Chief Architect

**_Join Police Digital Service as a Chief Architect_**

The Chief Architect is a key part of the CTO’s Management Team who has overall responsibility for providing Architecture and Design advice to enable the successful, timely delivery of the ambitions described in the National Policing Digital Strategy andthe PDS portfolio in partnership with the Home Office, Forces, LEAs and suppliers.

**_About Police Digital Service_**

We exist to harness the power of digital, data and technology to enable UK policing to better protect the communities it serves. Ours is a team of experts in commercial services, technical assurance, data, digital transformation and innovation, with a uniqueexperience in policing and national programme delivery.

**_Why Join us? _**
- Balance is important and we want you to take time off to recharge - so we offer 28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays, rising to 30 days after 5 years of service.
- We care about your well-being - we have an employee assistance programme that offers not just welfare benefits and counselling at the end of a telephone line but also discounts.
- We want to help you plan for the future - so we offer an excellent pension scheme and life assurance cover.
- We want you to be able to put your mind at rest regarding your health - offering remote GP, mental health and physiotherapy appointments via video consultation.

**_Role Overview_**

The CA will manage the team of Solution Architects and the Architects Practice to lead design development towards a coherent plan on how PDS will create an effective enterprise design practice to facilitate and enable the realisation of the outcomes describedwithin the Digital Data and Technology Strategy, with Forces and existing and emerging suppliers and partners.

The CA will have responsibility to ensure National Policing systems and services have a clear strategic direction for technology solutions, through enterprise architectural services, design services and carrying out product assessment and selection, including:

- Serving as the senior expert to provide technical guidance and leadership on all aspects of architecture and design.
- Leading the PDS Enterprise Architecture community working alongside PDS Cyber Services to deliver ‘Security by Design’ for National Policing solutions in accordance with established governance.
- Assessing the ICT landscape in policing to identify areas in need of improvement and overseeing their strategic development.
- Leading the design and development of architectural blueprints that will meet Forces’ business needs and facilitate improved supporting Policing outcomes.
- Contribution to the definition of technology standards, frameworks and guidelines.
- Providing advice to Forces on preparation and implementation of the PDS Portfolio and National Programme technologies.
- Explaining how the PDS portfolio can solve complex technology problems for Senior Officers, in layman’s terms, and how it can create and maintain sustainable services for their organisations.

The CA will develop and maintain productive relationships within the PDS, and with police Enterprise Architecture communities, key stakeholders, partners, and suppliers to influence and gain consensus of approach on the DDaT “way forward” in meeting theneeds of law enforcement from a local, regional and national perspective.

The CA is also responsible for assessing emerging tech trends and offerings capable of making a measurable and lasting impact in policing and law enforcement organisations, then promote good practice for implementation.

The CA may be expected to deputise for the CTO, in full or in part, as and when appropriate.

**_What you need to succeed in the role _**
- Demonstrable and current experience in a Chief Architect role in large and complex organisation with equally complex service requirements.
- Strong engagement focus and proactive style, that motivates, builds trust and inspires staff and other delivery partners to engage with PDS productively.
- Proven experience of managing teams delivering architecture services in cloud service provider environments e.g. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Strong experience building reference architecture for ‘all-in’ public cloud deployments and hybrid scenarios, including IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. This will include requirements definition, architecture development, security control integration, development ofmonitoring use cases and playbooks, systems integration, and testing.
- Experience in translating strategy into architectural roadmaps and transition architectures in large change programmes.
- Experience of capability-based planning of business and IT transformation.
- Use Case and Scenario Modelling.
- Experience of integration tools e.g. SOA.
- Experience in the use of repository-based Enterprise Architecture modelling tools.
- Demonstrate significant experience of designing and architecting technical solutions within in a large complex multi-faceted organisation.
- Demonstrate ability to think strategically whilst having a strong focus on ICT technologies and operational service delivery.
- Able to take ownership of the solution design from inception to delivery to the end customer.
- Experience of large complex and collaborative multi-vendor technology environments and the delivery of technology solutions using agile delivery methods or similar.
- Experience in business process re-engineering or process improvement involving broad-based information systems, utilising tools and techniques to effect significant business change.

**_Working Arrangements _**

Currently the entire Company is working remotely.We expect that a hybrid working arrangement will be implemented for this role, enabling the job holder to split their time between the office and their home.