The Principal Healthcare Architect will play a strategic leadership role in shaping complex, nationally significant digital platforms across the NHS and wider UK health ecosystem.

This role focuses on the architectural design, evaluation and transformation of large-scale healthcare systems operating within regulated, data-sensitive and mission-critical environments. Working across multi-organisational landscapes including NHS England, Arms-Length Bodies, Integrated Care Systems and national programmes the Principal Healthcare Architect will lead technical discovery, define future-state architectures and guide the transition from legacy or monolithic platforms toward modular, user-centred and interoperable digital services.

Operating at the intersection of technology strategy, clinical safety, commercial considerations and service transformation, the role ensures that digital solutions are sustainable, secure, cost-effective and aligned with NHS policy, standards and long-term operating models.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Architecture Leadership

• Define and articulate target architecture for large-scale NHS and healthcare platforms, aligned to national strategy and organisational priorities
• Lead architectural discovery across complex legacy estates, identifying opportunities for modularisation, interoperability and service modernisation
• Provide authoritative technical leadership across programmes, ensuring architectural coherence across multiple suppliers and delivery teams

Modular & Ecosystem Design

• Develop modular and disaggregated architecture approaches that enable flexibility, reuse and future scalability
• Establish stakeholder maps, pipeline and SOWs to support growth establishing MVP1 before transitioning enabling focus on radiation and on-sell aligned to KPIs.
• Create system maps and reference architectures that balance user need, operational resilience and financial sustainability
• Design integration patterns that support interoperability across clinical, operational, workforce and finance domains

Commercial, Risk & Value Assessment

• Lead as the technical architect on complex bids. Defining the proposed solution architecture based on customer knowledge and commercial offerings.
• Evaluate Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS), SaaS and custom-built solutions within NHS and regulated environments
• Assess financial, operational and delivery risks associated with transformation approaches
• Provide comparative analysis of platform strategies (e.g. monolithic vs modular, single supplier vs multi-vendor ecosystems)
• Ensure value-for-money considerations are embedded within architectural decision-making

Transition & Delivery Blueprinting

• Develop transition blueprints for migrating from legacy environments to modern, modular architectures
• Define phased implementation strategies, including coexistence models and incremental migration patterns
• Ensure architectural decisions support live service continuity, clinical safety and operational stability

Assurance, Governance & Standards

• Align architectural designs with NHS standards, interoperability requirements and security frameworks
• Provide architectural input into governance forums and digital assurance processes
• Embed clinical safety, accessibility and data governance considerations within architectural design

Stakeholder Engagement

• Engage senior stakeholders including CIOs, CCIOs, programme directors and commercial leads
• Translate complex architectural concepts into clear, evidence-based recommendations for executive audiences
• Act as a trusted advisor across the NHS and wider health ecosystem

Essential Skills and Experience

• Significant experience as a Lead or Principal Architect within NHS or large-scale healthcare environments
• Deep expertise in modular and ecosystem-based architecture design
• Strong experience evaluating COTS, SaaS and bespoke platforms within regulated settings
• Demonstrable experience leading architecture across complex, multi-stakeholder programmes
• Proven ability to balance strategic design with operational pragmatism
• Strong commercial awareness, including cost modelling and risk assessment
• Excellent stakeholder management and executive communication capability

Desirable

• Experience working across NHS England, DHSC, ALBs or ICS environments
• Familiarity with NHS standards, interoperability frameworks and digital assurance processes
• Experience within clinical, workforce, national platform or regulated system domains
• Certifications in recognised architecture frameworks (e.g. TOGAF, ArchiMate)
• Experience operating within Agile and multidisciplinary delivery environments