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Job summary

Main area
IT
Grade
Band 8c
Contract
Fixed term: 24 months (2 years FTC due to project length)
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
025-AC070-0425
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
16/04/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Digital Health and Care Wales logo

Principal Solution Architect - Cloud Migration

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.

Please be advised that there is a temporary top up for Bands 2 and 3 to reflect the incorporation of the top up to the living wage of £12.60 per hour - £24,638 per annum.

This temporary top up will be in place until the annual pay uplift for 2025/26 is confirmed

Job overview

Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW): Is an ambitious organisation created by Welsh Government to lead on the digital transformation of health and care.  - We are undertaking a Cloud Transition Programme (CTP) to move 80 digital services, currently hosted on 1,600 on-premises servers, to Azure and GCP. Work with our various teams to migrate services to the cloud. This will not be a simple rehosting. We anticipate that some services will be refactored for cloud, others will have elements of replat forming. The role will be lead a shift to a new cloud-based operating model focussed on IaC, automation, self-service and adoption of open-source technologies.

Main duties of the job

Lead on developing the migration approach for all DHCW product teams, maximising the opportunities to use open-source technologies and optimise the design to gain maximum benefit from the cloud. Develop reusable patterns and processes to enable new products to be rapidly built and deployed into the cloud in a safe and secure way. Lead on technical engagements within the CTP, suppliers and various DHCW teams to resolve any issues as required. Develop work packages for suppliers to support the migration and associated developments as required. Ensuring services and products are aligned to industry best practice and regulatory and contractual requirements. Enable and promote the use of automation and self-service. Provide technical leadership to operations, infrastructure, and Fin Ops teams to optimise the performance and costs of IT infrastructure. Work on high-profile systems and solutions delivered at the National scale, in line with the organisation’s commitment to agile delivery practices and a product-based approach. Be the escalation point for any technical programme issues and champion operational management, working closely with other leaders.

This post is fixed term for 24 months due to - meet the needs of the service 

Working for our organisation

Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) is an expert national body and part of NHS Wales. We work in partnership with NHS Wales colleagues and other key stakeholders to provide national digital and data services which support the delivery of health and social care in Wales. Modern health and care services depend on good digital tools, data and information. DHCW runs or works with more than 100 services and delivers major national digital transformation programmes to support this. In addition, DHCW provides expert advice in relation to cyber security and information governance. We give frontline staff the digital tools which help them provide safer and more efficient care. We are also giving patients and the public digital tools to better manage their own health and wellbeing, empowering people to live healthier lives. We put people at the heart of what we do, working to the highest standards to deliver quality and make digital a force for good in health and care. 

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. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Oversee the development of complex architectural solutions, ensuring technical integrity, consistency, scalability, performance and adherence to standards. Develop and maintain architectural cloud design roadmaps, optimise both cost value and performance efficiency. Communicate cloud architecture principles and standards across the organisation. Support multiple teams, finding and using best practice and emerging technologies, to deliver cloud-based health solutions. Work with security, compliance and operational teams to meet regulatory requirements. Drive innovation and explore emerging technologies, to seek opportunities for digital transformation. Champion best-practice architectural principles and patterns, ensuring our solutions are secure, scalable, resilient, maintainable, and interoperable. Lead governance, solving complex and high-risk. Define and lead the long-term architectural vision, strategy, and objectives. Ensure solutions are secure, scalable, resilient, maintainable, and interoperable. Participate in an on-call 24x7 management rota. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.

The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.

Person specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Master’s degree in an associated professional field (or equivalent qualification / experience).
  • Further evidence of relevant higher-level education and/or training.
  • Knowledge gained though practical experience of working at this level, across the range of work procedures and practices.
  • Evidence of continuous professional development.
Desirable criteria
  • FEDIP Leading Practitioner, or equivalent recognised Advanced Professional qualification.
  • Theoretical and specialist knowledge gained via relevant certification such as: o TOGAF Certification o AWS, GCP or Azure Certification
  • Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the NHS, or other healthcare systems and services, including the political, strategic, and operational environments in which they operate.

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.
  • Expert in the IT environment relating to own sphere of work (own organisation and/or closely associated organisations, such as customers, suppliers, partners), in particular own organisation's technical platforms and those that interface to them through the specialism, including those in closely related organisations.
  • Proficient in the analytical comparison of IT products against specified criteria (including costs) to determine the solution that best meets the business need.
  • Proficient in software which forms part of the operating platform infrastructure.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoAge positiveWork With Me - A commitment to becoming a more inclusive business for disabled peopleGold Award for Corporate Health StrategyImproving working livesStop Smoking Wales is the NHS Smoking Cessation Service in WalesGood Recruitment CollectiveStonewall Hyrwyddwr Amrywiaeth Diversity ChampionMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.CTP The Ministry of Defence partnering with Right ManagementDisability confident employerRemploy CymruThe University of Wales Trinity Saint David - Prifysgol Cymru Y Drindod Dewi SantThe Poppy FactoryDying to Work CharterThe Chartered Institute for IT - Reward the professionalism of your team, define and accelerate career paths, and recognise your organisation’s commitment to advancing technology.Federation for Informatics Professionals - A collaboration between the leading professional bodies in health and care informatics supporting the development of the informatics profession.Armed Forces CovenantEmployer pledge demonstrating a commitment to change how we think and act about mental healthCore principles

Applicant requirements

Welsh language skills are desirable

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Carwyn Lloyd-Jones
Job title
Chief Cloud Officer
Email address
[email protected]
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