Azure Cloud Architect

Thales; Crawley; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Thales UK is seeking a senior architect to lead the design and governance of cloud, infrastructure and network architectures within UK TrustNest. You will steer platform teams, set standards and build scalable solutions that align with security, data protection and risk management goals.

As part of the leadership team, you will mentor engineers, collaborate across projects and drive secure DevSecOps practices, ensuring accreditation milestones and adherence to Thales' reference architectures.

Qualifications

• In depth and demonstrable experience in technical security support across multiple systems and applications.
• Evidence as subject matter expert in evaluating and implementing security products for IaC and Azure cloud environments.
• Ability to provide analytical advice on security implications of changes to systems/applications.
• Ability to interpret complex technical information to inform security decisions.

Responsibilities

• Act as an industry expert in cloud, infrastructure, and network technologies.
• Lead the platform team with guidance and SME input.
• Design and architect next generation architectures across storage, compute, network, containers and cloud-native apps.
• Build solution architectures aligning requirements, reference architectures, design patterns and standards.
• Lead collaboration with project teams and enterprise architects to deploy architectures.
• Develop extensible architectures enabling future technology agility.
• Provide strategic support to staffing teams and stakeholders with governance and design principles.
• Research and recommend technical approaches for solving architectural problems.
• Provide technical and governance direction to internal and external implementation teams.
• Participate in vendor RFPs, tool selection and sourcing negotiations.
• Analyse business processes and data flows to inform solutions.
• Weigh risk, ROI, schedule and budget for solution recommendations.
• Ensure projects align with information reference architecture and standards.
• Define and maintain reference architectures.
• Lead IT strategies and roadmaps within the cloud domain.
• Communicate and influence towards future state architectures.
• Maintain technology strategy, roadmaps, and engineering implementations.
• Ensure enterprise standards are followed while advising across projects.
• Explore new technologies and drive innovation with the business.
• Create training materials and technical position papers for delivery teams.
• Support business case development.
• Lead vulnerability management with Secure by Design principles.
• Develop security requirements and epics with governance for data protection.
• Work with teams to ensure security assurance and risk appetite alignment.
• Embed security as everyone's responsibility within the development team.
• Support delivery of technical security measures for accreditations.
• Be central point of contact for UK Digital Competency Centre security matters.
• Develop risk assessments and remedial action in line with Secure by Design.

Skills

Security architecture

Cloud security

DevSecOps

Tools

Terraform

Azure

Kubernetes

Job description

Location: Crawley, United Kingdom

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Cyber Security & Digital Identity (CDI)

From secure software to biometrics and encryption, CDI technologies and services enable businesses and governments to authenticate identities and protect data, so they stay safe and enable services in personal devices, connected objects, the cloud and in between.

Description

UK TrustNest is an underpinning capability forming part of the wider UK Digital Competency Centre playing a pivotal role in Thales UK’s digital transformation agenda. As a member of the leadership team, you will be transforming how the organisation develops, deploys and manages accredited software solutions to our Customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as an industry expert in cloud, infrastructure, and network technologies
• Serve as a leader and subject matter expert to guide the platform team
• Design and architect next generation architectures across multiple domains including storage, compute, network, containerisation, and cloud native applications.
• Build solution architectures that align requirements, reference architectures design patterns and technology standards
• Lead collaboration with project teams, application, data, integration, infrastructure, and security enterprise architects to develop and deploy comprehensive solution architectures.
• Develop extensible architectures to enable future technology agility.
• Provide strategic support to staffing teams and key stakeholders with thought leadership, program design principles and implementation support.
• Research, analyse and recommend technical approaches for solving difficult and challenging architectural problems.
• Provide technical and governance direction to internal and external implementation teams.
• Participates in the vendor request for proposal (RFP), tool selection process and sourcing negotiations for new tools and applications.
• Analyse business process, data flows, IT / technical artefacts’ and extract understanding of how the system or business process works as input into solutions.
• Weighs Risk, ROI, schedule & budget considerations to provide solution recommendations.
• Ensure projects are delivered in-line with Information Reference Architecture, roadmap and to the defined standards and best practices.
• Define and maintain references architectures.
• Lead the creation/socialization of IT strategies and roadmaps within the cloud domain based on business strategy, business and IT trends, and current and future architectures.
• Effectively communicate and influence others towards future state solutions and architectures.
• Maintain technology strategy, vision, architectural roadmaps, reference architectures and engineering implementations.
• Ensure enterprise standards are established and followed while providing consulting on initiatives across multiple projects.
• Explore new technologies and industry trends and partner with the business to experiment and drive innovation.
• Create and maintain training and educational materials and technical position papers for solution delivery teams.
• Support business case development.
• Lead vulnerability management activities working closely with the platform team to initiate remedial action where required, utilising “Secure by Design” Principles.
• Develop security requirements, epics and stories, along with guidance & governance to squads to ensure data protection and data security are included in the scope of new and existing data & digital products
• Work collaboratively with other team member to ensure proposed solutions provide the required level of security assurance in line with data processing requirements, as well as Thales and customer risk appetites.
• Embedding the latest security best practice within the development team enabling the principle of ‘everyone being responsible for security’.
• Support the delivery of technical security measures, to ensure successful and timely system accreditations and re-accreditations.
• Be central point of contact for all UK Digital Competency Centre technical security matters and concerns, supporting the UK TrustNest team throughout the DevSecOps lifecycle and engaging with key security stakeholders inc. UK Head of Information Assurance.
• Responsibility for developing, implementing and conducting formal and regular technical risk assessments of Thales’ DCC environment, recommending remedial action where required, utilising “Secure by Design” Principles.
• Assist with the deployment and implementation of security related initiatives

Profile

• You have the ability to facilitate engagement with peers.
• You are strong in team orientation - someone who can enable others, instil a unified and collaborative atmosphere for a diverse team.
• You are eager to share knowledge and help team members develop their security awareness.
• You are committed towards continuous improvement and learning new skills and capabilities.
• You are curious about the latest developments and tools in your area(s) of expertise, passionate about innovations.
• You are open-minded, experienced or ready to adopt to new ways of working (agile).
• You are experienced and interested in the challenges associated with supporting Cloud Hosting and delivering DevSecOps in an agile environment.

Skills

Essential:

• In depth and demonstrable experience in technical security support with a variety of systems and applications.
• Evidential experience as subject matter expert in the evaluation and implementation of technical security products for Infrastructure as Code, Azure cloud based Public or Private sector organisations.
• Able to provide analytical advice on the security implications of new and existing systems/applications and for all proposed changes to said systems/applications.
• Able to interpret