Head Of Architecture And Design

About Us

More than half the UK working population rely on The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to regulate their retirement savings. With a career at TPR, you’ll be joining an organisation that will impact on millions of lives for decades to come.

Everyone at TPR plays an important role in helping to keep more than £2 trillion of savings safe. We’re committed to bringing people into TPR who are ready to make a difference and put UK savers at the heart of what we do.

It is important to us that TPR remains a great place to work. We do all we can to help our people reach their full potential with learning, secondment, and development opportunities. We put our 900+ employees first, supporting flexible working and offer a diverse, lively, and inclusive environment. This includes our Disability Network, LGBT+ Network (Proud), Minority Ethnic Network, Time to Change Champions (mental health), and Women’s Network which offer spaces to connect.

Our new corporate strategy outlines a bold and challenging vision of how pensions regulation should evolve to keep pace with a change in the scale and nature of the industry. We are at the start of that journey. Join us to find out what part you can play.

We operate a hybrid working model, with regular attendance in our Brighton office to connect with colleagues across the business.

Role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Architecture and Design to join our senior Digital Services team, part of the recently formed Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Directorate in a key leadership role.

Our DDaT vision is that we want to be a catalyst for pensions innovation and regulatory effectiveness. Using digital, data, and technology to revolutionise pension regulation, making it more efficient, secure, transparent, and customer centred. You will have the ability to lead from the front, translate strategy into sustainable solutions, and inspire and empower a team of experts around a common goal.

Our Digital team is undergoing transformation turning our existing capabilities into a modern, and high-performing digital function with agility, user-centricity and innovation embedded throughout. As Head of Architecture and Design, you will inform and develop capabilities to empower the transformation of TPR into a Service Domain and Data Enabled regulator.

We are on a fast-paced journey, and in recent years TPR has gone through significant technological and business change, including having fully migrated to Microsoft Azure. As part of these new systems, we have an enterprise-scale Azure data platform and engineering capability.  

We are looking for a skilled and enthusiastic person to join the senior leadership team in Digital Services, who has the proven ability to help an organisation understand and believe in its strategic direction and how it will deliver against the digital strategy.

This is an exciting time to join our growing team and play a vital role in our continuing journey of data-enabled design transformation, making data the key enabler in our mission to put the savers at the heart of everything we do. 

Responsibilities 

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Strategic direction: Own the enterprise architecture vision, strategy, and roadmaps from a TPR, digital technology and data perspective, including the ‘as is’ ‘to be’ and transitional states.
• Leadership: Leading, managing and developing a skilled set of solution and technical architects, embedded into service teams, as well as conducting innovation discovery with internal and external parties. Lead and influence the delivery of cross-cutting capabilities that enable change. Develop the architecture community. Identify priorities for change to enable delivery at pace.
• Stakeholder management: Act as an ambassador and champion to cultivate relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders to generate consensus as to the practice of Architecture as well as developing wider relationships such as via Communities of Practice. Collaborate and consult with stakeholders to assure business, technology and data decisions are aligned with enterprise architecture strategy.
• Design and Innovation: Guide the organisation to make appropriate business, technology and data decisions by recommending reuse, sustainability and scalability, to achieve value for money and reduce risk. Carry out horizon scanning across industry, identifying emerging trends and their potential impact and opportunity for the organisation. Own and maintain the architectural principles, framework, and methodologies, remaining up to date with industry best practice, to enable the greatest value for TPR in delivering a technology and data enabled organisation. Ensuring the overall Technology portfolio is suitably budgeted and planned in line with the TPR Service and Platform team model.
• Governance: Understand the organisation’s ecosystem and its interdependencies, including reference architectures. Take a strategic view across all architectural domains, portfolios and programmes. Establish and maintain architectural principles, policies and standards. Establish and maintain effective guiderails for technology, digital and data choices, anchored to the Digital, Data and Technology principles. Working with architecture teams, both within TPR and other departmental bodies to ensure that capability developed allows them to meet all architecture-related controls within TPR’s Information controls and more broadly reflects the relevant parts of the TPR Policies and Standards including ISO27001.

Essential and Desirable Criteria

Essential:

• Proven experience in leading Solutions and Technology Architecture, handling complex, high-risk initiatives, and driving technology strategic direction in technical and project/service execution areas.
• Experience in leading complex technology design and delivery, with a focus on setting clear, outcome-focused objectives and maintaining strategic vision with delegated responsibilities.
• Established an innovative technology environment, fostering quick hypothesis testing and validation through proofs of concept and pilots, enabling efficient, iterative delivery models.
• Proficiency in architecting and Designing technology MVPs and scaled changes, facilitating the realization of efficient delivery methods and the achievement of target state blueprints.
• Excellent knowledge of methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, ITIL), Web, Cloud, API and Database architecture & design principles and patterns.
• Ability to operate at both a tactical and strategic level, able to switch easily between the two to support the leadership of a diverse multi-disciplinary team, working at conceptual and practical levels and turning vision into reality.
• Ability to develop detailed understanding of complex customer needs, issues and priorities, allowing to balance and mitigate risks whilst ensuring objectives are achieved, finding elegant and simple solutions to problems.

Desirable:

Relevant industry qualifications: TOGAF, BCS Certificate in Enterprise and Solutions Architecture, MSP, PRINCE 2, SAFe.

Person Specification:

• Excellent communication and listening skills across all levels of business.
• People and performance management skills.
• Believe in being a visible and accessible role model.
• Committed to creating a positive, empowered and inclusive culture.
• Problem solving and analytical skills.
• Critical thinking.
• Creative and innovative approach

Salary and Benefits

As well as a salary between £84,011 and £107,348, we offer:

• Civil Service Pension arrangements, which are recognised as some of the best in the pensions world
• Discretionary bonus arrangements
• Access to performance related pay progression
• 25 days annual leave provision
• Flexible working arrangements
• Development opportunities
• Enhanced parental leave arrangements
• A free employee assistance programme
• An excellent office location in Brighton.

How to Apply

To apply please email via the button below quoting role reference number 148213 along with: 

• a statement no longer than 300 words, describing why you would be a suitable candidate and how your experience and skills meet our essential criteria.
• a copy of your CV.

First stage interviews will be taking place from 01 July 2024 with second stage interviews starting from 10 July 2024. When applying, ensure you are available during this time.

Current TPR employees in their first 12 months of employment who want to apply for this vacancy should first contact their line manager to discuss their application.

We are an inclusive employer and offer equal opportunities regardless of an individual’s age, disability, gender identity, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to the recruitment, employment, retention, and development of people with disabilities, and to improving their employment opportunities. Candidates who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the job will be offered an interview.

Applications will be considered on a part time and job share basis.

In accordance with Home Office guidance, the successful candidate will be required to provide their right to work in the UK before they start employment. Unfortunately, TPR is not able to offer sponsorship at the time. TPR is a UK-based organisation with a working location in Brighton, candidates must live in the UK to be employed by us.

The Pensions Regulator is an arm’s length government body and part of the public service. 

Any offer of employment will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory background screening checks and criminal record checks (BPSS).

If you have any queries about this role, or if you have a disability and wish to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please email.