Solution Architect - Digital Architecture and Delivery

About us

The Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT) takes a long-term view of how New Zealand's towns, cities and regions grow and change. We work across housing, transport, the environment, urban development, infrastructure and investment, and partner closely with local government. We provide joined-up policy and investment advice to government, support effective regulation and market settings, and work with others to help deliver affordable housing, connected communities, well-planned infrastructure, and a healthy, sustainable environment.

About the role

We're looking for an experienced Solution Architect to play a pivotal role in the design and delivery of digital enablement and technology reform initiatives across the new planning and environment system.

This role is central to strengthening the digital foundations of the planning and environment system. You will lead the development of coherent, scalable solution architectures that support a user-centred, integrated, and future-ready planning system. This includes designing end-to-end digital solutions, enabling interoperability across central and local government, supporting automation and digital workflows, and ensuring the system is ready to leverage advanced analytics and artificial intelligence in a trusted and transparent way.

Working within the Planning System Transformation programme, you will partner closely with the other architects, Ministry's internal Security and architecture team, policy, delivery teams, councils, the Government Chief Digital Officer (GCDO), and other agency partners to ensure digital initiatives are architecturally sound, strategically aligned, and resilient to change. You will operate as a trusted technical advisor, shaping design decisions that balance policy intent, delivery practicality, and long-term sustainability.

Key responsibilities

• Contributing to the solution architecture design for RM digital initiatives, including e-planning, data integration, and supporting platforms
• Developing and maintaining architecture artefacts, standards, and design guidance aligned to all-of-government and sector architectures
• Ensuring solutions are user-centred, interoperable, secure, and scalable across central and local government environments
• Providing architecture advice to senior leaders, governance forums, and programme delivery teams
• Supporting programme and project delivery by assessing solution options, risks, dependencies, and technical trade-offs
• Embedding principles of automation, integrated digital workflows, and high-quality information management
• Ensuring alignment with digital trust, data integrity, privacy, cybersecurity, and regulatory obligations
• Contributing to the development of future-focused capabilities, including AI-enabled decision support and analytics
• Work collaboratively with Ministry's ICT teams and support functions to ensure solutions designs consider operability, maintainability and life cycle management
• Security, Compliance and Risk management, make sure architecture decisions follow best practices to protect data, ensure privacy, meet compliance requirement and maintain strong cybersecurity

About you

• Extensive experience as a Solution Architect or similar senior architecture role in complex digital environments
• Strong background in technology design and solution architecture, including integration, data, and platform design ideally with geospatial data
• Proven experience designing and delivering technology solutions across multiple organisations or jurisdictions
• Experience applying user-centred and service design principles in digital initiatives
• Strong understanding of integration patterns, APIs, data sharing, and interoperability
• Experience working in Agile and hybrid delivery environments
• Knowledge of public sector digital delivery, including digital standards, privacy legislation, and cybersecurity frameworks
• Understanding of government systems, policy-to-delivery lifecycles, and machinery of government
• Experience supporting business cases, investment planning, and technology options analysis
• Ability to influence without authority and work effectively across multidisciplinary teams