Post as head of tech and architecture comes with a remit to set standards and principles

Credit: Ashley Dace/CC BY-SA 2.0

Essex County Council is seeking a head of technology and architecture to help direct an ongoing transformation of both digital services and internal IT.
 
The role comes with a salary of £90,000 and a remit to “define the roadmap, components, design standards and principles to enable the future vision for technology provision” across the authority. The postholder, who will report into a recently appointed director of technology, will be expected to work closely with leaders from the council’s various service areas, as well as with external suppliers of IT and digital services.
 
The successful candidate will hold responsibility for security, risk, and audit matters related to the authority’s use of technology. They will also support Essex’s leadership in developing a data strategy.
 
The tech and architecture head will play a key role in ensuring the organisation has a “secure, scalable, stable IT infrastructure” – something the council believes is crucial to fulfilling its overall objectives and ongoing transformation plans.

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“Significant work is underway to reform the IT estate of Essex County Council (ECC),” it said. “The council is currently delivering a significant cloud migration programme, alongside deployment of new tools and the rationalisation of a broad applications estate which increasingly is moving toward a software-as-a-service approach. ECC envisages a future where technology can transform both how the council works and how they deliver services.”
 
The council added: “Whilst this ambition is not in itself unique, unusually it is not driven solely by an over-riding imperative to reduce costs; the council has an enviable track record of prudent financial management. Rather, ECC is driven by its passion to provide a truly liberating and empowering, connected, interactive customer experience. This will enable residents and businesses to access a diverse range of essential and non-essential public services, at a time, place and via a medium of their choosing. Employees will also be able to share their ideas openly, working collaboratively without barriers.”
 
Applications for the role are open until midnight on Sunday 8 December, with preliminary interviews to take place at Essex’s London offices on 13 and 16 December. Candidates who progress will be put forward for psychometric testing during the week commencing 6 January, with a final panel interview scheduled for 15 January.