Technical Architect

Technical Architect - Java / Spring Boot About Methods: Methods is a £100M+ IT Services Consultancy who has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sector operates in the UK. Established over 30 years ago and UK-based, we apply our skills in transformation, delivery, and collaboration from across the Methods Group, to create end-to-end business and technical solutions that are people-centred, safe, and designed for the future. Our human touch sets us apart from other consultancies, system integrators and software houses - with people, technology, and data at the heart of who we are, we believe in creating value and sustainability through everything we do for our clients, staff, communities, and the planet. We support our clients in the success of their projects while working collaboratively to share skill sets and solve problems. At Methods we have fun while working hard; we are not afraid of making mistakes and learning from them. Predominantly focused on the public-sector, Methods is now building a significant private sector client portfolio. Methods was acquired by the Alten Group in early 2022. Alten is a global engineering firm with approximately 57,000 employees specializing in engineering and IT services. Overview Methods is looking for an experienced Technical Architect with a strong Java and Spring Boot background to support customer-specific delivery workstreams and wider digital transformation projects. The role requires hands-on architecture experience across modern service design, integration, cloud-hosted platforms and delivery governance. The successful candidate will help shape robust, maintainable and scalable services, working closely with engineering teams, delivery leads, product stakeholders and enterprise architecture functions to ensure technical decisions align with programme outcomes, GDS expectations and wider organisational standards. Requirements Architecture & Technical Leadership Define and communicate technical architecture for Java/Spring Boot services and supporting platform components. Produce high-quality architecture artefacts including HLDs, LLDs, roadmaps, integration patterns, sequence diagrams and data models. Lead technical design governance, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture principles, GDS Service Standard and delivery best practice. Provide technical assurance across delivery teams, suppliers and stakeholders. Own and articulate technical requirements through governance and assurance processes. Support architectural decision-making across discovery, alpha, beta and live service phases. Translate business and operational needs into clear, deliverable technical designs. Java / Spring Boot Service Design Provide architecture direction for Java and Spring Boot applications, APIs, microservices and event-driven services. Define reusable engineering patterns for service design, configuration, observability, error handling, resilience and maintainability. Guide teams on Spring Boot best practice, including dependency management, REST API design, testing approaches and integration patterns. Support decisions around modularity, service boundaries, domain modelling and data ownership. Review designs and implementation approaches to ensure services are scalable, supportable and fit for live operation. Platform Design & Integration Oversee integration patterns with upstream and downstream systems, including APIs, messaging, event streams and batch interfaces. Collaborate with developers, platform engineers, test engineers, data specialists and cyber teams to deliver robust solutions. Support cloud-hosted delivery patterns, CI/CD, infrastructure integration and operational monitoring. Ensure solutions are designed for resilience, performance, maintainability and operational support. Governance, Standards & Best Practice Develop, document and promote technical standards, reusable patterns and operational best practice. Ensure alignment with relevant legislation, information governance requirements and internal technology standards. Establish repeatable architecture controls and decision records. Support training, coaching and enabling teams to adopt consistent engineering practice. Technical Delivery Support Provide expert guidance to delivery teams on architecture constraints, recommended patterns and implementation options. Support troubleshooting, risk identification, technical assessments and proof-of-concept design activities. Contribute to sprint ceremonies and delivery planning to ensure architecture is embedded across the lifecycle. Work with delivery teams to balance pragmatic delivery with long-term maintainability. Essential Skills & Experience Strong experience as a Technical Architect or Lead Engineer within large public-sector, government or regulated environments. Strong background in Java and Spring Boot service design and delivery. Experience designing REST APIs, microservices and integration patterns. Good understanding of event-driven architecture, messaging and asynchronous processing. Experience with cloud-hosted platforms, CI/CD, monitoring and operational support patterns. Ability to define technical policy, governance frameworks and engineering best practice. Good understanding of information architecture, data flows and lifecycle management. Working knowledge of GDS Service Standard, public-sector delivery governance and secure design principles. Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, including presenting complex technical concepts clearly. Experience working with multidisciplinary agile delivery teams. Desirable Skills Experience with Azure or AWS-hosted services. Experience with Kubernetes, Docker or containerised service delivery. Knowledge of PostgreSQL or other relational databases. Experience with Kafka, Azure Service Bus or similar messaging technologies. Familiarity with HMCTS, MOJ, justice, policing or wider government platforms. Understanding of security assurance, threat modelling, RBAC, audit logging and data protection controls. Experience supporting services through alpha, beta, live and continuous improvement phases. Methods is passionate about its people; we want our colleagues to develop the things they are good at and enjoy. By joining us you can expect: Autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience Be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society Strong, inspiring and thought-provoking leadership A supportive and collaborative environment. Benefits By joining us you can expect: Autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience Be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society Strong, inspiring and thought-provoking leadership A supportive and collaborative environment. As well as this, we offer: Development access to LinkedIn Learning, a management development programme and training Wellness 24/7 Confidential employee assistance programme Social – Breakfast Tuesdays, Thirsty Thursdays and Pizza on the last Thursday of each month as well as commitment to charitable causes Time off 25 days a year Pension Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution Discretionary Company Bonus based on company and individual performance Life Assurance of 4 times base salary Private Medical Insurance which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included) Worldwide Travel Insurance which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)