Head of Architecture - Digital

About the role

Head of Architecture - Digital

Permanent, Full Time

£74,368 to £87,492 per annum plus benefits

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: 6th January 2025

*This is a hybrid-working role, with attendance in the Chelmsford office expected to be up to 1-2 days per week, depending on business need.

Please note we intend to invite successful applicants to interview in-person in County Hall, Chelmsford, on 20th January 2025.

Essex County Council is ambitious and by 2030 it will be one of the most forward looking, effective and financially sustainable Councils in the country. ECC will be a leading-edge digital council that drives excellent customer service with transformation at the heart of service excellence.

The Head of Architecture is a significant new technical expert leadership role, providing the strategic ‘matrix’ oversight, leadership and coordination (including task assignment) across the Enterprise and Solution Architect roles and the Technology Programme leads.

The role will focus on the needs of the user ensuring every aspect of architectural design is user-centric and evidence based, bridging the gap between the technical teams and the user, managing new demand, providing subject matter expertise and ensuring collaboration between all technical teams to deliver and successfully implement exemplar customer services.

The Opportunity

Roles at this level will provide expert professional advice to inform corporate management and development of the Council as a whole. They will lead on turning this advice into business cases for political approval. The service delivery requirements and standards are usually clearly defined by the Director with annual staff and financial budgets. The role is accountable for:

The translation of system leadership thinking (typically annual plans) to their area of work to deliver the political objectives and priorities of the Council and ensure that all risks are actively managed.
Working collaboratively across the council and thinking commercially, to support the delivery of best possible outcomes for our customers on a financially sustainable basis.
Maintaining and nurturing collaborative relationships for the function with external organisations, that support the delivery of annual plans and develop a joined understanding of likely longer-term developments.
Identifying opportunities using evidence-based insight for improvement within their area of work, managing the changes so the highest possible levels of service quality are continually delivered.
Implementing commercial and innovative solutions to emerging and complex issues that meet the needs of customers and deliver the best possible outcomes within agreed resources.
Effective utilisation of digital technologies and innovation across the council and with stakeholders and partners
Celebrating Equality and Diversity and ensuring it is considered as part of all decisions taken.
Using professional expertise to develop and translate functional strategies, goals and plans into their area of work, that prioritises resources, complies with relevant legislation and statutory requirements and manages a level of appropriate risk.
Managing the delivery of exemplar customer interactions to individuals and communities which support the management of strong relationships and a reputation for achieving outcomes and resolving issues.

Service Accountabilities

Building on a thorough understanding of the business strategy and objectives and through working with stakeholders across the organisation, lead the development of enterprise-wide service architecture and processes to enable the strategic application of change in the organisation ensuring the buy-in of all key stakeholders.
Responsible for ensuring that Corporate and Directorate Service Design Solutions align to corporate business and technical architectures, the Technical Design Authority, the Technology Services Investment Board and the Council’s Plans and Strategies to support the delivery of the strategic aims in Everyone’s Essex Annual Plans.
Accountable for developing a bold service design vision and translating this into a roadmap of prioritised deliverables and establishing consensus both internally and with key external stakeholders.
Accountable for ensuring appropriate user experience analysis, design and evaluation processes and activities are in place to ensure continuous and strategically informed service improvement.
Accountable for ensuring that colleagues in the Essex Digital Service (EDS) and across the wider council work closely together to understand, document and design digital services and products to meet the needs of all users and deliver accessible and impactful services to residents.
Leading the development across the Council of service blueprints which give the end-to-end picture of a service with all the component parts and interdependencies that make up the service, to ensure all players understand their role in developing and delivering services and products that deliver accessible and impactful services enabling residents to interact with services and access information about themselves in one place.
Responsible for defining strategic digital service design risks at both corporate and service levels to manage reputational risks and risks to the security of the council’s data and assets.
Lead the provision of expert advice and guidance to the Commercial Team to the evaluation of supplier bids to ensure that service requirements are met, are fit for purpose and align to corporate business and technical architectures, the Technical Design Authority and Technology Services Investment Board.

The Experience You Will Bring

Educated to degree level or equivalent by experience. Degree preferred in computer science or scientific discipline.
Evidence of continued professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area. Membership to recognised technical excellence body preferred such as British Computing Society (BCS).
Trained in appropriate critical technical standards such as TOGAF, SIAM and ITIL.
Evidence of understanding of the culture, processes, business models and technologies of the internet era, including experience of how these can be designed into services and applied to meet raised expectations.
Desirable to have substantial experience of technology within the public sector, particularly local government.
Excellent leadership and communication skills with an ability to influence and motivate high performing teams to closely collaborate to deliver service objectives.
Experience of creating and proactively leading change initiatives in a complex environment at a similar scale.

What’s in it for you?

Generous Time Off: Starting with 27 days of holiday, which increases with your length of service, plus 8 bank holidays and up to 4 paid volunteer days each year to give back to your community.
Secure Your Future: Benefit from enrolment in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), ensuring your financial security for the future.
Health and Wellbeing: Access to comprehensive medical insurance to keep you and your family healthy.
Travel: Choose between our car provision scheme or an annual allowance to suit your needs.
Professional Growth: We cover the payment of professional fees for approved professions, supporting your career development.
Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of hybrid working arrangements, allowing you to balance work with your personal life.

To read more please visit our Pay & Reward page on our careers site.

Why Essex?

Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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Head of Architecture – Digital