At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design of innovative tech solutions for the Legal Aid Agency.
- Company: Join the Ministry of Justice, a forward-thinking organisation committed to digital transformation.
- Benefits: Enjoy flexible working, generous leave, and a strong pension scheme.
- Other info: Collaborative environment with opportunities for personal and professional growth.
- Why this job: Make a real difference in government services while working with cutting-edge technology.
- Qualifications: Experience in software engineering or architecture with strong communication skills.
The predicted salary is between 58511 - 70725 £ per year.
Location: Staffordshire, UK; City of Westminster; Scotland; Wales, UK
Salary: 58,511 - 70,725 per year
Employment: Flexible
Category: IT
Posted: 2026-09-12
Valid to: 2026-09-25
Apply: here
Employer: Ministry of Justice
This position is based Nationally.
Job summary:
We’re recruiting for Senior Technical Architects here at Justice Digital, Data and Science to be part of our warm and collaborative Legal Aid Agency team. This role aligns against Senior Technical Architect from the Government Digital and Data Framework.
We believe that architecture is not purely a technical discipline. The systems we build are shaped by the teams that build them, the organisational structures they sit within, and the communication patterns between the people involved. Our architects think about how team structures, domain boundaries, and organisational dynamics shape systems — and how the systems we design, in turn, shape the organisation.
You will be working with developers, Site Reliability Engineers and security experts, user researchers, product managers, designers, delivery managers, and content specialists who share a vision for improving government through smarter use of technology. Together we will collaborate to develop our strategy, connect people and build trust with clear communication, and provide empathetic technical leadership across diverse product teams.
You will work to understand our technology, our business, and our people (colleagues, stakeholders, and users of our services), and to create an ambitious and pragmatic vision for our teams, using your expertise to bring our challenges and opportunities into focus alongside the views of other professions in our leadership team.
A Senior Technical Architect can see the big picture: understanding our complex technology landscape and the organisational landscape that produces it. You can clearly and effectively communicate that big picture by building trust, developing great relationships, and empathising with others. You provide mentoring and support to other architects and engineering leadership.
Key Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with Lead Technical Architects to create a technical vision for Legal Aid, develop our strategy, and be accountable for our technology estate.
- Ensure that team structures, domain boundaries, and technical architecture are aligned and support the flow of value.
- Communicate about our technology and organisational landscape across teams and professions.
- Collaborate and find agreement with senior stakeholders, providing both technical and non-technical direction and challenge.
- Create structured analysis of technical concepts and options, providing insight for multi-disciplinary decision-making.
- Create, guide and evolve technical designs for both new services and changes to existing services.
- Guide and influence choices in line with architecture strategy and organisational priorities.
- Work closely with the LAA Cyber Security Team to help teams improve security across new, changing and legacy services.
- Engage with our portfolio, assurance, risk management, cyber, and information assurance leadership.
- Advocate for a diverse, inclusive culture across the engineering community.
- Mentor, coach, line-manage, and help recruit more great technical architects and engineering leadership.
Our Tech Stack:
- Modern strategic software built in Java, Python and Ruby.
- Resilient infrastructure in the cloud (primarily AWS).
- Progressive software development practices such as Domain-Driven Design (DDD), test-driven development (TDD), continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).
- A new multi-tier architecture, creating central data and business logic platforms.
- Security built in by default through our LAA Secure by Design guardrails.
- Enterprise Oracle software, including Enterprise Resource Planning (E-Business Suite).
- Mac laptops for delivering our work.
Benefits:
- A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
- 25 days of annual leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years of service, plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
- Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours.
- Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
- Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies.
Person Specification:
- Experience in a software engineering, cloud, or architecture role.
- Strong architecture communication and influencing skills.
- Whole-context systems thinking.
- Ability to reason about boundaries between systems and teams.
- Ability to make and guide proportionate architectural decisions.
- Ability to create, communicate and evolve technical designs throughout the delivery life cycle.
- Ability to connect near-term technical decisions to a wider technical vision and strategy.
- Ability to lead and influence beyond formal authority.
- Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance.
We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on any factor. Our values are Purpose, Humanity, Openness and Together.
Senior Technical Architect (Ref: 21982) in Sheffield employer: Government Recruitment Service
The Ministry of Justice is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic and inclusive work environment where finance professionals can thrive. With a strong commitment to employee development, flexible working options, and a robust pension scheme, the MoJ fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation, ensuring that every team member has the opportunity to influence key financial strategies that impact the nation. Located nationally, this role provides the unique advantage of engaging with diverse stakeholders across the UK, making it a rewarding place for those seeking meaningful contributions to public service.
Contact Details:
Government Recruitment Service Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Technical Architect (Ref: 21982) in Sheffield
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We think you need these skills to ace Senior Technical Architect (Ref: 21982) in Sheffield
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Government Recruitment Service.
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How to prepare for a job interview at Government Recruitment Service
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Government Recruitment Service uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
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While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
