Azure Platform Architect - Remote

Howden; Budock Water; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Life Assurance up to 4x salary

Income protection up to 5 years

Contributory pension - 4%/5%

Healthcare Cashplan

Gym discounts

Cycle to Work discounts

Technology purchase discounts

Employee discounts

EAP

Job summary

Howden is seeking a Technical Architect (Azure) to join the Cloud Engineering & Architecture team. You will define and evolve the core Azure cloud platform, enabling product and delivery teams to move fast with secure, scalable solutions.

You will collaborate with Cloud Engineers, DevOps and Delivery to design reusable components, self-service capabilities and governance guardrails that balance speed with compliance.

Qualifications

• Strong experience designing, building, and operating cloud platforms in Microsoft Azure.
• Deep understanding of cloud platform architecture, including identity, networking, security, monitoring, and governance.
• Hands-on experience with Infrastructure as Code, ideally using Bicep.
• Strong working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, including platform-level templates and guardrails.
• Experience designing and evolving Azure Landing Zones or equivalent enterprise-scale foundations.
• Clear understanding of cloud security principles, including identity design, least-privilege access, and platform hardening.
• Experience working within governance and compliance frameworks, and embedding these into platform design.
• Ability to create and validate reference architectures, patterns, and reusable components.
• Comfortable reviewing release plans and translating new workload demands into platform enhancements.
• Experience operating and supporting live cloud platforms, not just designing them.
• Strong observability mindset, including logging, metrics, alerts, and operational insight.
• Ability to identify areas suitable for self-service enablement and automation.
• A pragmatic approach to architectural decision-making, balancing ideal design with delivery reality.
• Experience producing and maintaining architectural decision records (ADRs).
• Strong documentation skills, including diagrams, design notes, and onboarding guidance.
• Confident communicator who can influence without authority and explain complex topics simply.
• Collaborative approach, working effectively across engineering, security, and delivery teams.
• Curiosity and drive to stay current with evolving Azure capabilities and platform practices.

Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the core cloud architecture that enables product and delivery teams to build securely, consistently, and at pace.
• Work closely with Cloud Engineers, DevOps, and Delivery teams to design and implement reusable platform components, self-service capabilities, and standard patterns.
• Shape platform standards, governance, and guardrails to balance speed with compliance and security requirements.
• Review upcoming platform demands, track emerging Azure capabilities, and introduce new services where they provide business value.
• Explain architectural decisions clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Skills

Azure design

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Security

Observability

Governance

ADR

IaC

Identity

Tools

Azure DevOps

Bicep

Azure Landing Zones

Networking

Identity management

Security controls

Observability tools

Job description

Howden is seeking a Technical Architect (Azure) to join the Cloud Engineering & Architecture team. You will define and evolve the core Azure cloud platform, enabling product and delivery teams to move fast with secure, scalable solutions.

You will collaborate with Cloud Engineers, DevOps and Delivery to design reusable components, self-service capabilities and governance guardrails that balance speed with compliance.