UK jobs. Bigger possibilities.

hire.moi

Lead Enterprise Architect

Hybrid in Manchester·Added today (last checked 10 Nov)

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

30 open roles

Apply

Our summary

Salary
£76,339 - £100,886 a year

About £4,570 - £5,740 a month after tax.

Work mode
Hybrid, Manchester
Experience
Senior level
Closing date
Apply by Sunday 6 December
Pension
28.97% employer pension
Commute
Cycle to work and season ticket loan

Skills

Nice to have

Requirements

What we're looking for

When giving details in your employment history and personal statement you should highlight your extensive experience in line with essential criteria below:

  • Leading the enterprise scale architecture and design of business-critical IT projects/services in a large, high volume and complex organisation. Includes evidence of responsibility for architecting 'eco-systems' of products as well as individual products. Advising on high impact technology choices and product selections.
  • Presenting to large and varied technical and non-technical audiences both within the organisation, across government and externally.
  • Leading on architectural governance activities to enable effective management and architectural decision making.
  • Experience of developing reference architectures including architectural principals, patterns, standards and guidance and communicating this to an audience of peers.
  • Using architecture design and modelling techniques, patterns, tools and standards to clearly communicate concrete architectures and reference patterns.
  • Experience of data modelling, database schema design, normalization, indexing, partitioning, sharding, replication, data quality assessment and data lifecycle management.
  • Experience of selecting and using database technologies, including relational databases (e.g., Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL), NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB, DocumentDB, Cassandra, Couchbase) and other database type (Graph, Ledger, Vector).
  • Experience of different data transfer and transformation Extract, Transform, Load (ETL, ELT) tools and processes (e.g., AWS Glue, Informatica, Talend, Apache NiFi) in modern data platforms.

Pay & benefits

What you'll get

£76,339 - £100,886

See the Benefits section for full salary details.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Alongside your salary of £76,339, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £22,115 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

  • Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
  • Generous annual leave - at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro-rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
  • Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
  • Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
  • Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service.
  • Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
  • An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women's Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

The role is part of the Government Digital and Data profession and utilises an enhanced Government Digital and Data Pay Framework linked to capability which provides access to a Government Digital and Data allowance.

Pay for this role is £76,339 to £81,672, subject to candidate type. In addition to this, the role can attract a Government Digital and Data allowance of up to £24,547. Please see additional info below regarding candidate type. The value of allowance awarded will be based on an assessment of your skills as demonstrated in the selection process. Government Digital and Data Allowance is a discretionary non-consolidated, non-pensionable allowance.

Pay for this role is £76,339 plus a Government Digital and Data Allowance of up to £24,547, subject to our assessment of capability at interview.

Pay for the role is from £76,339 to £81,672, you may also be eligible for a Government Digital and Data Allowance of up to £24,547, subject to our assessment of capability at interview.

Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current base salary.

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion should either move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase to their base salary; whichever would be the greater.

In addition to your base salary a Government Digital and Data Allowance may be payable based on our assessment of your capability. Our offer to successful candidates will be based on the evidence you provide at interview against the listed Technical Skills for the role. There is no negotiation at offer stage.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.

Visa & relocation

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
  • Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

The role

Do you have strong technical Data design knowledge and experience?

Do you want to develop blueprints, reference architectures and design patterns for data?

Do you want to be part of a small core team of architects ensuring conformance of DWP's digital transformation to agreed architecture policies, principles and patterns?

Do you see multiple architects struggling with the same issues or working in silos and think 'I could help make this better'?

Are you good at engaging with senior influential architecture and product stakeholders?

Do you want an opportunity to explore all the above to see if it's a good match for you?

If so, we have an opportunity as a Lead Enterprise Architect with a deep skills, knowledge and experience of enterprise-wide data and data architecture. You will share your Data domain knowledge and experience to drive IT and data strategy, including definition of the tools and techniques most appropriate for the environment.

The Architecture Strategy team is actively supporting a range of high‑profile, strategic change initiatives across the Department, ensuring they are guided, shaped and aligned to deliver the best possible business outcomes.

The role provides the opportunity to work closely with key stakeholders across the transformation landscape, providing insight, challenge and strategic direction.

This is a unique opportunity to influence major programmes and play a pivotal role in defining the future enterprise architecture for DWP.

This is an exciting time to join us. You'll shape the future and support our mission to deliver exceptional products and services that work for everyone.

This Lead Enterprise Architect role leads at the highest level and is responsible for ensuring the strategy is developed, agreed and followed.

At this role level, you will:

  • Network and communicate with senior stakeholders across domains or enterprises and actively seek opportunities for improvement.
  • Support multiple communities and teams.
  • Find and use best practice.
  • Find and use emerging technologies and approaches.
  • Inspire other enterprise architects and help them understand how to meet organisational goals.
  • Horizon scan for external influences or risks.
  • Support successful delivery of the long-term strategy.
  • Be responsible for the overall direction of business and digital capabilities.

How you'll work

Permanent

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

This role may be located in one of the following locations; Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Sheffield.

Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here.

Please note: for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, the role will initially be based at Benton Park View. It will then move to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.

For candidates requesting to work in Sheffield King's Court, please note these roles will initially be based at King's Court and then move to 1 West Bar by early 2028.

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.

If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.

If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.

Reference number

487398

Job grade

Grade 6

Number of jobs available

1

Job contact

  • Name : Natalie Selby
  • Email : Natalie.selby1@dwp.gov.uk

Share this page

Hiring process

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Leadership
  • Changing and Improving
  • Communicating and Influencing

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

  • Architecture communication (Expert)
  • Architect for the whole context - (Expert)
  • Enterprise Architecture - (Expert)
  • Making architectural decisions - (Expert)
  • Strategy design - (Practitioner)
  • Problem definition and shaping - (Expert)

Our offer to successful candidates will be based on our assessment of your capability based on the evidence you provide at interview against the listed Technical Skills for the role. There is no negotiation at offer stage.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Stage 1: Application

Your application will consist of three parts:

1. A Personal Details application form.

2. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed based on the essential criteria.

3. Personal statement - up to 1250 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person specification.

Ensure that all examples provided in your statement are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statement, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.

The sift panel will use the information in your employment history and personal statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria.

You will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your CV and Personal Statement.

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

Stage 2: Interview 1

If you're successful at sift stage, you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams.

You will be asked to do a 10-minute presentation to further assess your experience and to assess the technical skill of skill "Architecture Communication (Expert)". The presentation should focus on the following:

  • Describe a business-critical data solution you have architected where trade-offs were necessary to achieve alignment between business and technology stakeholders. In your presentation, explain the business, data and technical context, the challenges faced, the architectural approach taken, the trade-offs made, and how you managed stakeholders to deliver the desired outcomes.

Stage 3: Interview 2

If you are successful at stage 2, you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours and Technical Skills:

  • Leadership
  • Changing and Improving
  • Communicating and Influencing.

Interviews will take place from early January 2027. Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed.

To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the interview questions in advance of the interview, at least 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up questions, and those about your experience and abilities. Candidates may be asked further probing questions if their response is deemed to require further information to determine suitability for the role.

Candidates are strongly encouraged to secure their interview slot promptly to ensure fairness in preparation time with the questions provided in advance.

About Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Industry
Government Administration

In their own words

About the company & team

DWP - Digital

Architecture and Data
Digital
Information Technology

  • Email : digitalrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Additional information

Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 6th December 2026

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Natalie.selby1@dwp.gov.uk.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

  • You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
  • Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
  • If your employment history/personal statement contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn.

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location.

Please note that for these vacancies we recommend that applicants seek specialist advice on their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship (if applicable) when considering whether to apply for any role. We can never guarantee sponsorship, requests will be considered in line with the relevant DWP guidance and Home Office policy in place at the time.

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

  • If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual Part Time Working Pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health).
  • If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the "Reasonable Adjustments" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples of plagiarism can include:

  • Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own
  • Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check will be carried out.

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.

Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP's Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.

Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.

Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at the Childcare Choices Website.

For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DWP by email: HR.BUSINESSASSURANCE@DWP.GOV.UK.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service mmission.

All open roles at Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

More jobs like this

or browse Manchester·Engineering·Senior·Hybrid·Civil Service & Government·Government Administration

WhatsApp

More jobs from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

See all 30 jobs

Similar jobs