About the job

Job summary

Do you want work collaboratively designing modern IT architecture for some of the largest digital transformations in Europe?

The scale of what we do is extraordinary, and our purpose is unique. You will join our community of Integration Architects across DWP Digital.

DWP Digital are delivering transformational integration solutions to enable and drive an enterprise strategy based on reuse of common IT capabilities, central to which are an API economy and an event driven architecture.

As a Lead Integration Architect, you will be responsible for the technical design of the DWP API, Events and File Transfer Services, and by applying your technical speciality in these areas making them a reality. You will lead on the assurance of integration solutions, and work with Integration Team leads, service owners and domain architects across DWP on the strategic enablement of DWP wide digital objectives.

You will be a key member of the Integration leadership team providing vision, motivation and a collaborative influence throughout the wider team.

There is barely a project in DWP that does not need integration services, so the team are involved in almost everything that DWP Digital does. We also provide integration services to numerous other government projects and departments.

Job description

As a Lead Integration Architect, you will:

• Help evolve the overall DWP Digital integration strategy in collaboration with the DWP Domain Architects and other senior stakeholders.

• Design integration solutions (products and services) to meet user needs and align with DWP technical strategy and standards.

• Provide a consistent set of solution views, that communicate and describe the construction of the solution to all stakeholders.

• Communicate integration solutions making the complex simple to understand.

• Support delivery teams, blending technical (development and architecture) and behaviour (leadership and communication) skills.

Responsibilities:

Your roles and responsibilities will include, but are not restricted to the following:

• Develop strategic product roadmaps and represent product designs at DWP governance forums, providing clear communication of architecture and decision making, to gain agreement and approval.

• Lead, plan and support the delivery of the technical and architecture design elements of DWP integration services.

• Work with solution architects, engineering teams, and other Digital stakeholders to create value for money solution designs.

• Ensure technical quality and adherence of integration solution designs to the DWP Digital Blueprint, Security, Enterprise Architecture and Product Roadmap standards.

• Identify, capture, share, iterate, and implement integration architecture patterns.

• Drive eradication of technical debt, to reduce the ongoing cost of DWP IT services.

• Manage a small team of Integration Architects and the associated architecture design backlog.

Person specification

When giving details in your CV you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria below:

• API and event-based architecture design, patterns (including pub-sub and data streaming), modelling techniques, tools and standards.

• Architecting events based architectures across multiple data-centres and public clouds.

• API gateway and micro-gateway patterns and capabilities such as traffic control, security, logging, monitoring and authentication e.g. Kong API Gateway.

• Agile / DevOps delivery methodologies and best practice.

• Public cloud technologies, cloud hosting, container, and networking design patterns, tools and best practice.

• Presenting to technical governance forums.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Isaac.morrison@dwp.gov.uk.

Benefits

• An employer pension contribution of up to 28.97% For further information please click here.
• Annual leave rising up to 30 days, (based on your working pattern).
• Family friendly flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid working, job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Learning and development tailored to your role this could include industry recognised qualifications, coaching and mentoring. 
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join staff networks including: Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Salary Information

Pay for this role is from £69,869 to £77,740.

The maximum salary for the grade is £77,740, however a Digital Allowance of up to £12,255 per annum is available for exceptional candidates, based on our assessment of your skills and experience.

Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.

Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary.

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the next grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater.

Location

Applicants should apply for suitable posts where they can travel to and from their home office location daily within a reasonable time.   

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed 

Hybrid Working

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home.  This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

HASSRA

DWP colleagues will have the opportunity to join HASSRA, a vibrant and successful organisation that provides a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). It also has an important part to play in helping us achieve a healthy work-life balance and wellbeing in the workplace.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Stage 1: Application

Applications must include:

1. A completed Personal Details application form.

2. A curriculum vitae including education, professional qualifications and full employment history, giving details of key achievements  in line with essential criteria listed in the Person Specification. 

When uploading your CV, do not include personal information or links to any webpages or profiles that identifies you. This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity. Take out references to your name/title, age, sex, email address, postal address, telephone number or nationality/immigration status.

When giving details of your redacted CV, you should therefore include details of the work and projects that you have been involved in, and your role therein.

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

Important information

• Please attach your redacted CV as a separate additional document in either PDF or word format.
• If your CV contains any personal details your application may be withdrawn.

Stage 2: Interview

If you’re successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours and Technical Skills:

• Communicating and Influencing 
• Working Together 
• Technical Breadth 
• Turning business problems into technical designs

You will be asked to do a (5 minutes) presentation on an integration architecture design they have personally led, explaining the key architecture decisions you made. Further details will be provided if you're invited to interview. 

Interviews will take place from late-June 2024. Interview dates to be confirmed.

Further information:

Find out more about Working for DWP

 A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. 

Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location. 

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page. 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.