Technical Architect, User Access

Competition # : 47146 

Department: Cyber Security & Digital Solutions

Location: HALIFAX

Type of Employment: Permanent

Union Status: NSGEU - NSPG 

Closing Date: ​05-Nov-25 ​ (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

At CSDS, we prioritize people—both within our team and in the communities we serve. Our mission is to redefine how Nova Scotians engage with government by creating accessible, reliable digital solutions centered around user needs.

In today's tech-driven world, CSDS empowers government departments with essential digital solutions to meet Nova Scotians' expectations. As a trusted partner across government, we enable departments to fulfill their mandates with secure, user-friendly services. From healthcare and education to public safety, we collaborate to transform how services are designed and delivered.

We don't just implement technology; we modernize outdated systems and reimagine processes. Our agile, data-driven approach ensures that digital services are both efficient and adaptable to Nova Scotia's evolving needs.

Joining CSDS means contributing to work that makes a real difference. From providing vital tech support to healthcare professionals to strengthening cybersecurity and developing scalable digital platforms, you'll play a key role in building a more inclusive, responsive government for Nova Scotians.

Together, we're setting new standards for digital public service, delivering resilient solutions that meet today's needs—and anticipate tomorrow's challenges

About Our Opportunity

As a Technical Architect in the User Access and Internal Identity team, you will design, implement, and deliver secure digital identity services, and support a 24/7 operational environment.

Your work will support government departments, agencies, boards, and commissions, as well as Nova Scotia Health and the IWK Health Centre. You will collaborate with different teams and build trusted relationships with a wide range of clients and partners to integrate solutions, implement governance around accounts and access, and resolve problems through clear communications.

This role requires deep expertise with a focus on understanding interactions between different systems and interdependencies in the delivery of enterprise identity and access services. 

Primary Accountabilities

To succeed in this role, you must be objective, professional, thorough, data-driven, and have clarity of thought and purpose. Your technical competence, work ethic, and communications will ensure that the government identity services are secure, resilient, and user friendly.

In this role, you will:

Serve as a subject matter expert for identity and access management (IAM).Design, build, support, and continuously improve identity services around user needs and protections through a secure-by-design approach.Partner with business, technology, and vendor teams to lead identity initiatives across their full lifecycle and deliver reliable and scalable IAM solutions, driving zero trust adoption.Deploy, manage, and optimize Microsoft identity services, conditional access, access governance, passwordless authentication, and risk-based MFA.Manage incidents, service requests, changes, and problems, implementing corrective and preventive actions as needed.Ensure stable, secure, and compliant operation of the digital identity infrastructure.Document and advocate IAM standards, best practices, and architectural decisions.Advise leadership on identity security risks, security posture, and technology adoption.Offer practical advice and training on directory services, identity management, federation, and public key infrastructure.Coach and mentor team members to promote knowledge sharing, consistency, and operational excellence.

Qualifications and Experience

To be successful in this role, you will have a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science plus a minimum of 5 years' experience, or graduation from a recognized Information Technology program plus 5 years and 6 months experience, or an acceptable equivalent combination of training and experience.

You have completed and earned one or more of the following credentials (official evidence of completion will be required):

Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert (SC-100)Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500)Microsoft 365 Certified: Administrator Expert (MS-102)Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate (SC-300)Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate (SC-200)

Requirements
Experience in designing, implementing, and hardening hybrid identity environments.Deep expertise in Microsoft identity platform, and solid experience operationalizing Entra ID capabilities, including conditional access, privileged identity management, single sign-on, identity and access governance, and passwordless authentication.Experience in maintaining and securing Active Directory Domain Services, Federation Services, Certificate Services, Entra Domain Services, and Entra B2B Collaboration.Proven record of driving enterprise-wide adoption of user and data protections, advanced threat protections via Microsoft 365 Defender XDR, and improving identity resilience.Supporting and maintaining Microsoft Identity Manager or comparable IAM platforms.Securing on-premises and cloud applications authenticating to Entra ID-protected APIs.Automating identity lifecycle management and access governance in M365 environment.Experience with and knowledge of cloud environments, public key infrastructure (PKI), and authentication, authorization, and provisioning standards (OIDC, SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0, Kerberos, WS-Federation, WS-Security, and SCIM 2.0).Implementing well-architected frameworks for security, efficiency, and operational excellence.Undertaking troubleshooting and investigations to resolve incidents and problems, followed by creating incident documentation and technical support guidance.Excellent verbal and written communication and people skills, and ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical audiences.Scripting with PowerShell and Azure CLI to support automation and troubleshooting.Experience coaching and mentoring staff on new processes and technologies.

Assets
Understanding of REST APIs, JSON, and OData.Experience with Windows Server operations, including installation, configuration, and administration.Experience in a healthcare or public sector environment.Experience supporting mission-critical, enterprise environments operating 24/7.

Equivalency

We recognize that everyone brings different skills and experiences to the table.
If you don't "check all the boxes", we encourage you to apply anyway and tell us why you're the right fit for the job.

We value diversity of thought and believe that the best teams are those that bring together people with a range of experiences and perspectives.

Benefits

Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Health, Dental, Life Insurance, General illness, Short and Long Term Disability, Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs.  For information on all our Benefit program offerings, click here: Benefits for government employees.

Working Conditions

You will be required to work outside normal business hours (08:00-16:30) to provide service and be on-call to work non-traditional shifts, including weekends, to support a 24/7 critical service and environment.

Additional Information

You are passionate about people's service experience and want to help develop and build solutions as well as resolve technical problems and requests over the phone, in person, and through our ticketing system. You enjoy supporting a 24/7 environment for critical services, working as part of a team, and going the extra mile to provide an amazing user experience. You thrive on supporting a diverse client base. You are flexible and available to work night shifts and on-call rotations.

You share our values of respect, integrity, diversity, accountability and the public good, have a passion for service excellence and actively promote and encourage the importance of people, teams, diversity, and culture.

What We Offer
Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.Countless Career Paths. Department Specific Flexible working schedules (FlexNS).

Pay Grade:  PR 17  

Salary Range:  $3, $3,649.33 Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement:

Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve.  The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians and Other Racially Visible Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented.  If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application. 

Accommodation Statement:

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Candidates may request accommodations based on any grounds protected by the Human Rights Act. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process, please contact us at

This is a bargaining unit position initially restricted to current civil service employees represented by the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU). If applying from outside a government office, employees must apply correctly via this link:

Failure to apply correctly means that your application will not be given first consideration as a bargaining unit applicant, and will only be included if external applications are pursued. 

External applicants and current casual employees will only be considered if there are no qualified civil service bargaining unit candidates. PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information. 

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to 

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