- Health Cash Plan.
- Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.
Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website.
About Us
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.
As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.
Job Description
This role will set the architecture vision for the ICO’s use of a variety of technology infrastructure resources, to ensure that on-premise and cloud resources are managed properly and meets the needs of the ICO. The successful candidate will help the Director of Architecture to design and implement robust technology infrastructure solutions and will ensure the performance, security and scalability of infrastructure components including servers, storage, networks and cloud services
The role will design infrastructure standards and frameworks that guide best practices for deployment, management and security
The role will collaborate and consult with stakeholders to ensure infrastructure decisions are aligned with Enterprise Architecture strategy and will carry out horizon scanning across the industry and wider technological landscape, identifying emerging trends in cloud infrastructure and their potential impact and opportunity for the ICO, and incorporating these into plans
The candidate will help the Director of Architecture create a technology infrastructure roadmap to assist in future planning of the infrastructure needs of the ICO
They will also help the Director of Architecture to ensure consistency of infrastructure landscape across the ICO and facilitate the integration of new technologies to create a resilient and flexible infrastructure that supports current business objectives and future growth
Key Responsibilities
- Developing and delivering the ICO’s Infrastructure Architecture vision, strategy and roadmaps
- Lead the design of infrastructure aspects of systems and services, justifying and communicating design decisions
- Establishing infrastructure architectural principles, policies, guardrails and standards, and overseeing the implementation and assurance of these
- Assess existing infrastructure and recommend improvements for performance and cost savings
- Provide technical leadership and guidance to project teams during implementation
- Conduct capacity planning and performance tuning to ensure optimal resource utilisation
- Developing appropriate graphical and documented representations of Infrastructure Architecture and components suitable for communication with different audiences and for different purposes
- Assurance of system quality, ensuring work fits into the broader strategy for government
- Playing an active role in the ICO Architecture community and related communities of practice where you will share your knowledge of best practice, tools and techniques
- Helping to build a diverse, inclusive culture across the architecture community, growing awareness, inclusivity and balance
- Working with other architects, colleagues and peers to define standards and guidance around best practice
- Engaging and networking with people across the ICO up to Director level to understand their needs and ensure they are aligned with the Enterprise Architecture vision
- To lead our future infrastructure architecture working with Microsoft Azure on an IaaS and PaaS level
- Experience working with Azure administration and security (e.g. Azure Active Directory/Entra ID, Microsoft Defender and Azure Policy)
- To be an evangelist for Azure infrastructure architectures and best practices
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Person specification
Essential Criteria Assessed At Application Stage
- Substantial experience relevant to the role requirements, as described in the role responsibilities and person specification, and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational qualifications or experience.
- Experience of developing and executing Infrastructure Architecture for a large or medium-sized (1,000+ people) organisation, including developing infrastructure designs from enterprise to project level.
- Experience of establishing infrastructure architecture principles, policies, guardrails and standards, and overseeing the implementation and assurance of these
- Experience of understanding business strategy and translating that into infrastructure architecture.
- Experience of working with Enterprise Architecture frameworks (TOGAF, Zachman)
- In-depth knowledge of networking protocols, architecture and security measures.
- Knowledge of a wide range of technologies including cloud platforms (Microsoft Azure), microservices, APIs and enterprise software.
Essential Criteria Assessed At Interview Stage
- Experience of networking and communicating with stakeholders at senior levels.
- Knowledge of a wide range of technologies including cloud platforms (Microsoft Azure), microservices, APIs and enterprise software.
- Strong understanding of infrastructure design principles, including cloud, on-premise and hybrid environments.
- Understanding of security frameworks, protocols and best practices for infrastructure protection.
- Ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity, creative problem solving and developing innovative solutions.
- Able to communicate complex insights and principles simply and with impact, particularly across technical and non-technical audiences. Competent at negotiating and persuading where necessary, whilst applying a highly ethical approach.
- Proficient in creating and maintaining technical documentation and architecture diagrams.
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £57,815, Information Commissioner's Office contributes £16,749 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Please visit ico.jobs for full details, including salary and benefits.
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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
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Selection process details
Equality, diversity and inclusion
The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.
Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO’s commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.
If you have a disability or impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at recruitment@ico.org.uk.
Closing Date
Please submit your CV by 23:59 on Sunday 23rd August 2026
We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at recruitment@ico.org.uk.
In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.
All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Medical
Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.
Nationality requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
Diversity and Inclusion
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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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