Vacancy -- Technical Architect

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

Vacancy Details

Education and Public Services
Digital Learning Unit
SEO - £41,700 - £49,370
£37,600
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Permanent
South West Wales
To be confirmed

Purpose of Post:

The Welsh Government is the devolved government for Wales with an annual budget of around £15 billion. It is responsible for key aspects of public life in Wales including health, education, the economy, transport, agriculture and the environment.

Welsh Ministers are supported by a workforce of more than 5,000 civil servants with offices in Wales, London, Brussels and overseas.

Welsh Government priorities are outlined in Taking Wales Forward with an overall ambition to build a Wales which is self-confident, prosperous, healthy nation and a society which is fair to all. The Welsh Government has also set out clear priorities for Wales following the UK’s exit from the European Union.

The Welsh Government is looking to attract people who can provide excellent support and advice, can focus resources and have energy and expertise. The Well Being and Future Generations Act provides context for our work.

Digital transformation of public services is vital to delivering the services the people of Wales expect and need. Welsh Government currently delivers a number of digital services to people and business across Wales. We also provide information on our websites.

Led by our Chief Digital Officer, the Welsh Government is increasingly delivering more services online. The Chief Digital Officer provides a consultancy service of digital and data expertise across Welsh Government.

Learning in Digital Wales

Learning in Digital Wales is the Welsh Government programme of action for improving the use of digital technology for learning and teaching. This pivotal education programme provides stakeholders across Wales with consistent access to a wide range of centrally-funded, bilingual digital tools and resources that can support and assist the transformation of digital education practices.

The Role
To support the overall technical design and build of a number of critical work streams including our national education Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Office 365 tenancy and Google for Education domain.

There are significant challenges directly related to the successful delivery of this programme of work and the Technical Architect will lead the team responsible for their resolution and delivery to agreed timescales.

Key tasks:

• Lead and manage team resources effectively to meet business priorities and pressures to ensure the delivery of key outputs to agreed deadlines
• Work with the relevant working groups to ensure development of the overarching Programme Delivery Plan to deliver actions designed to improve teaching and learning potential and practice
• Undertake structured analysis of technical issues, translating this analysis into technical designs that describe a solution
• Consult on technical design and be capable of providing design patterns
• Identify the deeper technical issues that need fixing
• Look for opportunities to collaborate and reuse components, communicating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Work with educational users to ensure the technical aspects of the platform meet teaching needs
• Have a good understanding of a broad range of technologies

Development opportunities:

Your role will form part of Welsh Government’s Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) profession. This is a growing profession and you will have the opportunity to be part of shaping and growing it. .
We are committed to developing the skills and capability of our staff and encouraging them to use five days of learning a year. To support this we offer a range of opportunities which could include:
• Shadowing
• Mentoring
• Work based learning
• Qualifications
• Coaching
• Short Term Experience Programme (STEP)
• Proactively making links and working with a wide range of Welsh Government teams and external partners including other Governments in the UK.

Closing Date:

10/08/2018, 16:00

Eligibility

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

Equality and Diversity

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

Disability Confident

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competencies / Job Specific Criteria

As part of your application, please prepare a personal statement that outlines how you meet the following ESSENTIAL requirements for the role. Your personal statement should be no more than 2 sides of A4.

To be successful for this role you will be able to:

Bridge the gap between the technical and non-technical
Translates technical concepts between software engineering, delivery management and service management so they are understood by all.

Make and guide decisions
Capable of making and guiding effective decisions, explaining clearly how the decision has been reached. The ability to understand and resolve technical disputes across varying levels of complexity and risk.

Turn business problems into technical design
The ability to work with business and technology stakeholders to translate business problems into technical designs. Creates an optimal design through an iterative process, aligning the user need with the system requirements and organisational objectives.

Understand the whole context
The ability to look beyond the immediate technical problem and identify the wider implications. Knowing relevant historical context and future impact, understanding how current work fits in broader contexts and strategies, and looking for deeper underlying problems and opportunities.

The following technical skills are also ESSENTIAL for success in this role. Please ensure you attach a CV which demonstrates your ability in relation to these skills.

• Experience of delivering high performing digital services specifically including:
o Cloud services (e.g. Microsoft Azure)
o Microsoft Azure Active Directory (domains over 10k users)
o Microsoft Office 365 (tenancies over 10k users)

• Database technologies (e.g. MS SQL server)
• Familiar with network protocols - TCP/IP, HTTP, SSL, etc.
• To have an understanding of common web application architectures


Additional evidence MAY be provided against ANY of the following DESIRABLE job specific capabilities (and will be used to distinguish between candidates assessed at a similar level). Please include this evidence in your CV.

ITIL qualified to a minimum of foundation level v3

Assessment Process

Other Information

  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
  • For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.

To apply for this role you will be asked to attach the following:
• A Personal Statement of suitability explaining how your experience and skills provide evidence against the essential requirements of the role. Your Personal Statement should be no more than two sides of A4.
• An up to date CV including evidence of the essential technical skills and any desirable job specific capabilities where applicable.

If you are successful at the sifting stage, you will be invited to interview. The interview will focus on your skills and experience in relation to the essential requirements of the role. We may also include a test or assessment if appropriate.

Following the interview, if unsuccessful, we may keep your details for up to 12 months on a reserve list should other similar posts become available.

PLEASE NOTE: It is important that you do attach both of these documents (both the Personal Statement and CV) in your online application to be considered for this role.


The Welsh Government offers a variety of benefits, including:

• Support for improving or gaining Welsh language skills for all employees
• Frequent development discussions and the training you need for your role and to grow
• Annual pay increments, allowing you to progress to the top of your pay scale within 3-4 years
• 31 days annual leave, plus a day for Christmas and the Queen’s Birthday
• Generous parental leave, including 26 weeks at full pay for qualifying employees
• Generous pension scheme with employer contributions
• Childcare Vouchers Scheme, saving up to £933/year
• Cycle to Work Scheme: choose a brand new bike up to £1000, saving at least 32%
• Advances of Salary: request advances for Christmas, computer equipment or Tenancy Deposits
• Season Ticket Loans
• Flexitime policy

James Dix - 0300 0254594

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have a disability which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to a disability in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Grievance and Complaints

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.

This vacancy is closed to applications.