Senior Solution Architect

Application closing date: Thursday, 27 February 2025 • 11:59pm, Canberra time

Estimated start date: Tuesday, 01 April 2025

Location of work: WA

Working arrangements: Full-time working at Services Australia's office is expected for the first 6 weeks before a flexible working arrangement will be considered, usually a minimum of 3 days/week onsite.

Length of contract: 12 Months

Contract extensions: 2x 12 months

Security clearance: Must be able to obtain Negative Vetting Level 1

Rates: $130 - $160 per hour (inc. super)

Services Australia is at the frontline of government service delivery, supporting millions of Australians, and is front and centre of a vision to be a world leader in government service delivery. It’s using cutting-edge technology to build world class platforms and capabilities to help Australians get on with their lives. The services required will enable the agency to supplement its existing ICT and digital workforce to ensure a high quality of technology and digital development for the Buyer with the flexibility to ramp resourcing up and down as needs require. Engaging a flexible ICT workforce will enable the Buyer to augment its requirements for the major work programs being undertaken.

Services Australia is seeking at least one Solution Architect who will responsible for the quality of solution architecture work across an organisation. They provide technical leadership in the design and implementation of systems and software to solve business problems. They will play a pivotal role in leading and delivering complex application development projects across the Technology and Digital Program (TDP) Group that align with the agency’s strategic objectives. The position requires a seasoned professional with extensive experience and a strong understanding of the Services Australia landscape.

They will be responsible:

• For he function of designing and delivering new functional solutions, and providing ongoing operational support for ICT solutions, while ensuring adherence to time, budget, and scope constraints.
• To describe the function of designing and delivering new functional solutions and providing ongoing operational support for ICT solutions.
• Be responsible for setting the overall vision, strategy, architecture, and roadmap for enterprise-wide solutions.
• Be accountable for the end-to-end solution design.
• Be responsible for evaluating customer requirements and mapping them to business processes, as well as functional and solution architecture and ensuring a proper implementation from a solution architecture point of view.
• To operate with a significant degree of independence with a high level of autonomy, with decision-making highly dependent on their own judgement. In performing a leadership role, Senior Solution Architects identify and drive innovation, manage and lead change, and has an active role in contributing to and implementing the agency’s strategic direction.
• To ensuring that Services Australia effectively leverages technology to enhance service delivery and meet the needs of the community.

Key duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Identify the appropriate end-to-end solution portfolio, considering all relevant ICT solutions and service offerings such as best practices.
• Identify solution gaps and develop gap closure options such as the inclusion of components from Independent Software Vendors or customer-specific development.
• Architect the end-to-end functional landscape and solution design to support desired business processes and business/ICT requirements of the customer, ensuring alignment.
• Document, present and discuss the end-to-end architecture and solution options, recommendations and implications, facilitate and support the decision process.
• Identify cross-process and cross-solution integration points and lead the coordination across various software and service components of the end-to-end solution.
• Lead end-to-end solution analysis, design, integration, architecture, co-existence and migration.
• Ensure work aligns with business processes and overall delivery outcomes.
• Act as single point of contact to orchestrate the various parties involved in large and complex projects/programs from a primarily architecture/technical perspective.
• Drive innovation, continuous improvement and manage and lead change.
• Proactively share knowledge and expertise as the subject matter expert.
• Oversee and prepare a range of technical documentation and reports.
• The role operates with a significant degree of independence and to deliver quality outcomes. They operate with a high level of autonomy, with decision making highly dependent on their own judgement. In performing their role, they will show leadership, collaborate, influence outcomes, identify and drive innovation, manage and lead change, and has an active role in contributing to and implementing the agency’s strategic direction.
• Collaborate with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders to achieve project outcomes.
• Resolve very complex, sensitive and/or escalated technical issues.

Technical skills:

Relevant technologies and architectures, including cloud platforms, microservices, and enterprise integration Cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, and relevant tools (eg Apache, Hadoop, Spark, Kafka) Understanding of enterprise, patterns, Security Architecture Principles, DevOps Practices Technical concepts that drive architectural strategies to alignment with the agency Architecture principles technologies, frameworks, Patterns, Security Architecture Principles and DevOps

Essential Criteria

1. Business process improvement: Level 6 (SFIA)Plans and leads strategic, large and complex business process improvement activities aligned with automation, or exploiting existing or new technologies. Develops organisational policies, standards, and guidelines for business process improvement. Leads the introduction of techniques, methodologies and tools to meet business requirements, ensuring consistency across all user groups. Leads the development of organisational capabilities for business process improvement and ensures adoption and adherence to policies and standards.
2. Consultancy: Level 6 (SFIA)Manages the provision of consultancy services and/or a team of consultants. In own areas of expertise, provides advice and guidance to consultants and/or the client when delivering consultancy services. Engages with clients and maintains client relationships. Establishes consultancy agreements/contracts and manages completion and disengagement.
3. Enterprise and business architecture: Level 5 (SFIA)Develops models and plans to drive the execution of the business strategy, taking advantage of opportunities to improve business performance. Contributes to creating and reviewing a systems capability strategy which meets the business's strategic requirements. Determines requirements and specifies effective business processes, through improvements in technology, information or data practices, organisation, roles, procedures and equipment.
4. Innovation: Level 6 (SFIA)Obtains organisational commitment to innovation. Develops organisational capabilities to drive innovation. Leads and plans the development of innovation capabilities and implementation of innovation processes, tools and frameworks. Leads the communication and an open flow of creative ideas between interested parties and the set-up of innovation networks and communities.
5. Solution architecture: Level 5 (SFIA)Leads the development of solution architectures in specific business, infrastructure or functional areas. Leads the preparation of technical plans and ensures that appropriate technical resources are made available. Ensures that appropriate tools and methods are available, understood and employed in architecture development. Provides technical guidance and governance on solution development and integration. Evaluates requests for changes and deviations from specifications and recommends actions. Ensures that relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices (including security) are applied correctly.
6. Stakeholder relationship management: Level 6 (SFIA)Leads the development of comprehensive stakeholder management strategies and plans. Builds long-term, strategic relationships with senior stakeholders (internal and external). Facilitates the engagement of stakeholders in support of the delivery of services and change projects. Acts as a single point of contact for senior stakeholders, facilitating relationships between them. Negotiates to ensure that stakeholders understand and agree on what will meet their needs, and that appropriate agreements are defined. Oversees monitoring of relationships including lessons learned and appropriate feedback. Leads actions to improve relations and open communications with and between stakeholders.
7. Systems design: Level 6 (SFIA)Develops and drives adoption of and adherence to organisational policies, standards, guidelines, and methods for system design. Champions the importance and value of system design principles and the selection of appropriate systems design life cycle models. Leads system design activities for strategic, large and complex systems development programmes. Develops effective implementation strategies consistent with specified requirements, architectures and constraints of performance and feasibility. Develops system design requiring the introduction of new technologies or new uses for existing technologies.

Salary : $130 - $160