Lead Technical Architect (AI) in Newcastle upon Tyne

Scrumconnect Consulting is a multi-award-winning digital consultancy, recognised for delivering impactful and innovative technology solutions across UK government departments. Our work has positively influenced the lives of over 40 million UK citizens. We are passionate about user-centred design, agile delivery, and building digital services that make a real difference; and we're now scaling that expertise into large, high-stakes AI adoption programmes across the public sector.

We're looking for a Lead Technical Architect (AI) to act as the technical authority for a full-scale AI Operating Model and Responsible AI Governance Framework at a central government department. This is a large, high-visibility AI adoption and scale-up programme covering systems and services handling high-volume, sensitive public sector data. You'll work as part of a collaborative "Rainbow Team" alongside civil servants, with a mission that goes beyond delivery: build sustainable internal capability so the department can eventually operate and govern its own AI capability without long-term reliance on external suppliers.

Key Responsibilities

• Architectural Leadership & Integration: Design and implement enterprise-grade AI platforms - including semantic search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and broader generative AI/agentic capabilities — integrating cleanly with the department's complex legacy and multi-cloud environments.
• Responsible AI Governance: Embed end-to-end responsible AI controls across the full lifecycle: alignment with the Algorithmic Transparency Recording Standard (ATRS), NCSC "Secure by Design" principles, and active mitigation of algorithmic bias. Ensure every system operates as a decision-support tool that enforces meaningful human control.
• Risk & Value Management: Navigate trade-offs between value, risk, pace, and quality using HM Treasury Orange Book and Technology-Organisation-Environment (ToE) frameworks. Identify and resolve systemic risks via Joint Risk Registers.
• Zero-Dependency Handover & Capability Uplift: Co-deliver within blended agile teams. Drive knowledge transfer using the OKUA (Ownership, Knowledge, Understanding, Awareness) framework and "Docs-as-Code" practices so internal staff can independently operate and govern AI capability long after the engagement ends.
• Environmental Sustainability (Green AI): Design low-modality, energy-efficient AI architectures aligned with "Circularity Performance Requirements" (Buy Better, Use Better, Use Longer), supporting Net Zero 2030/2040 commitments.

Required Skills & Experience

• Mapped to the Government Digital and Data (DDaT) framework:
• Technical Design Throughout the Life Cycle (Expert): technical designs for high-risk, high-impact, high-complexity systems; leading others toward organisational objectives; refining standards from feedback.
• Architecture Communication (Expert): communicating complex or contentious architecture to technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels; mediating difficult discussions; securing executive buy-in.
• Making Architectural Decisions (Practitioner): medium-to-high-risk design decisions spanning multiple domains; active contribution to architectural governance and assurance boards.
• Architect for the Whole Context (Practitioner): tracking emerging AI and technology trends; influencing colleagues across the organisation to solve or mitigate problems.
• Strategy Design (Practitioner): defining architectural principles, AI patterns, and strategic vision aligned to wider government objectives; building implementation roadmaps.
• Community Collaboration (Practitioner): proactive networking, resolving team-dynamics issues, using Agile health checks to strengthen the multidisciplinary delivery team.

Alongside the DDaT competencies, given the scale of this programme, hands-on depth across the modern AI engineering stack is essential, not just RAG in isolation:

• Semantic search, vector/embedding infrastructure, and retrieval architecture design
• LLM orchestration and agentic frameworks (e.g. LangChain/LlamaIndex-style tooling, multi-agent patterns)
• LLM evaluation, guardrails, and red-teaming tooling (hallucination detection, safety/bias testing)
• LLMOps / MLOps: model versioning, deployment pipelines, monitoring, and rollback for AI services in production
• Fine-tuning and parameter-efficient adaptation techniques where appropriate to use case
• Data engineering for AI: ingestion, cleaning, and lineage across legacy and multi-cloud sources
• Infrastructure-as-Code and CI/CD practices adapted for AI workloads, with strong observability
• Secure-by-design engineering appropriate to sensitive public-sector data (identity, access control, data protection)

Experience contributing to GOV.UK Service Standard alpha or beta assessments. Prior delivery of AI or digital services within UK central government or wider public sector. Familiarity with ATRS submissions, HM Treasury Orange Book, or equivalent public-sector risk/assurance frameworks. Open-source contributions or active engagement in engineering/AI communities. Experience designing for sustainability/Green IT commitments.

Location and Working Pattern

Hybrid, based from Newcastle upon Tyne, with on-site attendance required for workshops, knowledge-transfer sessions, and onboarding. All production systems and data access must be performed solely from within the UK.

How We Work

Our values:

• Collaboration: we are stronger as a team than as individuals; we tackle problems and celebrate wins together.
• Create Value Early: we find the quickest route from idea to product, because our clients rely on us to do what's best.
• Integrity: teamwork requires trust; we can always be relied upon to uphold the highest standards.
• Commitment: no matter what, no matter how, we give our 100% to keeping our promises and achieving our goals.
• Diversity and Inclusion: we believe diversity drives innovation and better outcomes, and we're committed to an inclusive environment where every individual is valued, respected, and supported.

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including women, people with disabilities, and diverse communities, as well as those seeking flexible working arrangements.

Diversity and Inclusion

At Scrumconnect Consulting, we believe that diversity drives innovation and better outcomes. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where every individual is valued, respected and supported. We warmly welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, and particularly encourage women and people from other underrepresented groups to apply, including people with disabilities, diverse communities, and those seeking flexible working arrangements. You don't need to meet every point above to be a great fit; we'd love to hear from you if this role resonates. As a Disability Confident Level 1 employer, we are committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and during employment, to ensure equal opportunities for all.