Senior Solution Architect

H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC); Manchester; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000

Job description

To apply Direct for this role please visit Civil Service Jobs and quote ref no.

Are you interested in cloud computing and joining one of the most digitally-advanced tax authorities in the world and one of the largest and most dynamic IT estates in Europe? Then HMRC will surprise you with an exciting opportunity to help shape the future digital landscape of one the largest departments in the Civil Service.

At HMRC, we are entering an incredibly dynamic time as we undertake a major transformation to deliver cutting-edge digital services, ensuring that we will be an enterprise wide digitally advanced organisation which will benefit all our customers and colleagues. This includes several key strategic digital priorities, such as real-time transactional information and a single customer account, enabling customers to access all their data and undertake all their interactions with HMRC in one place, including services for new Taxes and Benefits.

We work with leading technologies often supported by the companies behind them - Amazon Web Services (AWS), SAP, SAS, Pega, Azure, and Microsoft Power Platform to name a few, to develop and implement solution designs.

You will be using these technologies and more to architect IT solutions that work on a UK wide scale across all HMRCs tax and benefits including Self-Assessment, VAT, Corporation Tax, and Counter-Fraud, as well as designing systems that support all the UKs international trade. As the tax authority that collects money to fund our UK public services and provide financial support to the people that need it, almost every individual and business in the UK is a direct customer of HMRC. By joining the Chief Digital & Information Office (CDIO) as a Solutions Architect you will be playing a role in helping define HMRCs technology direction and create IT solution designs that make an impact that really matters on a national scale.

We believe in supporting the personal development of our staff and of course, IT is always changing, so we offer extensive tailored training and development opportunities.

This is a challenging role, and we are looking for people who have the skills and determination and help us to realise our vision.

In the Policy Driven Change team, you'll be architecting and delivering systems to ministerial timelines which underpin HMRCs ability to engage with customers, ensuring we can provide services which support new taxes, benefits and policy change and help customers to meet their obligations. This will include:

1. Customer-facing web and mobile applications, telephony, IVR and webchat, proactive push communications and the automation of digital mail, using an omni-channel approach as HMRC adopts CRM technologies.
2. Support for third party software such as accounting packages via external APIs.
3. Recording customer circumstances in systems of record, calculating tax liabilities and benefit entitlements, receiving and issuing payments and maintaining accounts.
4. Systems to support the collection, storage and sharing of data to enable Reporting, Compliance and wider data sharing activities.

We are looking for people who can help us rise to meet the challenge, so we want people with the right skills, behaviours and mindset, people who:

1. Have a fascination in how technology is evolving, and you know the world is changing and want to be a part of that through creating IT solution designs.
2. Enjoy being a part of building out technology projects that deliver results.
3. Have an interest in, or knowledge of, machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.
4. Can solve real world business problems through creative IT solutions.
5. Can work collaboratively as part of a larger team.

If you can answer yes to any of these questions, then these roles may be just what you have been looking for.

We're bolstering our solution architecture function working on some of the most complex problems for the UK; simplifying how citizens engage with HMRC, managing the border and driving down on those who try to avoid their obligations for the benefit of our citizens.

Senior Solution Architects in HMRC

To undertake this role, you can:

1. Architect IT solutions our systems power the UK.
2. Design IT solutions that put users experience at their core - whether internal staff or external and that are also secure and scalable.
3. Pick up new technologies quickly and be able to understand their strengths and weaknesses and apply that learning.
4. Collaboratively solve business problems working with colleagues to identify root causes and create pragmatic IT solutions.
5. Get hands-on with new technologies where necessary, testing their potential to solve the problem in hand.
6. Create POCs, Prototypes, Technical and Functional spikes to bring ideas to life and de-risk delivery.
7. Take an agile approach to solving problems from problem-shaping through design to delivery.
8. Understand the business needs and have a track record of developing a close trusted relationship within project teams.
9. Drive change at pace because it is important to you, but to also to manage the architecture risks and the sometimes tight timescales dictated by policy driven change.

This role may require travel and overnight stays.

Person Specification

Your responsibilities in this role will include:

1. Leading a team of solution architects within one or more strands of IT Change Programmes, setting direction for the team and delivering results.
2. Accountability for producing technical IT Solution Designs on projects that align to the HMRC IT Strategy and deliver business outcomes.
3. Responsibility for authoring costed design documentation, working closely with business stakeholders and technical architects to create cohesive solutions that meet the business and user needs.
4. Working with Delivery Teams and partners to ensure the Solution Design is delivered and implemented.

Essential Criteria

Applicants need to demonstrate in the application the following essential criteria in their application:

1. You have experience and knowledge of Architectural Governance.
2. You will have shaped and developed technology solutions using the capabilities described in the technical specification to meet business and user needs.
3. You will be able to pick up new technologies and architecture concepts and styles quickly, understand their strengths and weaknesses and apply that learning.
4. You are a collaborative problem solver working with colleagues to identify root causes allowing you to create and deliver pragmatic IT solutions.
5. You have a track record of communicating, collaborating, and influencing stakeholders.
6. You can work at pace, identify and manage architectural risks appropriately, and have your solutions approved through architecture governance boards.

Technical Skills

This is the range of skills we use in HMRC. We do not expect you have all these skills.

As part of the interview, we will ask you to present the skills you have from the list below:

1. Designing and delivering multi-channel digital applications.
2. Experience of CRM technology.
3. Integration to core accounting/ERP systems.
4. Use of APIs to create distributed applications across internal and external organisational boundaries.
5. Knowledge case management/ workflow technologies to present information to colleagues.
6. Use of document scanning and robotic automation to bring efficiencies to manual processing tasks.
7. Architecting IT applications, including making use of Cloud, IaaS, SaaS and PaaS.
8. Knowledge of a range of technology stacks and the ability to take a balanced approach to technology selection.
9. A good understanding of security and practical experience in ensuring that it is a central to all solution designs.
10. Managing application through the full application lifecycle from Idea to Decommission.
11. Application integration and awareness of programming techniques and languages.
12. Awareness of Cost modelling/estimating particularly of cost drivers to support commercial challenge activity.
13. Approaches to managing technical debt whilst delivering required functionality.