Solutions Architect

Job summary

As a Solutions Architect, you’ll help deliver technology solutions that support GCHQ’s mission, drawing on your experience to lead design work, manage a team, and make strategic architectural decisions. The nature of our work means our technology must be cutting-edge and is often tailored to the unique challenges we face. This will give you the opportunity to apply your skills to meaningful challenges that support purposeful career development.

Job description

Working across a range of complex projects, you’ll take an active role in shaping solution designs, producing clear documentation and models, and ensuring alignment with established architectural standards and strategies. Regular engagement with stakeholders, balancing competing priorities, and thoughtful consideration of technical, business, cost, and risk factors all contribute to delivering solutions that are both scalable and resilient.

Day-to-day, you’ll collaborate with delivery teams, engineers and business colleagues to clarify requirements and adapt designs. You’ll produce and maintain artefacts, provide clarity and direction, and support the adoption and implementation of designs. As a line manager, mentoring and guiding less-senior colleagues will be a key part of your role. Please note that occasional travel to sites across the UK will be required to enable you to work closely with colleagues from all areas of the organisation.

Person specification

An applied understanding of solutions architecture is essential, gained through experience leading the design of end-to-end digital or technology solutions. This includes demonstrable experience using modern frameworks such as TOGAF, NIST, and ITIL, as well as experience leading a team or line-managing.

A solid background in producing artefacts that guide delivery teams, combined with clear and effective communication skills, will enable you to explain design decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences. Effective stakeholder management is also important for working with colleagues at different seniority levels, ensuring alignment between differing user needs and organisational priorities.

Collaboration, influence, and negotiation are key strengths for this role, particularly when working across teams to identify solutions that work for everyone. As priorities shift in response to business needs, adaptability and effective time-management skills will support you in managing your workload. Critical thinking and creative problem-solving will further help in developing holistic solutions to complex, unique requirements.

Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £69,611 to £77,801 plus other benefits including:

• 25 days’ annual leave, rising automatically to 30 days after 5 years' service, plus an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays

• opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme

• an interest-free season ticket loan

• an excellent pension scheme

• a cycle to work scheme

• facilities such as a gym, restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)

• paid parental and adoption leave

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

GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. The scheme encourages employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As a Disability Confident organisation, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who best meet the essential criteria for this position, assessed at sift, are offered an interview, if it is practical for us to do so. This is known as the Offer of Interview. To secure an interview for this role, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:

• experience designing and owning end-to-end solution architecture, interpreting business and user needs and translating them into designs and artefacts aligned with architecture strategies and standards

• experience making and owning architectural decisions involving trade-offs (e.g. cost, risk, scalability or maintainability), managing risks and delivering within governance and standards

• ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders across teams or programmes, communicating architectural concepts and influencing alignment to agreed solutions

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, visit our 'How to Apply' page for information on the reasonable adjustments we can offer.

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

• Application sift.

• Virtual interview (assessing your technical skills and the organisational competencies).

• If successful, you’ll receive a conditional offer of employment.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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

Open to UK nationals only.

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 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

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Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : careers@recruitmentteam.org.uk
• Email : careers@recruitmentteam.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@recruitmentteam.org.uk