Digital Workplace Architect - Outside IR35 - upto £425 pd

We are seeking a Digital Workplace Domain Architect to shape and lead the architectural roadmap and technical design for a major higher education client, ensuring future-ready digital roadmap for digital workplace and end user compute capabilities, including Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Intune, JAMF, and VDI technologies.

If you are passionate about designing scalable, user-centred, and secure digital environments that empower staff and students to collaborate and thrive, this role offers the opportunity to deliver meaningful change within a complex, multi-disciplinary environment.

This role requires 3 days per week on-site in Manchester, with flexibility for remote work on other days.

About the Role

Architectural Strategy and Roadmap Leadership

Define, own, and evolve the architecture strategy and roadmap for the digital workplace and end user compute domains aligned with the organisation's digital transformation goals.
Ensure technology decisions support user needs, sustainability goals, and long-term value delivery, incorporating industry best practices and modern architecture patterns.
Track and evaluate emerging trends in Microsoft 365, Power Platform, device management, and VDI, ensuring the adoption of future-ready capabilities.

Leading Solution Design Across Delivery Workstreams

Oversee architecture design and governance for multiple concurrent delivery workstreams, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, and integrated within a complex systems landscape.
Collaborate closely with product owners, engineering teams, and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into practical, aligned solutions.
Maintain technical oversight throughout delivery, balancing technical guardrails with flexibility for teams to deliver effective outcomes.

Stakeholder Engagement and Influence

Act as a trusted advisor, communicating complex architectural decisions clearly and effectively to senior stakeholders and non-technical audiences.
Facilitate workshops and discussions with academic, administrative, and technical teams to ensure designs reflect real user needs while aligning with enterprise architecture standards.
Engage with the architecture community, contributing to reusable patterns and best practices that can be leveraged across VE3's public sector portfolio.
Build strong client and partner relationships to ensure alignment with technical roadmaps, licensing optimisation, and value-driven technology investments.

Mentoring and Capability Building

Mentor subject matter experts within digital workplace and EUC domains, building technical capability and fostering a culture of continuous learning.
Contribute to upskilling teams on new technology approaches, architecture best practices, and security-first design principles.

Documentation and Governance

Produce high-quality design artefacts including solution blueprints, technical patterns, principles, and architecture decisions.
Ensure architecture artefacts are aligned with governance requirements, supporting clarity for delivery teams and facilitating compliance and audit readiness.

What We're Looking For

Essential Experience and Skills

Demonstrated experience in leading architecture for transformational digital workplace initiatives in complex organisations, ideally within regulated or public sector environments.
Deep technical expertise in:
- Microsoft 365 (Teams, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, OneDrive, security and compliance capabilities)
- Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, Dataverse, governance frameworks)
- Device management and EUC technologies (Intune, Autopilot, JAMF, Cloud PC, Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, on-prem VDI)
Strong understanding of secure cloud integration, zero trust principles, and identity management within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with experience influencing at senior leadership levels.
Ability to deliver architectural leadership across multiple projects, balancing long-term architectural vision with pragmatic delivery needs.
Financial and commercial acumen, including experience with supplier selection and licensing optimisation.

About You

You are:

User-centric, ensuring technology serves and empowers staff and students.
Comfortable navigating complex, integrated systems environments with multiple stakeholders.
Passionate about emerging technologies and practical in assessing their applicability in a higher education environment.
Strategic yet pragmatic, capable of delivering incremental value while aligning to a broader architectural vision.
Resilient and collaborative, thriving in environments where your influence and leadership can deliver long-term positive impact.

What This Role Offers

An opportunity to shape the digital workplace environment in a complex, purpose-driven organisation within the higher education sector.
A role at the intersection of technology, user experience, and strategy, with direct influence on how digital capabilities empower teaching, learning, and research.
Engagement in a collaborative, supportive environment that values innovation, sustainability, and inclusion.
Professional development opportunities, with the ability to contribute to architecture communities and emerging technology initiatives.

VE3

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Digital Workplace Architect - Outside IR35 - upto £425pd