Head of Architecture (Realisation) - 6 Months Rolling - Reading

This role is a leadership role which will require the post-holder to demonstrate exceptional leadership as well as deep and wide-ranging technical skills in delivery, management and strategic direction setting of Cloud Services.

The post-holder will be required to develop, grow and lead the centre of excellence of an area which is technically challenging and fast moving. The spread of Cloud services, encompassing EU Exit systems and other platforms which are key to the ability, its ALB and its end-users to perform every day activities, means that the post holder will be accountable for a wide range of services which are at the very heart of our clients IT provision.

Key Skills:

• Reporting to the Director of Group Infrastructure and Operations, the role will be responsible for establishing and leading a new Cloud Service Centre, which will deliver, co-ordinate and carry out the activities and processes required to deliver and manage Cloud services at agreed levels to business users and customers.
• EU Exit application delivery is entirely dependent upon the Cloud Service Centre: the post-holder leads and has accountability for the delivery of services within the Cloud Service Centre. Therefore this is a pivotal role for DDTS in supporting EU Exit both during the provisioning phase and beyond.
• The post holder will play a key role within the Infrastructure and Operations Leadership Team.
• The Leadership Team is participating in a complex transformation programme for both people (aligning the resources from EA and the parts into the target operating model) and IT (under UnITY), which will deliver a more streamlined, high impact function.
• The role holder will be responsible for delivering the CSC elements of this activity, and aligning the CSC resources into the transformation timelines set for DDTS
• The post holder will be required to develop strong relationships withour client's group's delivery bodies and Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) in order to deliver core IT services as part of the Service Management Operating Model.
• The post-holder will provide the necessary environment to facilitate the implementation of the new operating model for the Cloud Service Centre and to align it to the new Service Management Operating Model policy and processes. In addition the post-holder will champion the introduction and development of agile processes to align with the Service Management Operating Model.
• The post holder will lead a highly technical team which is fully accountable for the effective delivery and development of Cloud services. The post requires strong leadership skills and the ability to remain calm under pressure; the capability to lead and motivate people across different locations; and proven experience of IT incident management.
• The post-holder will work with Architects and business stakeholders to develop technology roadmaps, including the evaluation of automation tools, products and technology to support recommendations relating to the Cloud lifecycle, improvement and standardization strategies.
• The post-holder will keep up to date with industry trends, and challenge teams and suppliers to ensure that maintenance schedules and the technology landscape reflect industry best practice and best value for the Authority. As our client is leading the way in the development and implementation of Cloud services within Government, the post-holder will be expected to work across Government groups to share knowledge and best practice.
• Leading a team required to provide 24x7 technical response to service affecting Cloud incidents, the post requires a strong technical understanding of the Cloud platforms to be able to deal with escalations and make judgement calls to support the team. The post holder will be the senior most point of technical escalation for Cloud Services and must have a deep technical understanding of the services which will underpin all Cloud delivery.
• The role holder will be also expected to take part in out of hours Executive level decision making.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please apply now with your updated CV in word/PDF format.

Notwithstanding any guidelines given to level of experience sought, we will consider candidates from outside this range if they can demonstrate the necessary competencies.

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