THE ROLE
Reporting formally to the Deputy Program Director, the Principal Solution Architect is the most senior ongoing VPS technical role in the Communities and Families Transformation Program (CFTP) and the Chief Architect's principal technical deputy. Day-to-day, the role operates under the direct technical leadership and direction of the Chief Architect, working across all three product streams - Case Management, Data Spine, and Data Platform - and across Platform Services, the shared engineering foundation on which every delivery team builds. The Principal Solution Architect holds a program-wide solution architecture mandate: contributing to and co-owning the program's architectural decision records, participating in Technical Design Authority governance, and providing authoritative technical input across the full breadth of CFTP's solution design. Where the Chief Architect leads from the enterprise and strategic architecture layer, the Principal Solution Architect works in close partnership at the solution and delivery-facing layer - translating architectural direction into the detailed technical guidance that delivery teams require. As the program scales, the Principal Solution Architect will assume formal line management accountability for VPS architects embedded across delivery teams, building and leading the program's VPS architecture function.
The Principal Solution Architect is a role with a deliberate long-term purpose. Because the Chief Architect is a contractor engagement, the deep program knowledge including the key architectural decisions, their rationale, the integration patterns, the trade-offs made under delivery pressure must be held, understood and carried forward by a permanent VPS officer who can transition that knowledge into DFFH's operational infrastructure as the program concludes. This is not a support role or a documentation function: it is a senior technical leadership position for someone who will acquire genuine solution architecture mastery across one of Victoria's most complex technology programs, and who will move into a substantive BAU role within ITS at an appropriate point in the program lifecycle. The right person is a practising solution architect of genuine depth who wants to work at the leading edge of government technology transformation and build an enduring contribution to how Victoria's human services systems are designed, operated and improved.
ACCOUNTABILITIES INCLUDE
- Contribute to and co-own the program's end-to-end solution architecture under the direction of the Chief Architect, ensuring architectural coherence across all product streams and Platform Services and that every significant technical design decision is evaluated against long-term departmental operability, not only immediate delivery requirements.
- Participate actively in the Technical Design Authority, contributing expert solution architecture assessment of proposals from delivery teams and ensuring outcomes are documented and binding - acting for the Chief Architect at TDA when required.
- Provide solution architecture input and technical guidance to Platform Services - including core infrastructure, deployment pipelines, identity and access management, and service management design - ensuring platform capabilities are designed for operational longevity and ITS transition from inception.
Please open the position description to read more.
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants are encouraged to apply online. Attachments can be uploaded in .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt or .rtf formats.
Applicants are required to submit a CV and Cover Letter (max 2 pages) outlining their suitability to the role in line with the Key Selection Criteria.
Applicants must be an Australian Citizen, Permanent Resident or hold a valid work permit or visa. Work eligibility will be checked as part of the recruitment process.
Preferred candidates will be required to complete pre-employment screening, including a national police check and misconduct screening.
For more information on working with us and our recruitment process, please visit Department of Families, Fairness and Housing Victoria | Jobs (www.dffh.vic.gov.au/jobs)
Please apply to submit your interest in this position.
