Senior enterprise architect

Band 8b · Enterprise architect · 622 job evaluation points

UK GDaD PCF level: Senior enterprise architect

Most often performed at Civil Service grade SEO or G7.

A senior enterprise architect supports lead architects in ensuring the strategy is developed, agreed and followed.
At this role level, you will:
network and communicate with stakeholders across domains or enterprises
identify opportunities for improvement
support a community or team
use best practice
use emerging technologies and approaches
play an active part in the team and understand how to deliver the team’s objectives to meet organisational goals
identify influences or risks
play a part in successful delivery of the long-term strategy

Contains public sector information from the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (https://understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk/), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.

Responsibilities

Develop target architectures and transition roadmaps for one or more domains of the organization.
Shape business cases so that investments fit the target architecture and reuse shared platforms.
Lead architecture reviews at design authorities and make recommendations on significant proposals.
Plan the replacement or retirement of legacy clinical and corporate systems, including data migration and safety risks.
Make sure interoperability, security, and information governance needs are built into roadmaps.
Coach and guide enterprise and solution architects.

Skills

Skill	Expected level	What this level means
Architect for the whole contextUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: work to support wider organisational objectives beyond your immediate goals track emerging internal and external issues over time that could affect the work of teams across the organisation take action to solve or mitigate problems by influencing colleagues across the organisation
Architecture communicationUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: lead the communication of complicated, complex or risky architecture topics with technical and non-technical stakeholders communicate with senior stakeholders across your organisation adapt your message and communication techniques to your audience advocate on behalf of a team to other stakeholders manage stakeholder expectations effectively
Commercial perspectiveUK GDaD PCF	Working (2)	You can: understand commercial processes and the appropriate internal contacts within a government department understand different sourcing strategies and when to apply them
Community collaborationUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: work collaboratively in a group, actively networking with others adapt feedback to ensure it’s effective and lasting use your initiative to identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them identify issues through Agile ‘health checks’ with the team, and help to stimulate the right responses
Enterprise architectureUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: design an architecture that defines the technology, people, process and other elements needed to achieve organisation objectives work with others across the organisation to ensure your design is used to achieve the organisation’s objectives
Making architectural decisionsUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: make and guide architectural design decisions characterised by medium risk and complexity identify and address architectural risks that affect multiple teams or domains use architectural governance and assurance to make design decisions and manage technical risks at the appropriate level contribute to the development of architectural governance and assurance
Problem definition and shapingUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: frame a problem characterised by medium complexity, complication, or risk so that a solution can be created produce architectural representations that enable different teams to have a shared understanding of problems throughout the life cycle describe options for solving problems so that appropriate delivery methods can be decided
Strategy designUK GDaD PCF	Practitioner (3)	You can: define strategies or visions across teams that align with organisational objectives direct the implementation of a strategy or vision, for example, by creating roadmaps or plans define architectural principles and patterns develop or maintain strategy in response to feedback and findings
Understanding health and care servicesThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: analyze how a service fits into care pathways across organizations work with clinicians, care staff, and patients to shape digital services explain the effect of digital decisions on care, safety, and staff workload
Health data interoperabilityThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: design and build integrations using FHIR, HL7 version 2, and messaging patterns write and profile FHIR resources and implementation guides resolve complex mapping and data quality issues between systems
Information governance and data protectionThis reference	Practitioner (3)	You can: lead data protection impact assessments and information sharing agreements advise teams on lawful basis, consent, confidentiality, and retention investigate incidents and recommend improvements
Clinical risk managementThis reference	Working (2)	You can: take part in hazard workshops and contribute to a hazard log follow the clinical risk management process for your work provide evidence for a clinical safety case, such as test results
Organizational risk managementThis reference	Working (2)	You can: record and update risks for your area suggest controls and track actions

Typical qualifications and experience

Extensive experience of enterprise or solution architecture across several domains.
Knowledge of an enterprise architecture framework, such as TOGAF, or equivalent experience.

Band 8b outline

Knowledge: Expert knowledge across several disciplines or a large service.
Autonomy: Shapes policy and strategy for a large area.
Scope: Several services or teams, or a principal-level discipline.
Leadership: Manages managers, or is the principal authority in a discipline.
Accountability: Several services, their staff, and their budgets.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

Factor	Level	Level summary	Points
Communication and relationship skills	5	Gives highly complex or contentious information needing developed persuasion and negotiation, presents to large groups, or communicates where there are significant barriers to acceptance.	45
Knowledge, training, and experience	8	Advanced knowledge (doctorate plus further training or equivalent), or specialist knowledge across more than one discipline built over a long period.	240
Analytical and judgmental skills	5	Judgments on highly complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.	60
Planning and organizational skills	5	Forms long-term strategic plans, with uncertainty and effects across the organization.	60
Physical skills	2	Skills gained through practice, such as standard keyboard use or driving.	15
Responsibility for patient and client care	1	Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.	4
Responsibility for policy and service development	4	Implements policy and develops policy or services for a service or several areas.	32
Responsibility for financial and physical resources	2	Handles cash or valuables, looks after equipment used by others, controls stock, or authorizes small payments.	12
Responsibility for people	3	Manages a group of staff day to day, teaches core or specialist training, or gives core HR advice.	21
Responsibility for information resources	5	Designs and develops major information systems, or runs information systems for several services as the main duty.	34
Responsibility for research and development	3	Carries out research or development within formal programs as a main duty.	21
Freedom to act	5	Works within general policies, and in most cases decides how to interpret them.	45
Physical effort	1	Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.	3
Mental effort	4	Frequent prolonged concentration, or occasional intense concentration.	18
Emotional effort	1	Rare exposure, or occasional indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.	5
Working conditions	2	Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.	7
Total (Band 8b: 585 to 629)			622

Banded above the UK GDaD PCF grade suggestion (Band 7): health-sector adverts place this role at Band 8b. Planning is level 5 for long-term roadmaps with effects across the organization; knowledge is level 8 for knowledge across business, information, application, and technology architecture.