Lead Technical Architect

Job summary

As the Government Cyber Unit, our mission is to protect public services and the UK Government from cyber threats by:

• setting strategic direction for government and the public sector on cyber security through the Government Cyber Action Plan
• managing the portfolio of programmes to implement the strategy across central government
• establishing standards and policies (Government Cyber Security Standard and the Cyber Policy Handbook)
• supporting government organisations to deliver secure digital services via Secure by Design
• assuring system and organisation cyber security via initiatives such as GovAssure
• identifying public sector internet-facing digital assets, finding vulnerabilities and misconfigurations and helping to fix them through the cyber and domains protection services
• leading the operational response to cyber threats, vulnerabilities and incidents through the Government Cyber Coordination Centre (GC3)

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

The Cyber Services Team supports the delivery of the Government Cyber Action Plan by coordinating, overseeing and delivering services to help public sector organisations solve cyber security challenges.

The services we provide centrally are those where automation and economies of scale can be applied to address common resilience and cyber problems. These cover the core internet services we all rely on such as DNS, email and web services, as well as vulnerability management, cyber testing and cyber capability uplift.

We ensure that cyber services are easy to find and use, and that the information and support delivered by these services is coherent, valuable, relevant, timely, trusted, reliable and easy to action.

We track success using evidence based objective measures.

Job description

We are hiring 2 Lead Technical Architects in the campaign, one for the Cyber Services Team and one for the Cyber Products team - Please let us know if you have a preference for one of the roles in your application.

As a Lead Technical Architect you’ll:

• define and own a coherent suite of digital cyber defence services or products that are best delivered centrally, for the whole of the public sector.
• work closely with the Heads of Cyber Services and Products to support the delivery of the services and products according to the agreed roadmap. The services and products may be owned and operated internally by the team, by other parts of DSIT, by third party public sector bodies or by commercial organisations.
• provide technical leadership for the Cyber Services strategy and a coherent suite of services, ensuring that services are feasible, roadmaps align to underlying technology roadmaps, and that services work coherently together
• provide technical leadership for the coherent suite of products, ensuring that products are feasible, roadmaps align to underlying technology roadmaps, and that products work coherently together.
• maintain knowledge of the global cyber security landscape, including threats, vulnerabilities and how they are mitigated
• maintain knowledge of the global cyber security marketplace, and the opportunities it provides for the public sector
• own the overall prioritisation of service or product development, and work with the Head of Cyber Services, Head of Cyber Products and Service Owners to ensure that the suite continues to evolve coherently to meet new threats and challenges
• engage with industry and government specialists to understand their current cyber security challenges and how they are meeting them, ultimately looking for opportunities to share best practices or develop new central services and products
• manage and develop staff so that they reach their full potential, thrive and contribute effectively to the team’s objectives

Person specification

We’re interested in people who have a high level of expertise in:

• leading broad and complex strategic work across systems and services, with an ability to think strategically and bring clarity and structure to uncertainty
• owning and defining digital cyber defence services and products that operate across government at scale
• actively addressing the most complicated risks, issues and dependencies including where ownership exists outside the team or no clear ownership exists. You can identify innovative ways to unblock issues
• assessing products and services and giving constructive feedback and guidance on priorities and improvements
• coordinating service and product development with other teams across organisational boundaries
• communicate well with senior stakeholders and technical and non-technical stakeholders, including suppliers, coordinating activity across a number of organisations toward common objectives
• engaging well with people through a range of channels and explain what you are doing and how you are doing it in clear and compelling ways
• managing staff effectively, using initiative to identify issues within team dynamics and proactively implement appropriate solutions.
• developing staff through tailored feedback, adapting communication styles to ensure impact is effective and lasting

Benefits

There are many benefits of working with us, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

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

The standard selection process for this role consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 75 minute video interview which will feature a technical task

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:

• leading broad and complex strategic work across systems and services, with an ability to think strategically and bring clarity and structure to uncertainty

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• Seeing the big picture
• Making effective decisions
• Communicating and influencing

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Lead Technical Architect role:

• Architecture communication
• Architect for the whole context
• Making architectural decisions
• Strategy design
• Technical design throughout the life cycle

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 10th March 2026

Panel interviews: Starting from the 17th March 2026

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

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.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).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 theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk
• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further information

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 gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.