AWS Cloud Architect - SC Cleared - Urgent!

Cloud Consulting; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consultancy firm in the UK seeks an experienced AWS Cloud Architect for a government project. This role involves overseeing cloud migration strategies and ensuring compliance with security standards. Candidates should have over 10 years of cloud architecture experience, predominantly in AWS within regulated sectors. The position is mainly remote, requiring occasional on-site presence in London or Reading.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of cloud architecture; 5+ years AWS in regulated sectors.
• Deep knowledge of AWS services and tools.
• Strong stakeholder communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Act as overall technical design authority and maintain Cloud Architecture Blueprint.
• Develop Target Architecture and Migration Roadmap.
• Design secure multi-account AWS Landing Zone.
• Lead architecture for virtual desktop estate.

Skills

AWS Organizations

Control Tower

IAM

VPC

WorkSpaces

AppStream

FSLogix

AWS MGN

Terraform/CloudFormation

KMS

GuardDuty

CloudTrail

Entra ID

Stakeholder communication

Job description

Cloud Consulting have an urgent requirement for an experienced AWS Cloud Architect to work on a high-profile project for a leading government department.

The role is predominantly remote with 1 day p/week on-site in either London or Reading, and the project is inside of IR35.

Please note, you should have experience of an en prem to AWS migration programme.

Job overview

The Lead Cloud Architect is the technical authority and design owner for cloud migration and modernisation programme. They are accountable for defining the end-to-end cloud strategy, shaping the Landing Zone architecture, and overseeing all technical designs and implementation across AWS infrastructure, security, identity, networking, migration planning, and EUC (Amazon WorkSpaces/Citrix modernisation).

This role ensures that all architectural decisions are aligned to the functional, non-functional, financial, and security requirements, including resilience, Conditional Access, CIS/NCSC compliance, and cost efficiency. The Lead Architect provides technical governance across all phases: Discovery, Strategy & Design, Landing Zone Build, Amazon WorkSpaces deployment, Pilot & Full Migration, and BAU transition.

Key Responsibilities

1. Architectural Leadership & Technical Governance- Act as the overall technical design authority, ensuring cohesion across all workstreams. Lead workshops with SMEs to validate requirements. Own and maintain the Cloud Architecture Blueprint. Conduct architecture assurance across offshore and onshore teams. Chair and drive the Technical Design Authority (TDA) process.
2. Discovery, Assessment & Cloud Strategy- Lead and validate discovery findings. Develop Target Architecture and Migration Roadmap. Produce cloud adoption strategy aligned to public-sector frameworks.
3. Landing Zone Design & Governance Controls- Design secure multi-account AWS Landing Zone. Define SCP guardrails, IAM role model, logging, monitoring, KMS strategy. Ensure compliance with CIS, NCSC, Cyber Essentials. Oversee network segmentation, VPC connectivity, and DR patterns.
4. EUC & Amazon WorkSpaces/Citrix Modernisation Design- Lead architecture for virtual desktop estate. Oversee FSLogix, conditional access, MFA, RBAC. Provide technical assurance during UAT and rollout.
5. Migration Planning & Execution Governance- Own migration architecture, runbooks, and cutover plans. Select pilot workloads and define success criteria. Oversee AWS MGN/CloudEndure migrations. Provide technical escalation during cutovers.
6. Security, Identity & Compliance Assurance- Ensure encryption, MFA, identity federation, patching, and threat detection. Embed compliance into solution design. Oversee security engineer deliverables.
7. Operational Readiness, Hypercare & BAU Transition- Define operational model, dashboards, alerting rules. Lead defect triage and tuning during hypercare. Shape steady-state governance and FinOps optimisation.

Key Deliverables

• Cloud Adoption Strategy
• Target Architecture (HLD/LLD)
• Landing Zone Architecture Pack
• Detailed Implementation Plan
• EUC/WorkSpaces/Citrix design
• Migration Strategy & Runbooks
• Security & Compliance Architecture
• Operational Readiness & Handover Packs

Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years cloud architecture; 5+ years AWS in regulated sectors
• Deep knowledge of: AWS Organisations, Control Tower, IAM, VPC, WorkSpaces, AppStream, FSLogix, AWS MGN, Terraform/CloudFormation, KMS, GuardDuty, CloudTrail, Entra ID.
• Strong stakeholder communication.
• Experience defining governance, stage-gate assurance.

Soft Skills

• Strong communicator
• Structured thinker
• Risk-focused
• Delivery-oriented

Preferred Certifications

• AWS Solutions Architect
• Professional
• AWS Security Specialty
• AWS Networking Specialty
• ITIL