Person specification

We are looking for a Senior Technical Architect who has experience of:

• Leading technical discussions between internal teams and external stakeholders, clearly communicating concepts and driving continuous improvement.
• Evaluating products/tools and providing enterprise appropriate recommendations. Developing an understanding of user needs, to design user-centred technical service propositions.
• Identifying business problems and recommending technical solutions and designs. Undertaking structural analysis of technical issues, translating this analysis into technical designs that describe a solution.
• Building collaborative relationships with partners across teams and services. Articulating technical requirements and implications compellingly to technical and non-technical colleagues, senior leaders, business partners and customers.
• Working with innovators to design aspirational concepts for future services and processes.
• Mentoring colleagues.

Essential Criteria

• Governing high and low-level designs with full lifecycle management, from requirements management to supporting the operations teams with service introduction.
• Effective communication with colleagues, business partners, customers and senior leaders. You are skilled at proactive and reactive communication.
• Bridging the gap between the technical and non-technical with the ability to translate technical concepts, so they are understood by all.
• Technical governance and delivering the assurance of a service.
• Making and guiding effective decisions, explaining clearly how the decision has been reached.
• Applying strategy for technology that meets business and customer needs with the ability to create, refine and challenge standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements.
• Working with business and technology partners to translate business problems into technical designs. You can work across multiple services or a single large or complicated service.
• Understanding trends and practices outside your team and organisation, their potential impact and how they can fit into broader strategy.
• Looking beyond the immediate technical problem and identifying wider implications, understanding the broad context.
• Cloud computing knowledge and experience designing and implementing (e.g. AWS/Azure/Google or Hybrid) based.

Desirable Criteria

• Software development and technical architecture.
• Knowledge of innovative and emerging technologies (e.g. Artificial Intelligence, Geospatial and Synthetic Data, Cryptocurrencies, Open Banking etc.)
• Agile methodologies and principles.

Further Location Information

Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in the 'Further Location Preferences (optional)' field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.

Office closures

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

If your location preference is for one of the following sites, it's important to note that these are not long-term sites for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.

These Sites Are

• Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
• Telford Plaza, Telford - moving to Parkside Court, Telford

You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.

Leeds Locations

Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC's Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.

Technical Skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Architecting for the whole context.
• Architecture communication.
• Community collaboration.
• Marking architectural decisions.
• Strategy design.
• Technical design throughout the lifecycle.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,541, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £16,959 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).

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it's really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service

Things you need to know

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.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

How To Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A name-blind CV including your job history, previous experiences and qualifications.
• A 1000-word Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement should be used to describe how your skills and experience would be suitable for the advertised role, making reference to the Essential Criteria and Person Specification outlined in the advert.
• Please complete a separate statement (Max 250 words) for the Desirable Criteria where applicable. This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the vacancy-holder where candidates have the same scores at interview.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Sift

In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on your CV.

At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.

Interview

During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed against the Essential Criteria.

We'll also assess