Job Description

Technical Architect

Fixed Term / Secondment (12 months), Full Time

£65,207 - £76,713 per annum

Location: Chelmsford*

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Closing Date: 15th July 2026

*This is a hybrid-working role contractually based in Chelmsford. You will work from the Chelmsford office at least one day per week, depending on business need.

Essex County Council is transforming how residents access and experience council services through a major Resident Experience Programme. This programme will modernise our digital services, enabling residents to interact with the council more easily, efficiently and consistently across a range of channels.

We are looking for an experienced Technical Architect to help shape and deliver the technical vision for this transformation. Working as part of our Architecture and Design function, you will provide architectural leadership across a complex portfolio of digital products, cloud platforms, integrations and resident-facing services.

The role requires a strong blend of cloud architecture, software engineering and solution design expertise. You will work closely with development teams, product managers, business stakeholders and suppliers to create scalable, secure and resilient technology solutions that improve outcomes for residents and support the council's long-term digital ambitions.

As Essex County Council continues to evolve through Local Government Reorganisation and wider public sector transformation, this role offers a unique opportunity to influence the future architecture of critical resident services at significant scale.

Role responsibilities

• Define and maintain the technical architecture vision, standards and roadmap for the Resident Experience Programme.
• Design end-to-end technical solutions that support modern, user-centred and integrated resident services.
• Lead the architectural design of cloud-native platforms, applications and integrations, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, resilient and cost-effective.
• Work closely with multidisciplinary delivery teams, including developers, product managers, business analysts and service designers, providing technical leadership throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Collaborate with Solution Architects, Enterprise Architects and technology teams to ensure alignment with council-wide architectural principles, strategies and roadmaps.
• Produce and maintain architecture artefacts including solution designs, interface specifications, architecture decision records and transition roadmaps.
• Provide technical assurance and governance for projects and programmes, ensuring compliance with security, data, architectural and technology standards.
• Identify opportunities to improve resident experiences through the effective use of cloud technologies, digital platforms, integration patterns and emerging technologies.
• Support the evolution of development practices, DevOps capabilities and cloud operating models across delivery teams.
• Build effective relationships with suppliers and partners, providing challenge and guidance to ensure solutions deliver maximum value.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear and accessible language for senior business stakeholders and programme leadership teams.
• Contribute to strategic technology planning, helping shape future digital capabilities in support of council priorities and organisational change.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Educated to degree level (RQF Level 6) or equivalent relevant experience.
• Significant experience working as a Technical Architect, Solution Architect or similar architecture role within a complex organisation.
• Strong experience designing and implementing cloud-based solutions, particularly within Microsoft Azure environments.
• Strong software engineering and application development background with a clear understanding of modern development practices and architectures.
• Experience designing distributed, API-led and event-driven architectures.
• Experience working closely with development teams in Agile and product-centred delivery environments.
• Knowledge of DevOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code and modern platform engineering practices.
• Experience designing secure, resilient and scalable digital services.
• Excellent understanding of integration architectures, data flows and enterprise systems.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience producing architecture artefacts, technical designs and governance documentation.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to lead architectural discussions and build consensus across diverse stakeholder groups.

To read more about us please visit: Corporate Services - Working for Essex

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site: devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR).

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.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

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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