Job Description

Job Summary 
The Insolvency Service is a leading government agency which plays a crucial role in providing essential services to the public and to business. The work we do is important to the proper functioning of markets, the economy in general and support for thousands of people each year who are in financial difficulty.

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented, enthusiastic Technical Architect within our Digital Services team. We are responsible for developing, maintaining and supporting the agency’s line of business applications.

Open Session
If you would like to find out more about the role, the team and what it's like to work at the Insolvency Service, we are holding a Teams Hiring Manager Q&A session for this role where you can virtually meet the team on the 12th October 2026 at 12.00PM. 

Please click here to reserve your place:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/insolvency-service-hiring-manager-qa-technical-architect-tickets-2000385762665

Job Description
The successful candidate will be working on the Digital Service team (part of the Change Technology Services within the Insolvency Service) responsible for Digital applications used by internal and external organisations as well as the general public.

The role ensures that solutions are aligned to business objectives, user needs, government standards and long-term strategic goals. They provide architectural expertise across products, platforms and delivery teams, balancing immediate delivery needs with the sustainable evolution of the estate.

Working with the Principal Technical Architect across Digital Services and the wider Insolvency Service, the Technical Architect establishes technical standards, architectural principles and governance processes that enable teams to deliver secure, scalable, maintainable and resilient services.

Responsibilities of the Technical Architect: 

Architecture:

• define target architectures and future technology direction develop and maintain architectural roadmaps
• produce and maintain reference architectures and design patterns participate in architecture reviews and governance activities support delivery teams in applying architecture principles
• provide guidance on complex technical decisions

Technical Governance:

• support technical assurance forums review significant technical decisions
• ensure solutions comply with security, accessibility and operational standards
• assess architectural impacts of proposed change identify and manage technical and architectural risks
• maintain architecture decision records and governance artefacts

Platform and Strategic Direction:

• drive adoption of shared platforms, reusable services and common capabilities help the evolution of Digital Services platforms
• support service consolidation and technology rationalisation initiatives

Engineering and Delivery Support:

• work closely with Lead Developers to maintain engineering standards support teams facing complex technical challenges
• review solution designs and implementation approaches ensure delivery teams understand architectural expectations
• help balance technical quality, delivery speed and operational sustainability

Stakeholder Engagement:

• engage with senior business and technical stakeholders on strategic technology matters
• translate complex technical concepts into language understood by business audiences
• represent Digital Services in cross-government, assurance and governance forums influence organisational decision-making through evidence-based technical advice

Capability Development:

• develop architectural capability across Digital Services promote Communities of Practice and knowledge sharing establish standards, guidance and architectural artefacts

Person specification

• Communication skills: You can listen to the needs of technical and business stakeholders and interpret them. You are skilled at proactive and reactive communication

• Governance: You can evolve and define governance. You can take responsibility for collaborating and supporting other staff in wider governance. You know how to assure services delivered by technical architects across sets of services

• Making and guiding decisions: You can make decisions characterised by managed levels of risk and complexity. You can recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You can resolve technical disputes between wider peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions

• Strategy: You can apply strategy, using patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements. You can challenge them and provide guidance

• Turning business problems into technical design:  You can design systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact, and business or technical complexity. You can work across multiple services or a single large or complicated service

• Understanding the whole context: You understand trends and practices outside your team and how these will impact the work. You understand how your work fits into the broader strategy and historical context. You can consider the patterns and interactions on a larger scale

Essential Technical Criteria:
To be considered for this role you must:

• Ideally come from a software development background, preferably .NET/C#
• Have experience in cloud transformations ideally using Azure
• Have experience in a number of differing technologies

Desirable Criteria:
It would be beneficial if you also have experience of one or more of the following:

• It would be preferable for candidates to have GOS Service Manual, Government architecture/design experience.

Location

• This vacancy is advertised across 11 locations; however, Stratford and Croydon are only available to current Insolvency Service Staff.
• Available locations: Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Exeter, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham

Salary

• Grade: Grade 7
• National Range: Up to £74,319, made up of base salary of £57,367 to £63,319 depending upon assessment plus a Recruitment Retention Allowance of £11k.
• London Range (only available for internal candidates): Up to £77,290, made up of base salary of £59,463 to £66,290 depending upon assessment plus a Recruitment Retention Allowance of £11k.

Additional Requirements

• Insolvency Service expect everyone to spend 60% of their working time in one of the offices, typically 3 days / week
• The post is subject to SC level clearance, which requires a minimum of 5 years UK residency
• Visa Applicants: To sponsor a candidate under the Skilled Worker visa, a sponsorship licence is required. The Insolvency Service does not currently hold this licence and therefore cannot legally sponsor Skilled Worker visa applicants.

Benefits
Alongside your salary of £57,367 - £74,319, Insolvency Service contributes £16,619 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

• flexible working arrangements and flexi-time
• circa 29% employer pension contribution 
• full time new entrants to the Civil Service and those Civil Servants on modernised terms and conditions will be entitled to 25 days leave increasing on a sliding scale to30 days after 5 years’ service
• in addition to this you are entitled to 8 public/bank holidays plus an additional day of privilege leave
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• 5 days paid leave for learning and development
• 5 days paid for volunteering
• a Cycle to work scheme
• staff have access to an employee assistance programme, Workplace Wellness, for confidential, independent support and advice during difficult times in either their professional or personal life

Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles  and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the sift process, you will be asked to complete:

• CV
• Multi-Stage Screening Process

• Behavioural Competencies:

• Technical Skills

• Additional Assessment

During the interview the candidate will be given a hypothetical scenario that will assess their technical knowledge and approach. The candidates are not required to create a presentation.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

• Sift – week commencing 26th October 
• Interview – week commencing 2nd November 
• Location - MS Teams

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 candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Security

If you do not currently hold Security Check (SC) clearance, we will support you through the vetting process following a conditional offer of employment. As SC clearance is essential for this role, appointment is dependent of successfully obtaining and maintaining it. We will provide guidance and support through this process.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard 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)

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Job contact:
Name: Zymante Gintalaite
Email: zymante@inspirepeople.net

Recruitment team:
Email: lnsolvencyRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Click here to view job on CS jobs 

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