Azure Technical Architect

On behalf of the Intellectual Property Office we are looking for an Azure Technical Architect (Inside IR35) for a 12 month contract. Remote working with occasional travel to Newport. 

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official UK government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, designs, trademarks and copyright. Our ambition is to be the best IP office, and we intend to achieve this by:

• Delivering excellent IP services
• Creating a world leading IP environment
• Making the IPO a brilliant place to work

We operate and maintain a clear and accessible intellectual property system in the UK, which encourages innovation and helps the economy and society to benefit from knowledge and ideas. We help people get the right type of protection for their creation or invention.

We are responsible for:

• IPO Policy
• educating businesses and consumers about IP rights and responsibilities
• supporting IP enforcement
• granting UK Patents, trademarks and design rights

We have a small office in the heart of London, but our main office is on the outskirts of Newport, South Wales.

About us - Intellectual Property Office - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

As an Azure Technical Architect your main responsibilities will be to:

• Work with service squads, project and operational teams, leading and owning elements of the technology architecture with a focus on Microsoft Azure.
• Lead and design technical solutions for the Cloud Azure based platform.
• Provide technical leadership and expertise, identifying, selecting and creating appropriate technical solutions based on user needs and business requirements.
• Analyse the needs of large deliveries, breaking them down into smaller manageable components ensuring appropriate software, hardware and integration methods are employed.
• Present relevant and appropriate documentation at governance boards such as the Technical Design Authority.
• Liaise with architects from other areas and disciplines to ensure alignment of architectures across your areas of responsibility.
• As required work alongside Delivery Partners to ensure the requirements of the IPO are met and delivered in line with statements of work, the organisations strategic direction, principles, policies and standards.
• Act as a critical friend to stakeholders ensuring decisions are understood and consider risk, cost, time and quality.
• Horizon scanning and continuous research on emerging technologies and services that would benefit the IPO.
• Continually develop expertise in architecture disciplines and technologies to ensure knowledge is kept relevant.
• Deliver solutions across multiple teams ensuring engagement of stakeholders.
• Contribute to the creation and adoption of best practice across the architecture profession and promotes the capability across the IPO.

Essential:

• SC Clearance is an essential requirement for this role, as a minimum you must be willing & eligible to undergo checks. (Please note, due to the exceptional requirements of this position (short-term nature of this role and speed at which we require a postholder in situ) preference may be given to candidates who meet all of the essential criteria and hold active security clearance.) 
• Strong and demonstrable technical architecture experience, turning business problems into technical designs.
• Demonstratable experience of Azure related Serverless components.
• Experience of using engineering tools such as .Net and C# to be able to build protypes.
• Strong communication skills, especially clearly communicating technical material to non-technical audiences.
• Knowledge of Software development life cycle and corresponding methodologies.
• Experience of designing API Driven Solutions.
• Demonstrate experience of creating and applying technology strategies using technical standards, policies and patterns.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident 

As a Disability Confident employer, IPO encourage applications from disabled and neurodivergent candidates. Applications from candidates who identify as having a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be prioritised for review. Where application volumes are high, additional role-specific and desirable criteria may be applied as part of the shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

Armed Forces Covenant 

IPO welcome applications from veterans, service leavers, reservists and military spouses or partners. Applications from eligible candidates who meet the essential criteria for the role will be prioritised for review. Where application volumes are high, additional role-specific and desirable criteria may be applied as part of the shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".