Location
Croydon

Hours
Full Time with option for compressed hours. Part-time working considered with a minimum of 4 days / 28 hours per week due to business requirements.

Salary
£80,237 - £88,261 (London pay range)

About the Role
The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK through its work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports. Home Office Digital designs, builds and develops services supporting millions of visa, passport, border crossing, and police check applications annually.

As Principal Technical Architect within Enterprise Services Technology, you will lead strategic architectural assurance and governance across the Enterprise Services portfolio. You will ensure alignment with organisational standards, compliance, and technology strategy while providing oversight of service architecture and validating technical designs. Your role will drive best practices for operational efficiency and foster innovation and continuous improvement.

You will define and execute technical strategy, collaborating with senior leadership and diverse teams to align with organisational and government-wide objectives. You will leverage emerging technologies such as cloud and AI, ensuring solutions are secure, user-focused, and adaptable to evolving business needs.

Key responsibilities include leading design and review of complex systems, championing architectural best practices, resolving high-risk issues, mentoring architects and engineering teams, overseeing system integration, assessing current systems for improvement, facilitating stakeholder discussions, and driving continuous improvement across multiple domains.

The role offers wide scope, meaningful purpose, and the ability to influence decisions across diverse programmes to deliver secure, scalable, user-focused public services.

Experience
- Demonstrated leadership delivering complex and innovative technical architectures at scale.
- Experience working across diverse technology landscapes including cloud services, multi-vendor environments, and cross-departmental teams.
- Proven track record delivering technical solutions on time, within scope, balancing budget, security, accessibility, sustainability, and quality.
- Strong understanding of engineering principles, agile methodologies, DevOps practices, and secure-by-design approaches.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, able to explain complex technical information clearly.
- Experience owning and developing technical roadmaps and strategies aligned with organisational objectives and user needs.
- Experience in HR activities such as recruitment, performance assessments, and professional development is desirable.

About you
- Adaptable and willing to work flexibly across the wider team.
- Collaborative and inclusive leader who empowers teams and fosters innovation.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to anticipate emerging technologies and identify opportunities for transformation.
- Committed to promoting diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities.
- Willingness to travel occasionally within the UK as required.

Qualifications
- Relevant experience aligned with the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework and SFIA8 levels.
- Ability to obtain and maintain UK Security Vetting clearance including Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV) Level-3.
- Commitment to the Civil Service Code and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality.