Job Details
Technical Infrastructure Architect
Location: Surrey
Department: IT & Data
Contract: Temporary / Project-based – Local Government Reorganisation
Grade: Grade 11
Reports to: Enterprise Infrastructure Delivery Manager
Role Overview
Surrey County Council is seeking an experienced Technical Infrastructure Architect to provide technical architecture leadership and design assurance as part of the Council’s Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) programme.
Working within the Technical Fundamentals workstream, the successful candidate will help ensure that all Safe & Legal Day-1 IT requirements are met, enabling staff to securely access core systems, applications and data throughout the transition to the new authorities.
The role will assess and rationalise legacy infrastructure across 12 councils, developing safe, resilient and practical transition and convergence options across networking, identity, Microsoft 365, telephony and cyber security.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide technical architecture leadership and design assurance across the Technical Fundamentals workstream.
- Assess the current infrastructure estate across 12 councils, identifying dependencies, constraints, risks and opportunities for rationalisation.
- Develop and assure transition and convergence architectures across:
- Enterprise networking and connectivity
- Identity and access management
- Microsoft 365 tenants and domains
- Telephony and contact centres
- Cyber security controls
- Hosting and infrastructure platforms
- Develop clear technical design standards, architecture documentation and technical decision records.
- Ensure proposed solutions meet service continuity, operational resilience, security and integration requirements.
- Assess legacy infrastructure and recommend appropriate migration, integration, consolidation or retirement strategies.
- Translate business and operational requirements into robust, practical technical designs.
- Identify, manage and escalate technical risks, dependencies and delivery issues.
- Work closely with technical SMEs, project managers, suppliers, delivery partners and stakeholders across the participating councils.
- Coordinate technical activity across multiple workstreams and third-party suppliers.
- Provide technical direction, prioritisation and assurance to multidisciplinary delivery teams.
- Support major IT transformation and transition activity while minimising disruption to critical services.
- Apply agile and DevOps principles where appropriate, including continuous deployment, testing and risk management.
- Provide clear technical advice and recommendations to senior stakeholders, explaining complex technical issues in an outcome-focused manner.
Essential Experience
- Significant experience working as a Technical Architect, Infrastructure Architect or similar senior architecture role.
- Strong experience of technical infrastructure, enterprise networking and architecture design.
- Proven experience designing and implementing network, infrastructure and identity integration solutions.
- Experience of large-scale IT transformation, migration, integration or infrastructure rationalisation.
- Experience working across complex, multi-organisation or enterprise environments.
- Strong understanding of Microsoft 365, including tenant and domain dependencies.
- Experience of identity and access management and integrating different identity environments.
- Experience of technical risk assessment, business continuity and operational resilience.
- Experience working with APIs, microservices and interdependent technical delivery teams.
- Experience coordinating technical teams, suppliers and third-party delivery partners.
- Strong stakeholder management, communication, influencing and negotiation skills.
- Ability to translate business requirements into robust and deliverable technical architectures.
Desirable Experience
- Previous experience within local government or the wider public sector.
- Experience supporting a merger, reorganisation, consolidation or multi-organisation technology transformation.
- Knowledge of cross-government procurement frameworks and technology platforms.
- Experience working with diverse user groups and senior stakeholders.
- Knowledge of sustainable technology practices and reducing the environmental impact of IT.
Skills & Knowledge
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Technical infrastructure architecture
- Enterprise networking and connectivity
- Infrastructure integration and migration
- Identity and access management
- Microsoft 365
- Cyber security and technical controls
- Cloud and hosting technologies
- Legacy estate rationalisation
- Technical design and architecture assurance
- Business continuity and operational resilience
- Agile and DevOps methodologies
- Risk and dependency management
- Supplier and stakeholder management
- Strong analytical and problem-solving ability
Role Requirements
This is a senior technical specialist position requiring someone who can operate confidently across multiple organisations and technical disciplines.
There is no formal line management responsibility, but the postholder will be expected to coordinate multidisciplinary technical teams, suppliers and delivery partners, providing direction, prioritisation and escalation where required.
The ideal candidate will be comfortable operating at both strategic and technical levels, taking complex infrastructure requirements and turning them into clear, achievable architecture and transition plans.
Ideal Candidate
The strongest candidate is likely to be a Senior/Lead Infrastructure or Technical Architect who has worked on large-scale infrastructure transformation, integration or consolidation programmes.
Experience within local government is highly desirable, particularly where the candidate has worked across multiple organisations or complex legacy IT estates. However, candidates from other large public-sector or enterprise environments with comparable transformation experience may also be suitable.
Apply
To apply for this job email your details to recruitment@carringtonblake.com.
