Job summary
- Main area
- IT
- Grade
- Band 8c
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 025-AC029-0225
- Employer
- Digital Health and Care Wales
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hybrid working
- Town
- Location to be confirmed at interview
- Salary
- £75,405 - £86,885 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/03/2025 23:59
Employer heading
Head of Solution Architecture
Band 8c
Digital Health and Care Wales is an ambitious organisation created by Welsh Government to lead on the digital transformation of health and care. It builds on the digital architecture and national services put in place by the NHS Wales Informatics Service over the past decade.
The organisation will lead on large-scale developments that make a significant difference to the people of Wales as well as to health and care professionals, such as expansion of the digital patient record and the creation of a National Data Resource. It will improve the way data is collected, shared and used. Please check your email account regularly. Successful applicants will receive all recruitment related correspondence via the email account registered on the application form.
All applicants are invited to apply in Welsh, any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English.
Job overview
Architect the Future of Healthcare in Wales
Are you ready to leverage your architectural leadership to revolutionise healthcare technology and make a tangible impact on the lives of millions?
Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) is seeking a passionate and experienced Head of Solution Architect to lead the way in shaping the future of digital health in Wales. This is a pivotal leadership role with the opportunity to influence patient care, clinical staff experiences, and the overall efficiency of NHS Wales.
DHCW delivers critical digital services in response to NHS Wales strategy set by Welsh Government. We are driving an ambitious and transformative digital strategy with a portfolio of solutions vital to the NHS. Our work supports clinicians in providing safe and effective patient care and empowers patients to manage their own health and wellbeing.
As the Head of Solution Architect, you will be an inspirational leader and a recognised expert, defining and connecting architectural strategies across the organisation to enable a clean, open and interoperable digital ecosystem. You will manage the solution architecture function, leading a team in delivering clean, open, secure, and modern architectural designs across a diverse portfolio of digital products and services.
Main duties of the job
You will champion best-practice architectural principles and patterns, such as microservices, APIs, and event-driven architectures, ensuring our solutions are secure, scalable, resilient, maintainable, and interoperable
Your responsibilities will include:
Strategic Leadership: Define and lead the long-term architectural vision, strategy, and objectives, ensuring alignment with DHCW and NHS Wales strategic objectives.
Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing team of architects, fostering a culture of excellence, continuous improvement, and collaboration.
Architecture Design & Governance: Oversee the design and development of complex architectural solutions, ensuring technical integrity, consistency, and adherence to standards. Establish and evolve architectural governance and assurance processes.
Stakeholder Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with senior stakeholders across multiple business and technical areas within DHCW, NHS Wales, and technology partners.
Risk Management & Innovation: Proactively identify and address architectural risks, driving innovation and exploring emerging technologies.
Solution Delivery: Ensure all solutions adhere to the system development life-cycle and help to manage the typical challenges faced through the implementation, from concept through development and into operation and support.
Working for our organisation
Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) is part of the NHS Wales family and has an important role in changing the way health and care services are delivered through technology and data. The organisation supports frontline staff with modern systems and access to important information about their patients, while empowering the people of Wales to manage their own health through digital NHS Wales services.
Working for DHCW offers lots of employee benefits, including flexible working, a competitive salary, 28 days of annual leave plus Bank Holidays and opportunities for career development. We are committed to recognising and celebrating our staff as the most valuable part of our organisation.
Join our game changing, life-saving team and start making a real difference to health and care services in Wales.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Essential Skills and Experience:
Team Leadership: Significant experience successfully managing an architecture function within a large, complex organisation.
Technical Expertise: Deep understanding of solution architecture, design principles, patterns & technology.
Strategic Thinking: Ability to develop and articulate a clear architectural vision and strategy, aligning with organisational goals and anticipating future trends.
Communication: Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, build consensus, and foster collaboration across diverse teams and stakeholders.
Risk Management: Experience identifying, assessing, and mitigating architectural risks in complex environments.
Desirable Skills and Experience:
TOGAF, AWS, GCP, or Azure Certification
Knowledge of digital health in the NHS
Understanding of clinical safety and risk management in digital health
The ability to speak Welsh. English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.
Benefits:
- Make a Difference: Contribute to the transformation of healthcare in Wales and improve the lives of millions
- Be a Leader: Shape the future of digital health and lead high-performing teams
- Professional Development: Benefit from excellent learning and development opportunities in a supportive environment
- Work-Life Balance: We offer flexible working options to support your wellbeing
Join Us
If you're a driven and innovative leader seeking a rewarding opportunity, apply now
Person specification
Qualifications and/or Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Master’s degree in an associated professional field (or equivalent qualification / experience).
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant experience of successfully managing an architecture function within a large complex organisation, leading a team of specialists to work on multiple architecture projects or programmes.
- Proficient in a collection of methods, practises, tools and techniques, underpinned by the Agile Manifesto, that enable teams to deliver high value products and services in small, workable, increments. An Agile culture typically encompasses concepts such as Servant-Leaders; ceremonies, Stand-Ups, Sprints and Retrospectives; and the deployment of tools and techniques such as Backlogs and A/B Testing.
Skills and Attributes
Essential criteria
- - Leadership skills to clearly articulate goals and objectives, and to motivate and lead others towards their achievement.
- Influence, persuasion and personal impact skills to convey a level of confidence and professionalism when engaging with stakeholders, influencing positively and persuading others to take a specific course of action when not in a position of authority.
- Initiative skills to be proactive, anticipating opportunities for systems, service or product improvement or development and taking appropriate action(s).
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
Welsh language skills are desirable
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Chris Collis
- Job title
- Chief Digital Architect
- Email address
- [email protected]
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