Atkins, a member of the SNC Lavalin Group, is a world recognised global, multidisciplinary consultancy business. Within our UK regional business, we have a division dedicated to providing consultancy services to the Aerospace, Defence, Security and Technology (ADS&T) markets, serving key accounts across Central and Local Government, Public Services, Regulated Industries, Blue Light services as well as the Private Sector.
Within ADS&T, Atkins has built a team of consultants that deliver management consultancy and client-side support in the business and digital transformation space. Their focus is primarily digital and technology enabled transformation, strategy, architecture development and business change integration.

About our Business & Digital Consulting practice:

This team is in great demand and consequently we are experiencing rapid growth, with particularly strong demand in our defence, security and government markets. This success is built on a track record of excellence in consultancy and delivery to a wide range of clients, which includes some of the largest public and private sector organisations in the UK

The Candidate:

This role involves a blend of client-facing consulting services, including architectural design and technical assurance, proposition development, thought leadership and business development activities. As such, we are looking for technical influencers, who are comfortable operating in fluid and uncertain environments. This requires the successful candidate to be an experienced professional, with a proven track record of high-quality delivery within a customer focused, demanding and complex consulting environment.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate deep understanding of Service Architecture from a consulting background.  With emphasis upon the effective & efficient design, delivery and operation of Enterprise Business Services across the development lifecycle.  You will drive customer strategy through a mixture of traditional and contemporary Cloud / Digital technologies, usually within complex multi-vendor ecosystems. In return, Atkins offers the successful candidate significant development opportunities arising through working in an expanding team and delivering services to our customers within some of the most complex and rewarding environments.

Your Role in Our Ambition:

Many organisations today have invested heavily in large, monolithic, long-term ICT services contracts that have often locked them into proprietary, inflexible delivery models and commercial arrangements. One consequence of this has been that over recent years these organisations have become less able to respond to the disruption of the digital era and the increasing pace, volatility, variety and scale of change that is now an everyday way of life in today’s business environment.

In response, organisations are now turning away from these legacy ways of working and are bringing key functions like technology strategy, architecture and design closer to their in-house teams and core operations.  This allows them to regain control of their technology roadmaps, increase agility and responsiveness, delivering business value faster, better and cheaper.  As such, there is now a very high level of demand for architecture consultancy in our markets and Atkins are responding to this exciting opportunity

On the back of significant new business recently won, we are substantially growing our architecture consulting capability and skills portfolio. In particular, we are looking to significantly expand the scope and scale of our capability in Service Architecture.

The Role:

Service Architecture is a practice of designing, describing, and managing the development of a service in relation to specific business problems. A Service Architect is the person in charge of ensuring the solution’s serviceability, warranty and manageability are defined and deliverable within the boundaries of the Enterprise Architecture framework. Service Architecture bridges the gap between technical provision and user community, it:

• Finds the best service solution among all possible to ensure manageability and maintainability.
• Describes the structure, characteristics, behaviour, and other aspects of the service to project stakeholders.
• Defines features, phases for development and service requirements against which the service is to be measured.
• Provides specifications according to which the service is defined, managed, tested, and delivered.
• Develops services in line with business strategy as defined by the Enterprise Architecture Framework.

Skills Required:

The new Digital-age operating model is technically and commercially complex and clients need our help to move into the future whilst keeping business as usual and wider change programmes running efficiently. To succeed, our customers require expert advisors who listen actively and advise clearly, exercising deep experience and mature methods. In this role, soft-skills strong stakeholder communication and influencing ability is as equally important as technical knowledge and architecture skills.Prospective candidates should be able to demonstrate core consulting competencies and specialist discipline experience.  The key qualities we are looking for are:

General Skills:

• An Information & Technology background with relevant experience in a technical and/or consulting environment.
• An understanding of the complete service lifecycle including concept through to sourcing, design, build, test, deployment and disposal management.
• Demonstrable experience in requirements definition and management, calling out options, considerations & priorities which require a business decision.
• An interest and appreciation of technology trends and government IT strategy such as, Cloud, Internet of Things, Cyber Security, Big Data and Digital service design and delivery.
• Experience of working with and collaborating across technical and project work streams to drive results.
• Experience of identifying, developing and transitioning knowledge to up-skill internal teams.
• Good general consulting skills (structured thinking, effective report writing and presentations, and strong stakeholder engagement).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with the ability to influence effectively across multiple media.
• A good first degree in a science, computing or engineering subject, or equivalent experience.
• A high-level of self-initiation, organisation and enthusiasm.
• Personable team player, able to work under guidance and own initiative, adding expertise and value to project deliverables.
• Excellent stakeholder management with focus on nurturing and developing strong relationships.

Architecture Methods & Tools:

• Experience of information systems service design and delivery, applying engineering rigour through Enterprise Architecture development methods and tools as appropriate.
• An appreciation of a range of architecture approaches, the factors involved in choosing the right approach and when and how they may be tailored.
• Experience in the design of high-level structures to enable and guide the design and development of integrated services that meet current and future business needs.
• Insightful analysis as required to ensure the development of and modifications to service components are appropriately considered. (e.g. relevant architectures, strategies, policies, standards and practices, ensuring that existing and planned service components remain compatible).
• Experience of continual service improvement strategies.
• An appreciation of how Enterprise Architecture activities relate to programme/project management and business change.
• Articulates necessary changes to service architecture components, processes, organisational structures, and operating models.
• Architectural modelling skills using UML, BPMN, ArchiMate 3.0 and Enterprise Architecture tooling such as Archi, BiZZDesign Enterprise Studio, Sparx Enterprise Architect and MooD.
• Understanding of the use of Enterprise Architecture frameworks such as ISO42010, TOGAF, Zachman and the ITIL and IT4IT service architecture frameworks.
• Appreciation of V-V and EASE System Engineering processes.
• Appreciation of MODAF and NAF frameworks.
• Knowledge and experience of business analysis techniques and approaches.

Delivery Methods & Industry Experience:

• Appreciation of Agile development methodologies including SAFe, DSDM & SCRUM, DevOps and continuous methods.
• Experience of working within Agile delivery, such as using sprints, scrums, retrospectives and backlogs.
• Experience working with Central Government, particularly in the Defence or Security and Intelligence sectors.
• Experience across Base/Fixed systems, working to Defence ICT policies, including JSP 604 is highly desirable.
• Experience working in other business sectors such as Local Government; Regulated Industry (Utilities and Transportation) and/or private sector.  

Service Architecture Skills:

To be successful you will have demonstrable experience of:

• Translating business visions, goals, objectives and high-level requirements into Service Architectures.
• Developing service strategy and designs, within the context of dynamic, agile, rapidly evolving environments.
• Developing service models for large and complex programmes, managing performance and coherent integration across multi-vendor ecosystems.
• Leading reviews of as-is services or in-flight projects and communicating findings of the review back to senior stakeholders.
• Ensuring the achievement of formal confirmation that service acceptance criteria have been met, and that the service provider is ready to operate the new service when it has been deployed.
• Capturing of full life costs across the enterprise landscape.
• Working within ITIL / SIAM environments with multiple support towers and service vendors
• Understanding to ITIL expert level (ideally) of Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations and Continual Service Improvement processes.
• Low-level ITIL processes with the ability to clearly mentor crown servants in the development of service operations management processes.
• Delivering service models in line with strategy as defined by the Enterprise Architecture Framework.

Why work for Atkins?

People join us because they share a desire to be at the forefront of the ADS&T Business Unit and deliver outstanding projects. We empower our people to be the professional individuals they want to be, working on projects they feel proud of, making a difference to the world they live in and the legacy they leave behind.

We develop individuals through a portfolio of training and development courses designed to help you make the best of your abilities and talents. We encourage participation in all forms of training and have an active programme of in-house as well as external training for all our staff.

Meeting your needs:

When you start with us, you'll enjoy "Total Reward", a package that can be tailored to your lifestyle, career and personal needs. From flexible holidays to life assurance, health & wellbeing benefits, and career planning for the senior stage of your career.

Making sure you're supported is important to us. So, if you identify as having a disability, tell us ahead of your interview. And let's talk about any adjustments you might need.

Read more about 'Total Reward'.

More about us:

Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is a leading global consultancy with over 80 years of design and engineering expertise. With us, you'll be surrounded by the skills, knowledge and support to help you succeed. Together, we can deliver projects which have a positive, sustainable impact on the world.

Check out some of our recent, most exciting projects.

Training:

Atkins is committed to developing its people both personally and professionally. Our colleagues have the advantage of access to a high ranging training portfolio and development activities designed to help make the best of individual’s abilities and talents. We also actively support staff in achieving corporate membership of relevant institutions.

Flexible Working:

Atkins recognise that there are many well qualified people who are looking to further their career, but who cannot commit to full time employment.

We support flexible working arrangements and are interested to discuss how we can accommodate individual requirements.

Diversity & Inclusion:

ATKINS, part of the SNC Lavalin Group, is committed to having a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunities Employer, we value applications from all backgrounds, cultures and ability.

Security Clearance:

This role may require security clearance and offers of employment will be dependent on obtaining the relevant level of clearance. If this is necessary, it will be discussed with you at interview. If applying to this role please do not make reference to (in conversation) or include in your application or CV, details of any current or previously held security clearance.

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