Senior Technical Architect

Ready to grow your architectural expertise in a supportive team? Do you want to work alongside expert architects and grow your skills in a supportive, collaborative environment? Are you ready to take on projects to open new opportunities? If so, Opencast could be the place for you. We’re a growing tech consultancy that creates user‑centred solutions with purpose for our clients in government, healthcare and purpose‑driven businesses.

As a Technical Architect you’ll contribute to software development projects, ensuring that the applications are efficient, performant and user‑friendly. You’ll broaden your experience while connecting with experts across the practice, gaining and sharing insights, and benefitting from opportunities to grow your career.

The role

You’ll use your experience of defining and implementing software architectures using patterns and best‑practice approaches to define detailed designs that form part of large enterprise‑scale applications to meet our clients’ business outcomes. You’ll collaborate with colleagues and take your solutions through architecture governance and generally contribute to the evolution of the assurance processes. You’ll use your expertise to confidently lead and guide delivery teams to bring your design to life.

Requirements

As attendance at these sites is a routine part of the role’s working pattern and involves frequent local travel, travel expenses are not covered. Due to the nature of this role, applicants must either currently hold active Security Check (SC) Clearance or be eligible to obtain it. Eligibility typically requires UK citizenship and continuous residence in the UK for the past five years, with no single absence exceeding 28 consecutive days. As a result, we are unable to progress applications from candidates who do not meet these requirements.

Essential experience

You don’t need to have had the job title of technical architect before – but we will want you to demonstrate experience of technical architecture. In your CV and at interview, we’ll ask you to show how you:

• develop and implement technical designs for modern enterprise‑scale applications, utilising or defining effective patterns and technologies
• show ownership of designs and their evolution and transition into service
• have an excellent working knowledge of software development, programming languages, modelling languages and methodologies and know how to apply them
• identify and adhere to architecture quality attributes and/or non‑functional requirements
• evaluate and introduce innovative new patterns, approaches and technologies into project teams
• can break down architectures into implemented components, utilising effective patterns and technologies that deliver business outcomes and address stakeholder needs

As well as technical architecture skills, there are essential core skills you’ll need to be a great consultant. If selected for interview, we’ll ask you to show that you:

• build strong relationships with both business and technical stakeholders to provide technical direction and build consensus for your technical design
• take a methodical and considered approach to solving problems
• take a collaborative and consultative approach to leading and guiding teams
• coach and mentor fellow team members
• keep up to date with new and emerging technology trends and their practical application

At the interview, we’ll ask you to describe how you approach architecture, deliver business outcomes and engage stakeholders. If you’re successful in your first interview, we’ll ask you back to develop and present a proposal from a case study and problem statement.

Desirable experience

Some areas of experience are not essential but relevant to the role:

• Experience with architecture frameworks (e.g. TOGAF, Zachman, Open Agile Architecture)
• Experience of delivering digital services and the GDS toolkit for the UK Government would be useful for many of our projects. It will be valuable (and essential for some contractor roles) if you are familiar with these activities and concepts:
• the Service Manual
• Agile delivery phases
• Service Assessments
• A solid understanding of the benefit of user‑centred design and understanding accessibility standards
• Good understanding of DevOps and in‑life service management

If you have this experience, please show it on your CV and we can talk about it in the interview. If you don’t have this experience please do still apply, as we can coach you in these areas if you join us.

Salary

Senior consultant salary range: £70,001-£80,000 per annum

What we offer

A competitive package including a 7% employer pension contribution, share options and a discretionary bonus. You’ll also benefit from flexible working hours (aligned to client commitments), 25 days’ holiday, and access to 3 annual “life happens” days to support unexpected situations. We also offer wellbeing support, ongoing professional development, volunteering opportunities and the chance to be part of a genuinely supportive team.

Where you’ll work

This role requires regular on‑site attendance across our HQ, hub offices, client sites and home. Applicants must be able to commute to offices and client sites as part of their normal working arrangements, as travel is essential to fulfilling the responsibilities of the role.

We include you

We welcome candidates from all identities, attributes, ways of thinking and backgrounds to thrive in a career at Opencast. Our aim is for the diversity of our people to be reflected in the solutions we deliver, to help create a fairer society for all.

Interview

Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams. We’re happy to make adjustments to support your needs.

Want to know more? Visit our website or email careers@opencastsoftware.com