Technical Architect

Job summary

We are MHCLG

Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives. Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda.

Local AI is a new team within MHCLG, working with councils to unlock the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in local public services. We support the responsible adoption of AI across local government, focusing on practical tools that save time, reduce costs and improve services for residents.

Local AI’s goal is not simply to introduce new technology. We work with councils and partners to solve real service challenges where AI can make the biggest difference.

Our work spans product development, service transformation, capability building and shaping the wider adoption of AI across local government. Recent examples include Local Transcribe our work supporting councils to responsibly adopt AI, and looking at how AI can play a role in temporary accommodation.

Joining Local AI offers a rare opportunity to help shape how one of the most significant changes of our time is applied in public services. You will work alongside experts from local and central government, academia and industry to test new ideas, deliver practical solutions and help improve outcomes for millions of people who rely on local services every day.

As a Senior Technical Architect, you will provide technical leadership for Local AI’s growing portfolio of products and services. You will help shape technical strategy, architecture and standards across products such as Local Transcribe, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure and sustainable. Working closely with multidisciplinary teams and delivery partners, you will support teams to make good technical decisions, manage complexity and build the foundations needed to scale AI across local government.

Find out more about our Digital teams and what they are working on through our MHCLG Digital blog. Please note that MHCLG do not offer visa sponsorship and applicants will need a valid visa for the duration of your employment.

Job description

The Senior Technical Architect is accountable for the technical integrity and architectural direction of the services and platforms they support. As a Senior Technical Architect you’ll:

• Work across multiple products, services and teams to solve complex technical challenges requiring broad architectural thinking and strategic leadership.
• Lead the technical design of systems and services, making and communicating architecture decisions that balance user needs, risk, cost and delivery outcomes.
• Define and assure target architectures, technology standards and design patterns to support scalable, secure and reusable solutions.
• Provide architecture governance and technical assurance, ensuring solutions align with departmental, cross-government and industry standards.
• Lead the design and adoption of AI-enabled services and platforms, ensuring solutions are secure, ethical, scalable and deliver measurable value.
• Build strong relationships across local government, central government and delivery partners to identify opportunities for reuse, alignment and shared platforms.

Person specification

As a Senior Technical Architect, you’ll have experience with:

Architecture design across cloud and hybrid environments involving networking, security, authentication, presentation, middleware, databases, data platforms, APIs and integration technologies.

• Architecture design informed through the use of principles, patterns, technical standards, governance and best practice, with experience using architecture modelling techniques and tools to communicate and assure technical designs.
• Architecture design working with multidisciplinary delivery teams within agile, waterfall and hybrid environments throughout the service lifecycle, from discovery and concept through to implementation, live operation and continuous improvement.
• Translating business, user and policy requirements into technical solutions with clear traceability, communicating complex technical concepts and architecture decisions effectively to a range of technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Artificial intelligence and automation technologies, with particular expertise in generative AI, AI assistants, large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents, intelligent automation, AI governance and responsible AI adoption. Experience designing and scaling reusable AI solutions that deliver productivity and service improvements across large, complex organisations.
• Cloud, data and security architecture: Knowledge and experience of cloud platforms (e.g. AWS and Azure), including SaaS, PaaS and IaaS solutions, cloud-native application deployment, scalability, performance, resilience and cost optimisation. Experience applying information security, data governance and compliance controls, including data privacy, data lifecycle management, disaster recovery, backup, monitoring and tooling such as Microsoft Purview and Log Analytics.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £64,811, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £18,775 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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