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- Tasks: Lead the development of strategic technology direction for a major digital organisation.
- Company: Join one of the UK's largest digital organisations with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, generous pension contributions, flexible hours, and excellent work-life balance.
- Other info: Collaborative environment with opportunities for professional growth and mentoring.
- Why this job: Shape the future of technology that impacts millions of citizens across the UK.
- Qualifications: Experience in enterprise-scale architecture and modern integration patterns required.
The predicted salary is between 75026 - 99836 £ per year.
Pay up to £99,836, plus 28.97% employer pension contributions, hybrid working, flexible hours, and great work life balance. Join us and shape how one of the UK's largest digital organisations connects, scales and secures the technology that underpins services for millions of citizens.
As a Lead Enterprise Architect, you'll join DWP Digital's Enterprise Architecture community - a team that designs the strategic technology direction for our entire organisation. You'll lead the development of DWP's reference architectures and digital blueprints, ensuring our systems evolve in a secure, modern and sustainable way. Your work will influence multi-billion-pound services, helping us manage technical risk, reduce complexity and drive transformation across a vast and critical technology estate. This is a high-impact, highly visible role. You'll be the recognised expert in integration architecture across DWP, shaping strategic decisions, guiding senior leaders and enabling the adoption of modern technologies. You'll balance big-picture vision with deep technical insight, helping teams across DWP and government deliver better, more resilient services.
What skills, knowledge and experience will you need?
- You understand modern and legacy integration patterns, and know how technologies like APIs, events, messaging, file transfer and cloud-based integration all fit together across a large, complex organisation.
- You have experience leading enterprise-scale architecture for major, business-critical systems - not just designing individual solutions, but shaping whole ecosystems and guiding major technology decisions.
- You're confident presenting complex topics to a wide range of audiences - senior leaders, technical teams, cross-government partners and external stakeholders.
- You have experience running architecture governance that helps organisations make consistent, informed decisions.
- You know how to create reference architectures, principles and standards, and can explain them clearly to technical peers.
- You understand both modern architectural approaches (like microservices, APIs, cloud and event-driven design) and traditional on-premise monoliths - and how to bridge between them.
You and your role
As a Lead Enterprise Architect, you will be at the heart of shaping DWP's future technology landscape. You'll develop and maintain the DWP Enterprise Architecture, guiding how our systems evolve and ensuring teams have the patterns, standards and frameworks they need to build services confidently and consistently. This role is deeply strategic. You'll work closely with senior stakeholders and executive boards, helping them understand architectural risks, trade-offs and opportunities - ensuring our technology direction stays aligned with DWP's business strategy. You'll lead horizon scanning, keep us aware of industry, government and digital trends, and translate emerging thinking into actionable recommendations for DWP. This position will also play a central role in influencing how we integrate platforms and services across the enterprise. This isn't command-and-control: success comes from chairmanship, collaboration and the ability to bring people together behind a shared architectural vision. You'll work across teams, portfolios and programmes to unblock challenges, shape roadmaps, spark pathfinder projects as well as help technical teams adopt modern integration approaches. As the expert in this domain, you'll often represent DWP across government, contributing to cross-department initiatives and briefing senior leaders (including ministers) on specialist topics. You'll mentor other architects, support Product Delivery Unit teams, and help ensure the architectural 'jigsaw' across DWP fits together coherently. This is a role for someone who wants to originate strategy, shape technology direction at national scale, and leave a legacy that improves the way government works for years to come.
Details. Wages. Perks.
Location: You'll join us in one of our brilliant digital hubs in Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Sheffield, whichever is most convenient for you.
Hybrid Working: We work a hybrid model - you'll spend some time working at home and some time collaborating face to face in a hub.
Pay: We offer competitive pay of up to £99,836. That's £75,026 salary plus a Government Digital and Data Allowance of up to £24,810 subject to our assessment of your capability at interview.
Pension: You'll get a brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions worth 28.97%.
Holidays: A generous leave package starting at 26 days rising to 31 days over time. You can also take up to 3 extra days off a month on flexi-time. You'll also get all the usual public holidays.
We have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Flexible working including flexible hours and flex-friendly policies.
- Time off volunteering and charitable giving.
- Bring your authentic self to work with 'I Can Be Me in DWP'.
- Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more.
- Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it's even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference.
- Sports and social activities.
- Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities.
And we have an award-winning environment and culture: DWP have been recognised as 2024 Diversity Employer of the Year at the Computing Women in Tech Excellence awards, Diverse and Inclusive Leadership at Digital Leaders Awards 2024, Commended as Best Place to Work in Digital category in the Computing Digital Technology Leaders awards 2025, Recognised as one of the Best Public Sector Employers at 2025 Women In Tech Employer Awards.
Process: We know your time is valuable so our application and selection process is just two stages:
- Apply: complete your application on Civil Service Jobs. There'll be full instructions when you click through.
- Interview: a two-stage interview online. Click APPLY for more information and to start your application.
Locations
Lead Enterprise Architect in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East employer: DWP Digital
Contact Detail:
DWP Digital Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead Enterprise Architect in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current or former employees at DWP Digital on LinkedIn. A friendly chat can give you insider info and maybe even a referral, which can really boost your chances.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for the interview by diving deep into DWP's recent projects and initiatives. Show us that you’re not just familiar with the role but also genuinely interested in how you can contribute to shaping the future of technology at DWP.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your presentation skills! As a Lead Enterprise Architect, you'll need to explain complex ideas clearly. Grab a friend or use a mirror to rehearse how you'd present your architectural vision to senior leaders.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining our team and making a difference at DWP.
We think you need these skills to ace Lead Enterprise Architect in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your application to highlight how your experience aligns with the Lead Enterprise Architect role. Use keywords from the job description to show that you understand what we're looking for.
Showcase Your Expertise: Don’t hold back on showcasing your knowledge of integration patterns and enterprise architecture. We want to see how you've led major projects and influenced technology decisions in your previous roles.
Be Clear and Concise: When writing your application, keep it clear and to the point. We appreciate well-structured responses that get straight to the heart of your experience and skills without unnecessary fluff.
Apply Through Our Website: Remember to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets to us directly. Plus, you'll find all the details you need to complete your application smoothly.
How to prepare for a job interview at DWP Digital
✨Know Your Architecture Inside Out
As a Lead Enterprise Architect, you need to be well-versed in both modern and legacy integration patterns. Brush up on your knowledge of APIs, cloud-based integration, and how they fit into the bigger picture. Be ready to discuss specific examples from your past experiences where you've successfully implemented these technologies.
✨Prepare for Strategic Conversations
This role involves influencing senior leaders and guiding major technology decisions. Think about how you can articulate architectural risks and trade-offs clearly. Prepare some scenarios where you've had to make tough decisions and how you communicated those to stakeholders.
✨Showcase Your Governance Experience
Running architecture governance is key in this position. Be prepared to discuss your experience in creating reference architectures and standards. Have examples ready that demonstrate how you've helped organisations make consistent, informed decisions through effective governance.
✨Emphasise Collaboration Skills
Success in this role comes from collaboration, not command-and-control. Think of instances where you've brought teams together to achieve a shared architectural vision. Highlight your mentoring experiences and how you've supported others in adopting modern integration approaches.