Main responsibilities

• Lead discovery workshops to establish business requirements, technical constraints and security, availability and performance needs.
• Assess existing applications, infrastructure and integrations, identifying suitable migration and modernisation approaches.
• Produce solution architectures, technical specifications, architecture diagrams and implementation roadmaps.
• Design Microsoft Azure environments, including landing zones, subscription structures, networking, identity, access controls and governance.
• Define reusable infrastructure-as-code designs and standards using Terraform and, where appropriate, Bicep.
• Design application and platform integrations using APIs, microservices and appropriate data exchange patterns.
• Define deployment architectures and CI/CD approaches using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions or equivalent platforms.
• Design monitoring and observability solutions using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, DataDog and appropriate incident management integrations.
• Incorporate security, privacy, resilience, backup and disaster recovery requirements into system designs.
• Evaluate architectural options against reliability, performance, cost and maintainability requirements.
• Guide engineering teams during implementation, review technical changes and resolve significant design issues.
• Define proof-of-concept objectives and acceptance criteria; assess results before recommending wider implementation.
• Maintain architecture decisions, technical risks, design documentation and operational handover requirements.
• Support technical proposals by preparing solution options, estimates, dependencies and delivery assumptions.
• Mentor engineers and communicate architectural recommendations to technical and business stakeholders.

Essential qualifications and experience

• Degree in an engineering, computing or related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.
• Substantial experience designing cloud architectures and enterprise systems, particularly on Microsoft Azure.
• Practical knowledge of Azure networking, identity, governance, security and landing zone design.
• Experience with Terraform and infrastructure automation.
• Experience designing CI/CD processes, application integrations and cloud monitoring solutions.
• Ability to produce clear architecture documentation and explain technical trade-offs.
• Experience leading requirements workshops and collaborating with delivery, engineering and security teams.

Desirable

• Relevant Azure architecture, security or DevOps certifications.
• Terraform certification.
• Experience in regulated sectors such as financial services, healthcare or energy.
• Experience with ServiceNow integration, microservices and Agile delivery.
• Expected outcomes