Interoperability Architect

Interoperability Architect (Health Data Standards) Location: Hybrid, 1 day per week in Leeds (may reduce over time) Industry: Tech Consultancy / Defence & Government Contract Length: 3 months (strong likelihood of extension) Rate: Flexible, to be discussed during initial conversations IR35: Outside IR35 Clearance: SC Clearance required (BPSS clearance sufficient to start)

Overview Despite the architect title, this is not a traditional software or solutions architecture role. You will be operating within a defence and health technology environment, supporting the Ministry of Defence across a number of international partner nations. The primary focus is on interoperability, documentation, and the formal agreements that govern how sensitive health and operational data is shared between allied organisations.

What the Role Actually Involves You will act as a bridge between technical teams, defence stakeholders, and international partners, translating complex system capabilities and data standards into formal documentation, interface agreements, and interoperability frameworks. You will need to understand the underlying platform at a sufficient level to articulate its capabilities to external parties, without necessarily being the person who designed or built it. Day to day this is likely to involve producing and maintaining technical documentation, contributing to bilateral and multilateral data sharing agreements, and ensuring that any integration or information exchange aligns with established defence and health data standards.

Key Areas of Knowledge Required The health technology dimension is particularly important here. The role requires a solid understanding of health data standards and interoperability frameworks, specifically FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and HL7, which govern how medical and clinical data is structured and exchanged. In a defence context this becomes especially nuanced, as health records and patient data may need to move securely between partner organisations under strict governance controls. An understanding of information sharing protocols and the agreements that underpin cross-border data exchange will also be important, as will familiarity with government classification frameworks and formal programme governance.

The Ideal Person Rather than a hands-on engineer or a cloud architect, this role suits someone who sits comfortably between the technical and the diplomatic. You will need to be credible enough to hold your own in conversations with engineers and system owners, but equally comfortable engaging with programme managers, policy leads, and international stakeholders. Strong written communication and documentation skills are essential, as much of the output will be formal, structured, and potentially used in binding agreements between governments or partner organisations. A background in or exposure to defence and military environments would be advantageous but is not a prerequisite. What matters most is the ability to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder programmes with confidence and clarity.

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