Defence Business Services (DBS) Technical Architect - MoD - SEO

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement. 

Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.  

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working. 

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.  

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2027.

Come and join the DBS community today! 

https://youtu.be/gUw0ToaRGgk

Job description

Within the Government Digital Service (GDS), the Senior Technical Architect provides technical leadership and architectural design for digital services. As a GDS Technical Architect in Defence Business Services (DBS) you will work collaboratively in small, multi-disciplinary agile scrum teams to ensure the appropriate infrastructure is specified to enable the smooth running of the services.

As a Technical Architect, you will:

Undertake structured analysis of technical issues, translating this analysis into technical designs that describe a solution
Solve architectural problems and advise on any changes required to the MOD D2S platform
Create and maintain detailed solution documents to support a wide range of applications, infrastructure, data, security, integration and operations
Be consulted about design and provide design patterns
Fulfil the role of lead technical architect at GDS assessments, demonstrating how services have met the GDS Service Standard to senior stakeholders and specialists from across Government
Work with stakeholders from across the business to solve complex technical problems across both internal and external platforms and ensure services have the correct level of technical assurance in line with the Government Technology Strategy, GDS Design Manual and MOD by Design standards
Ensure that presented use cases are suitable for implementation
Responsible for the identification and implementation of upgrade and Patching requirements for the Applications.
Oversee investigation and analysis of incidents and process exceptions with a view to resolving and improving the service
Identify deeper issues that need fixing
Look for opportunities to collaborate and reuse components, communicating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Ensure the relevant service monitoring is in place
Advise on test strategy including Pen Testing, Performance Testing, Accessibility Audits
Identify and complete migration activities between environments to enable controlled go live
Be an advocate and enthusiast for all service offering of the Automation Garage to expand the Garage’s customer base

Skills needed for this role:

Bridging the gap between the technical and non-technical. You can speak on behalf of technical teams and facilitate relationships with indirect stakeholders. (Relevant skill level: working)
Governance. You understand how governance works and what governance is required. You can take responsibility for the assurance of parts of a service and know what risks need to be managed. (Relevant skill level: working)
Making and guiding decisions. You can make decisions characterised by managed levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You can resolve technical disputes between peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions. (Relevant skill level: working)
Strategy. You can apply strategy, using patterns, standards, policies, road maps and vision statements. You can challenge them and provide guidance. (Relevant skill level: working)
Turning business problems into technical design. You can design systems characterised by managed levels of risk, manageable business, and technical complexity and meaningful impact. You can work with well understood technology and identify appropriate patterns. (Relevant skill level: working)
Understanding the whole context. You can understand trends and practices outside your team and how these will impact your work. You can see how your work fits into the broader strategy and historical context. You can consider the patterns and interactions on a larger scale. (Relevant skill level: working)

Person specification

Essential experience

Experience in creating technical design documents
Experience in network designs and an ability to provide advice and guidance in this area
The ability to work as part of a small agile team
The ability to work within the constraints of best practice, GDS Service Manual and Standards and Automation Garage standards, whilst also retaining an enquiring mind and a willingness to challenge when appropriate
Attention to detail
Highly motivated and resilient
An ability to communicate technical issues to a non-technical audience

Desirable experience

PHP and Javascript application design

Behaviours

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

Leadership
Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

DDAT Technical - Architect for the whole context
DDAT Technical - Architect communication
DDAT Technical – Community collaboration
DDAT Technical – Technical design throughout the lifecycle