Lead Technical Architect – Teacher Services

Closing date for applications: 24/10/2019

OVERVIEW OF ROLE

Specialist role	Technical Architect
Summary of the work	DfE requires a Lead Technical Architect to provide technical leadership to product teams across an established and growing service line. The specialist will be providing technology strategy and guidance to agile product teams and ensuring architecture and development are conducted in line with GDS standards.
Latest start date	25/11/2019
Expected contract length	12m+option to extend 6m. SOW1 expected to be 6m. Any further SOW subject to approvals.
Location	London
Organisation the work is for	Department for Education
Maximum day rate	£710

ABOUT THE WORK

Early market engagement	None.
Who the specialist will work with	The team consists of Service Owner, Product Managers, Delivery Managers, Developers, User Researchers, Business Analysts, Content Designers, Deputy Directors and is made up of a mixture of Civil Servants and Suppliers.
What the specialist will work on	Supporting and guiding teams in the development of services across the service line. Working closely with the Service Owner and their leadership team. Setting good practices for software development and delivery. Engaging with third-parties on integrations and other matters. Preparing services to go through the GDS Service Standard Assessment. Contributing to and directing growth of a development community. Engaging in wider organisation architecture and security governance transformation in line with digital delivery. Helping with the operational and support model for services. Review and input on resourcing requirements for technical specialists.

WORK SETUP

Address where the work will take place	Department for Education 20 Great Smith St Westminster London SW1P 3BT
Working arrangements	Co-located working principally from the DfE's London office, maximising opportunity for engagement with the delivery teams and stakeholders. In relation to expenses, this must be included in the contract sum, there is not a separate budget for expenses. Operate a standard agile methodology: daily stand-ups, sprint planning, sprints, retrospectives, show and tells. Supplier will lead by being a role model in agile working.
Security clearance	BPSS as a minimum.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Additional terms and conditions	Standard Framework and Call Off T&Cs. Any expenses must be pre-agreed and comply with DfE Travel and Subsistence Policy. Primary work location in SoW will not attract expenses. Contract and Vendor Management will form a key part of governance. Suppliers will be expected to cooperate in a manner that fosters healthy working relationships and quality delivery. Suppliers must provide sufficient guarantees to meet the requirements of GDPR in line with PPN 03/17 Changes to Data Protection Legislation & GDPR.

Additional terms and conditions

Standard Framework and Call Off T&Cs. Any expenses must be pre-agreed and comply with DfE Travel and Subsistence Policy. Primary work location in SoW will not attract expenses. Contract and Vendor Management will form a key part of governance. Suppliers will be expected to cooperate in a manner that fosters healthy working relationships and quality delivery. Suppliers must provide sufficient guarantees to meet the requirements of GDPR in line with PPN 03/17 Changes to Data Protection Legislation & GDPR.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

How many specialists to evaluate	3
Cultural fit criteria	Demonstrate their approach to engaging with internal senior stakeholders undergoing cultural change and how this will support project success. Demonstrate how they will work transparently, collaboratively and share their approach with the DfE project team and seek actionable feedback. Demonstrate their approach to knowledge and skills transfer to permanent members of staff. Describe recent (within the last 3 years) experience working in the public sector or other highly regulated sector. Explain how they will ensure collaboration at all levels of the project and programme delivery between users, team members and management, giving examples of where they have taken this approach.
Assessment methods
Evaluation weighting	Technical competence 60% Cultural fit 20% Price 20%

EXPERIENCE

Essential skills and experience

Have experience leading technical teams and delivering user-focused services in a large organisation
Demonstrate strong software development and application architecture experience using open source technologies
Have experience of Ruby on Rails
Be able to adapt quickly to new technologies
Demonstrate experience scaling online services
Demonstrate awareness of emerging security issues
Be able to read and understand solution design documentation
Have experience of prioritising work in a fast, user-centric environment
Understand agile environments, continual delivery techniques and devops cultures
Be able to influence senior management and communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences
Have experience of working to the GDS Service Standard, Technology Code of Practice and taking services through assessments
Understand technical governance and be able to participate in or deliver the assurance of a service
Be capable of producing strategy for technology that meets user and business needs (able to create, refine and challenge patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements).

Nice-to-have skills and experience

Have the ability to influence how digital services are delivered, both at DfE and across government
Have an awareness to budget in an on-demand environment and an understanding of legal implications
Have experience of cloud technologies, infrastructure-as-code, enterprise integration tools and extract, transformation and load (ETL) tools
Have experience designing and implementing secure systems
Have experience mentoring technical staff and managing stakeholders
Have experience working in a dynamic organisation with rapidly expanding users and changing requirements
Have experience of forming government best practices, standards and policies
Have experience initiating projects, participating in workshops to gather user needs and building prototypes
Be willing to travel to client locations and activities on occasion

EXPRESS INTEREST

Closing date for applications: 24/10/2019