Richard Parkins
Technical Director
Richard plays a pivotal role in shaping our architecture, leading delivery teams and ensuring our digital services are robust, scalable and secure. He works with our cross-functional teams, providing technical direction, design oversight and strategic alignment across multiple programmes.
A key part of his work is steering the architectural vision for services across the board. Whether it’s leading weekly architecture forums, supporting product strategy in team stand-ups, or advising on infrastructure improvements; he brings people together to solve complex challenges with clear, pragmatic thinking. He also represents the technical function in senior leadership conversations, QBRs, and programme delivery strategy, while maintaining close collaboration with external partners and consultancies.
He also nurtures a strong internal culture, leading regular 1-2-1s, supporting our community of practice, and organising biannual team meet-ups to keep the team connected and inspired.
Key skills
Azure, AWS, Java, NodeJS, APIs, OWASP, OAuth, Data, .Net Stack, SQL, PHP
Projects worked on
Following senior roles at CompareTheMarket, Tesco and EasyJet, Richard now leads architecture here at Talent Consulting, where he has led technical design on projects such as:
Apps Service (DfE): Led discovery and architectural planning to help the service gain clarity over its cloud landscape, building out resource planning, documentation and integrations from the ground up.
Family Hubs: Technical architecture from discovery through to beta for a new digital service supporting social worker development and assessment.
Infrastructure Modernisation (DfE): Collaborated with infrastructure and operations teams to design a more scalable hub-and-spoke cloud solution, including a shift to Palo Alto firewalls.
Cloud Security Review: Conducted a comprehensive Azure cloud security assessment with the client’s security architect, producing actionable recommendations.
Vulnerable Children & Families: Supported the delivery of digital services to improve professional development and career tracking for social workers.
"I like running teams and building career paths for people, finding ways to being out their best capabilities and making sure they enjoy their work and thrive in there career. Helping people and making a difference through tech is particularily rewarding!"
How I can help you:
Design scalable, secure cloud architectures on Azure or AWS tailored to your organisation’s needs
Lead and guide multidisciplinary teams to deliver complex digital services efficiently and sustainably
Modernise legacy systems with pragmatic, cost-effective cloud-first strategies
Document and visualise your architecture – including service catalogues, integrations, and technical debt
Set strong technical governance and development standards across teams to enable high-quality delivery
Run architectural reviews and tech assessments to identify risks, gaps, and opportunities for improvement
Drive clarity on build vs. buy decisions, with cost-benefit analysis and long-term viability in mind
Engage with stakeholders and suppliers, translating technical detail into business value
Mentor and upskill internal teams, fostering a strong engineering culture and growing long-term capability
Support service assessments and ensure alignment with GDS or departmental service standards
Find out more about how we can help you achieve your digital goals