The civil service’s central HR team is looking for a new head of strategy and architecture, with the leading candidate set to play “a key role in Government’s Digital by Default transformation”.
The 800-strong Civil Service HR (CSHR) team, based in the Cabinet Office, supports central government departments with HR policy, aiming to help the disparate parts of the civil service learn lessons on what works and what doesn’t in areas including recruitment, training and employee engagement.
The digital and analysis team is responsible for overseeing recruitment platforms used right across government, carrying out data analysis and research for departments, and managing online training services for staff across Whitehall and beyond.
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The team is now looking to appoint a new head of strategy and architecture, who it says will be responsible for “setting the architectural direction” for CSHR, and will be tasked with drawing up and implementing the organisation’s architecture framework. The Grade 6 job carries a base salary of £64,000-71,000 for those outside of London, with London hires expect to command between £68,000 and £75,000.
“The role will require significant experience in all aspects of architecture, including business capability, business information, solutions and technical architectures, gained through hands-on involvement in developing real-world digital services,” a job specification posted online says.
“You will also have the ability to set the digital and transformation strategy for CSHR, leading organisation-level decisions on how we improve our services and the employee experience. You will be comfortable leading the definition and implementation of the roadmap for our overall architecture as well as acting as technical lead for each team’s specific projects.”
The digital team in CSHR also oversees the technology strategy for the government’s flagship shared services initiative - which aims to merge back office roles and cut down on duplication - and the recruitment drive makes clear that the new head of strategy and architecture will play a lead role in that process.
It says the new recruit will help CSHR to spot “where we can reuse technology across different services” and advise “on the identification and development of common/shared services across the CSHR architectural landscape”.
The new hire will also be expected to hold suppliers’ feet to the fire, with CSHR saying they will have to ensure delivery partners’ solutions are “robust, scalable, open and secure, with appropriate overall solution design and integration points, to deliver a high quality user experience”.
They will be tasked with “challenging and advising on programming, design and architecture methods to be used when necessary”, and lead “value for money challenges of technical proposals”, the ad states.
CSHR says it is looking for somebody who has successfully led organisational transformation projects, and makes clear that it is seeking a big hitter used to leading teams and “managing stakeholders, forming strategic partnerships and communicating at senior/board level”.
Those interested in hurling their hat into the ring have until midnight on April 6 to do so, with CSHR saying it will start interviewing in the week beginning April 9.