Senior Enterprise Architect

Job summary

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) will become Government Commercial Agency (GCA) on 1 April 2026. Please visit our website for further details.

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Call to action

Ready to move beyond system design and drive the strategic roadmap for a national digital estate? We are seeking 2 Senior Enterprise Architects to translate high-level business strategy into a resilient, scalable technical reality. If you’re prepared to own the architectural governance for products impacting millions of users, we want to hear from you. You will navigate the critical trade-offs between speed, cost, and quality while influencing technical mastery across the organization.

Job Summary

We seek a visionary Senior Enterprise Architect ready to own and evolve our enterprise-wide DDaT strategy and architecture. You will be the defining authority, responsible for translating strategic business goals into coherent technical roadmaps and ensuring architectural alignment across the organisation. Lead governance (including Technical Debt and Investment decisions), mentor architecture teams, and drive our complex digital transformation journey by ensuring solutions are highly scalable, secure, and resilient for public service delivery.

Job description

Key Accountabilities

1. 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.

2. Governance & Assurance Leadership

You will be the top technical voice on the Architecture Review Board (ARB). Your role is to manage the 'Front Door' review process, making sure every single new project is checked for architectural soundness and fit before it can be approved for budget.

3. Investment & Technical Debt Management

You will ensure that every strategic bid includes a ring-fenced "remediation budget" (typically 15-20%) to prevent the long-term erosion of the estate.

4. Senior Leadership Communication ("Level 0")

Produce and maintain the "Level Zero" Architecture Map—a simplified, one-page executive view of the CCS technology estate used for ExCo and Board-level decision-making.

5. 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.

6. Technical Standards & Principles

You will establish and enforce the Secure by Design and Data First architectural principles. You will set the non-negotiable Guardrails (rules) that product teams must follow to ensure technical consistency, interoperability, and security across the organization.

7. 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 1 – 4 architects, establishing a formal competency framework to elevate the team’s strategic influence.

8.Architectural Steering & High-Level Design (HLD)

Responsible for documenting the Architecture Steer papers that drive cross-functional alignment on multi-million pound investments. While product teams handle standard designs, you will personally author the High-Level Designs (HLDs) for the most complex, business-critical projects to ensure they remain resilient and strategically aligned. You will act as the "bridge" between the executive vision and the engineering squads, translating high-level goals into actionable technical blueprints

Person specification

Essential Criteria (to be assessed at application stage):

• Strategic Governance & Investment - Demonstrate how you manage technical debt, leading architectural road mapping, and achieving buy-in from senior management (e.g., at the Board level).

• Leadership - Ability to influence senior stakeholders and managing architectural governance and articulating complex problems to senior staff

• Enterprise Architecture & Governance - Knowledge of Architectural Risk Management, Technical Debt Articulation, and the Design of Integration/Data Strategy.

• Seeing the Bigger Picture - Ability to translate abstract business or policy strategy into concrete, actionable technical blueprints, and effectively articulate risks to senior stakeholders

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills

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

• This involves a Technical Presentation where candidates present a solution to an enterprise architectural problem (such as consolidating the IDAM landscape or defining the AI governance strategy)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,877, Crown Commercial Service contributes £17,346 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• What we will offer you, here are some of the benefits you can expect:

  • 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) - Remove this bullet for SCS roles

  • Minimum 25 days annual leave to a maximum service related 30 days excluding bank holidays

  Explore fully how we will rewardyour work.

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

  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 and theCivil 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 recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk

  Working flexibly, delivering outcomes

  CCS 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 CCS 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.

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 Behaviours and Technical skills.

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 recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk.

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.

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 counter-terrorist 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.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 : The Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Further information

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 Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles details of which can be found at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk
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 recruitment@crowncommercial.gov.uk in the first instance.
If you remain unsatisfied with the response you receive you can then contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk

#CCS26

https://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/careers-with-ccs