NEST CORPORATION SOLUTION ARCHITECT

Tender description

Summary of the work NEST requires a Solution Architect to define a service based architecture as the basis of its technical requirements for a future pensions administration contract; and to establish the application components required to deliver NEST’s services and the degree of coupling between them, this will be part of the solution design. Specialist role Technical Architect Expected Contract Length Initially 3 months with the potential of extending to 12months or more Latest start date ASAP Maximum Day Rate £950 per day exc. VAT The role is within IR35 legislation. Who Speclialist Work With The Solution Architect will lead a team of subject matter experts, and report to the Director of Technology. This role involves working closely with the other teams within the Long Term Sourcing department, as well as with areas across NEST including the Product & Solutions team, Testing team, the Programmes team and Service Management teams to ensure that future requirements align with the needs of internal stakeholders. What Specialists Work On The Solution Architect will define the methodology and the deliverables required to complete the design for a future pensions administration contract, and describe this solution in the contracted requirements. They are to define an approach that is both consistent with NEST’s business requirements and within the allocated budget. They will have responsibility for identifying resource gaps and completing the deliverables required to complete the design and describe the solution. Skills & Experience • Must have worked for a financial services (ideally pensions) company and gained an understanding of the breadth of organisational functions that the enterprise wide architecture needs to support. • Must have c. 10 years’ experience of designing and implementing complex enterprise wide service oriented architectures including the end-user interaction via different channels. • Must have technical experience of SOA technologies and the related industry standards (including security). Experience of SOAP, XML, JSON, is a prerequisite. • Must also have experience of high volume/performance transactional environments, e.g. relational databases built for large volumes as well as Hadoop based technology for storage of unstructured data. • Must have practical experience of building systems that separate web-based components from back-end systems and 3rd party authentication services. Nice to Haves • Ideally will have worked on a large transformation project and understand the process of migrating from source to target solutions, ideally in a cloud based environment • Should ideally have experience of managing a team of technical experts. • Should have experience of writing technical requirements into an RFP. And experience of evaluating bidder responses. Work Location 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 9HA Working Arrangments Full-time and onsite 5 days a week, working day is 8 hours exclusive of travel and lunch, office hours are 09:00 – 17:00 Monday to Friday. Travel costs to and from our office will not be reimbursed. Travel is unlikely to be needed for the role, but if it is then expenses will be reimbursed as per NEST expense policy. Security Clearance No SC clearance required, however, offers of employment at NEST are subject to satisfactory background checks that require verification of the following four elements, prior to a candidate’s commencement date: identity, employment history, nationality and immigration status and criminal record (unspent convictions only). Additional T&Cs All candidates must be submitted via Bravo as part of the supplier tender responses. The tender (TEN-1718-003: Solution Architect) can be seen via the following link: https://nesttenders.bravosolution.co.uk/esop/guest/go/public/opportunity/current Call-Off Contract for the Digital Outcomes and Specialists 2 Framework Agreement (RM1043iv) No. of Specialists to Evaluate 10 Cultural Fit Criteria • The ability to influence stakeholders. • Manage the activities of technical analysts within the team and perform line management activities when necessary. • See the big picture, as well as understand and challenge the detail when required. • Finds it easy to work with others, good teamwork, and good communication skills. • The ability to explain complex technical requirements using clear and unambiguous language • Self-starting • The ability to define and implement a work programme for the team • Be flexible to the impact of the changing needs of the business on this work programme. • and have a high level of understanding of the business priorities for NEST, enabling them to provide targeted advice Evaluation Weighting Technical competence 40% Cultural fit 20% Price 40% Questions from Suppliers 1. 1. Would you consider work permit holders (tier 2 general) and EU passport holders for this role? NEST will not sponsor a work visa for this role, but if a candidate is currently eligible to work in the UK, and for at least another 12 months, that is acceptable.EU candidates are also acceptable as they are eligible to work in the UK. 2. 2. What is the lead time for feedback once the application is submitted? We aim to notify suppliers of candidates we’d like to interview by 5 May, with interviews taking place in the period 8-11 May.We’d like to notify the successful candidate by 12 May. 3. Can more than one candidate per supplier be submitted for this role Yes, maximum of 3 per supplier please. 4. What is the total number for positions open for this role ? One (1) 5. What technologies will the consultant work on or should have experience with , please give detail Please see the essential and nice to have skills and experience sections for full details. 6. Do we have to apply in the website also though it’s mentioned that the candidates have to be submitted via Bravo as part of the supplier tender responses? Kindly confirm Tenders must be submitted via the NEST Bravo portal – see link in Additional Terms and Conditions section of the Digital Marketplace. Please ensure you are registered on our tendering portal, link below:https://nesttenders.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml For assistance please contact Helpdesk operated by BravoSolution:Freephone: 0800 368 4850email: help@bravosolution.co.uk 7. As you mentioned that successful candidates will be notified by 12 May 2017, can we assume that the candidate will be have to start within 1 week of being selected or will it take more time for the candidate to start We would want candidates to be available to start within 2 weeks of the tender outcome being notified. NEST background check processes take c. 5 days so this would indicate an ideal start date of 22nd May. 8. By referring to the 6th question and answer asked in the Questions asked by suppliers section, we are under the impression that no candidates have to submitt on the www.digitalmarketplace.service.gov.uk website. Submission made through the NEST Bravo portal will only be considered for sifting. Please confirm. Correct. Tenders must be submitted via the NEST Bravo portal – see link in Additional Terms and Conditions section of the Digital Marketplace – and do not need to be submitted via the Digital Marketplace.Please ensure you are registered on our tendering portal, link below: https://nesttenders.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml For assistance please contact Helpdesk operated by BravoSolution: Freephone: 0800 368 4850 email: help@bravosolution.co.uk 9. What is the exact start date for this role ? We would want candidates to be available to start within 2 weeks of the tender outcome being notified. NEST background check processes take c. 5 days so this would indicate an ideal start date of 22nd May. 10. In your tender document you mention the following: "We expect potential candidates to be either level 4 (Enable) or level 5 (Ensure/Advise) on the G-cloud Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) Definitions rate card grid." This opportunity is via DOS so we are unsure as to how the G-Cloud SFIA ratecard relates? Apologies this is probably a misunderstanding on our part on how rate cards work across the various government framework agreements. However, we used the SFIA matrix to consider the kind of skills we want from the individual and they most closely align to level 4 or level 5.