Join Kainos and Shape the Future 

At Kainos, we’re problem solvers, innovators, and collaborators - driven by a shared mission to create real impact. Whether we’re transforming digital services for millions, delivering cutting-edge Workday solutions, or pushing the boundaries of technology, we do it together.

We believe in a people-first culture, where your ideas are valued, your growth is supported, and your contributions truly make a difference. Here, you’ll be part of a diverse, ambitious team that celebrates creativity and collaboration.

Ready to make your mark? Join us and be part of something bigger.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE BUSINESS

As a Principal Architect in Kainos, you’ll be accountable for the successful delivery of large-scale, high-quality digital solutions that delight our customers and positively impact the lives of citizens and users.

You will provide technical leadership, assurance and support to multi-skilled agile teams, understanding the outcomes our customers are trying to achieve, the technical implications and complexity surrounding their services, and helping teams make the right architectural and engineering decisions.

You’ll work with senior customer stakeholders to agree architectural principles, strategic direction, and functional and non-functional designs. You will operate across complex public sector organisations, balancing user needs, policy intent, technology strategy, delivery constraints, security, governance and commercial considerations.

You’ll manage and support architects and engineers within the capability, helping them navigate their careers and develop their technical and leadership skills.

As a senior technical leader, you will:

• Lead the development and adoption of architectural policies, principles, standards and good engineering practices.
• Build trusted relationships with senior customer stakeholders, including technology, digital, operational and policy leaders.
• Contribute to account and technology strategies and identify opportunities where Kainos can deliver greater value for customers.
• Provide technical leadership and assurance across programmes involving multiple teams, suppliers and technology platforms.
• Advise customers on modern technologies, architectures and delivery approaches.
• Share knowledge, mentor colleagues and contribute to the wider architecture and engineering community.
• Manage, coach and develop a small number of staff, including supporting performance management and career development.
• Provide direction and leadership when teams are solving complex or ambiguous technology and delivery challenges.

MINIMUM (ESSENTIAL) REQUIREMENTS

• Must have extensive experience working within the Public Sector, ideally within UK Government or other large public service organisations.
• Proven experience being accountable for different sizes and shapes of technology delivery challenges, including large-scale services, multi-team programmes, digital transformation and modernisation initiatives.
• Has successfully led and delivered software and solution architectures for complex, multi-tiered modern applications and digital services.
• Understands whole-solution architecture and can consider applications, integration, data, infrastructure, cloud, security, operations and user experience as part of an overall solution.
• Able to communicate complex technical designs simply and clearly through conversations, documentation, presentations and architectural artefacts.
• Can build credibility and communicate effectively with senior and C-level stakeholders, including CIO, CTO and Chief Architect communities.
• Able to influence and negotiate architectural decisions across customers, delivery teams, suppliers and other stakeholders.
• Has experience operating within complex public sector governance and assurance environments, balancing appropriate controls with effective and pragmatic delivery.
• Understands UK Government digital and technology standards and practices, such as the Government Service Standard, Technology Code of Practice, accessibility requirements and relevant security principles.
• Has experience designing services that meet demanding non-functional requirements, including security, resilience, performance, scalability, availability, accessibility, operability and maintainability.
• Has an engineering background, enabling effective communication with, assurance of and technical leadership of software engineering teams.
• Has experience with public cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure, including SaaS, PaaS, containerised and cloud-native architectures.
• Understands modern integration and data architecture approaches, including APIs, event-driven architectures, data platforms and interoperability between legacy and modern systems.
• Has experience helping organisations modernise legacy technology and can make pragmatic decisions about migration, replacement, re-platforming and incremental modernisation.
• Understands the security, privacy and information-management considerations associated with delivering public services and handling sensitive government or citizen data.
• Has experience working in complex multi-team and multi-supplier environments and can establish clear architectural direction, boundaries and ways of working across organisational boundaries.
• Understands the relationship between technology, policy, operations and user needs within public sector organisations and can reflect these considerations in solution design.
• Is focused on continuous improvement across technology, engineering practices, delivery processes and people capability.
• Able to prioritise their time across multiple significant projects, programmes or accounts, particularly when working to deadlines.
• Has proactively contributed to business development within an account, working alongside sales, delivery and account leadership to identify opportunities and shape propositions.
• Understands the commercial implications of architectural and technology decisions, including cost, delivery risk, total cost of ownership, supplier dependency and long-term sustainability.
• Can contribute to bids and proposals, shaping credible technical solutions, delivery approaches, estimates, assumptions and risks.
• Demonstrates an ability to manage, coach and develop architects, engineers and other technical colleagues, supporting both individual career development and wider capability growth.

DESIRABLE

• Experience working within UK Central Government departments or major public sector programmes.
• Experience of Government Digital Service assessments or equivalent digital service assurance processes.
• Knowledge of government security standards, secure-by-design principles and security classifications.
• Experience working with major technology and cloud partners within public sector environments.
• Experience shaping technology strategy, roadmaps or transformation programmes for public sector customers.
• Experience establishing or contributing to architecture governance, technical assurance or design authority functions.
• Experience with emerging technologies such as Generative AI, agentic AI, automation and modern data platforms, and an understanding of how these can be adopted responsibly within public sector organisations.
• Experience identifying and developing reusable patterns, accelerators and reference architectures.
• Actively shares their thoughts and views on technology, architecture and public sector digital transformation.
• Participates in technology, architecture or public sector professional communities.

Embracing our differences   

At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive.   We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are.   We also believe every candidate deserves a level playing field. 

Our friendly talent acquisition team is here to support you every step of the way, so if you require any accommodations or adjustments, we encourage you to reach out. 

We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.