Drupal Architect
Outside IR35
£525.00
Until end of July initially
Website Transformation
Higher Education Organisation
Drupal Architect to support the discovery phase of a large-scale public website transformation within a higher education organisation. The programme is moving multiple public-facing websites from a legacy CMS to Drupal and requires senior architectural input to gather, rationalise and harmonise requirements across distinct product groups.
This role works under the Head of Web and alongside an existing Solutions Architect and internal Business Analyst. The focus is squarely on requirements, solution design and reuse strategy, not build or delivery.
Programme Context
The organisation currently operates multiple legacy CMS sites serving different audiences and product areas, including international and UK-focused content and assessment-related material. These will be migrated to separate Drupal instances per product group, aligned through a shared design and reuse approach.
Most capability is expected to be common across sites, with some product-specific bespoke requirements. The immediate aim is to step away from legacy platforms and establish a clear, reusable Drupal blueprint that can be taken to market through a formal RFP for delivery partners.
The Assignment
The initial discovery phase is already underway. This contract strengthens the architecture and design capability by adding a business-facing Drupal technical architect who can:
Work with stakeholders to understand what they need
Assess how Drupal can fulfil those needs
Harmonise overlapping requirements across product groups
Shape high-level designs that balance reuse with necessary variation
The outputs from this engagement will form the baseline set of requirements and designs used across all product groups ahead of vendor procurement.
Key Responsibilities
Lead and support requirements discovery workshops with business and product stakeholders
Consolidate, de-duplicate and harmonise requirements across multiple product groups
Work alongside the Drupal Solutions Architect to define high-level solution options
Translate agreed approaches into High-Level Technical Designs (HLDs), covering:
Content models
Component and pattern choices
Reuse versus bespoke decisions
Integration considerations where relevant
Assess requirements against reusable Drupal assets and patterns, identifying where common solutions apply
Maintain clear traceability between business goals, requirements and architectural outcomes
Write user stories and acceptance criteria to support backlog refinement
Contribute to knowledge transfer across the programme during discovery
In Scope / Out of Scope
In scope
Requirements elicitation, consolidation and harmonisation
High-level solution outlining
High-Level Technical Design (HLD) creation
Reuse and consistency assessment
Discovery-phase knowledge transfer
Out of scope
Detailed or low-level technical architecture
Platform governance
Build or implementation delivery
BAU support or infrastructure operations
Vendor selection or supplier management
Skills & Experience Required
Essential
Extensive experience (circa 10+ years) in hybrid Business Analysis / Solution Design roles
Strong, hands-on Drupal expertise, including:
Content modelling
Site building
Clear understanding of what Drupal can and cannot deliver without custom development
Demonstrable experience producing High-Level Technical Designs
Familiarity with modern Drupal concepts such as Recipes, Install Profiles, Distributions, SDC and Storybook
Confident facilitating workshops and challenging stakeholders to align on shared solutions
Comfortable operating in complex, multi-stakeholder environments
Desirable
Drupal certification (Acquia or equivalent) or community contributions
Previous experience supporting a Solutions Architect within a platform or multi-site model
Familiarity with Figma, design tokens or design-system processes
Working knowledge of WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards
Experience with Jira, Confluence or requirements traceability tooling
TPBN1_UKTJ