Cloud Infrastructure Architect

Onyx-Conseil; Wallasey; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Acorn Insurance in Liverpool is seeking a Cloud Infrastructure Architect to design, implement, and optimise secure, scalable cloud platforms. You will provide technical leadership across cloud strategy, governance, and operational excellence, partnering with engineering, security, and business teams to meet enterprise standards.

The role focuses on hybrid cloud architectures (Azure/AWS/GCP), infrastructure as code, and secure, resilient designs, with collaboration across the Platform Engineering

Qualifications

• 3+ years across networking, infrastructure, cloud platform and system administration.
• Extensive experience designing and supporting cloud infrastructure on Azure, AWS, or GCP.
• Strong understanding of networking (VNETs/VPCs, routing, DNS, load balancing, firewalls).
• Deep knowledge of infrastructure-as-code and automation tooling.
• Experience with container platforms (AKS, EKS, GKE, Kubernetes) and serverless architectures.
• Strong background in identity and access management (Azure AD, IAM, RBAC).
• Proven experience building scalable, resilient, and secure cloud architectures.
• Solid understanding of cloud cost optimisation and FinOps principles

Responsibilities

• Develop end-to-end cloud architectures supporting enterprise workloads.
• Collaborate with HoPE to ensure robust design and delivery across cloud platforms.
• Create reference architectures, design patterns, and standards for cloud environments.
• Design hybrid and multi-cloud strategies (Azure, AWS, GCP).
• Evaluate new cloud services, tools, and technologies to guide technical direction.
• Lead design and implementation of core cloud infrastructure components.
• Define IaC patterns using Terraform, Bicep, or ARM.
• Support migration of workloads to cloud platforms following best practices.
• Ensure designs adhere to security standards and governance.
• Implement Zero Trust, network segmentation, encryption, and access control models.
• Partner with Security Operations for monitoring and incident response integration.
• Develop automation and service optimisation for performance and cost efficiency.
• Conduct capacity planning, resilience engineering, DR design, and performance tuning.
• Act as SME and advisor for cloud strategy and initiatives.
• Mentor engineers in cloud, DevOps, and infrastructure teams.
• Communicate technical concepts to executives and managers

Skills

Cloud architecture

Networking

Cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP)

IAM & RBAC

Kubernetes

FinOps awareness

Tools

Terraform

Bicep

ARM templates

AKS

EKS

GKE

Job description

Job Title: Cloud Infrastructure Architect

Location: Liverpool City Centre on a Hybrid working basis

Salary: £65,000 - £75,000 per annum, Depending on experience

Job Type: Permanent, Full Time

Working Hours: 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday 9.00am - 5.30pm

Acorn Insurance are looking for a passionate Cloud Infrastructure Architect who will be responsible for designing, implementing, and optimising secure, scalable, and highly available cloud platforms. This role provides technical leadership across cloud strategy, architecture governance, infrastructure modernisation, and operational excellence. The architect partners closely with engineering, security, operations, and business teams to ensure the cloud environment supports organisational goals and meets enterprise standards.

Key Role Responsibilities:

• Develop end-to-end cloud architectures that support enterprise workloads, including compute, storage, networking, identity, and automation.
• Develop a close working relationship with Head of Platform Engineering (HoPE) to ensure robust design and delivery across our cloud platforms
• Create reference architectures, design patterns, and technical standards for cloud environments.
• Design hybrid and multi-cloud strategies leveraging platforms such as Azure, AWS, and GCP.
• Evaluate new cloud services, tools, and technologies to guide technical direction.
• Lead the design and implementation of core cloud infrastructure components: virtual networks, identity and access, monitoring, encryption, resilience, and backup strategies.
• Define infrastructure-as-code (IaC) patterns using tools such as Terraform, Bicep, or ARM.
• Support migration of workloads from on-premise to cloud platforms following best-practice frameworks
• Ensure cloud designs adhere to security standards, regulatory requirements, and architectural governance.
• Implement Zero Trust principles, network segmentation, encryption, key management, and secure access control models.
• Partner with Security Operations and SOC teams to ensure monitoring, logging, and incident response capabilities are embedded
• Develop automation and service optimisation strategies to improve performance, cost efficiency, and availability.
• Conduct capacity planning, resilience engineering, disaster recovery design, and performance tuning.
• Act as a subject-matter expert and trusted advisor for cloud strategy and infrastructure initiatives.
• Mentor engineers and contribute to capability uplift across cloud, DevOps, and infrastructure teams.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to executives, project managers, and non-technical stakeholders.

About you:

Critical Competencies:

• A strong hands-on technical background with 3+ years across several disciplines; networking, infrastructure, cloud platform and system administration
• Extensive experience designing and supporting cloud infrastructure on Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Strong understanding of networking (VNETs/VPCs, routing, DNS, load balancing, firewalls).
• Deep knowledge of infrastructure-as-code and automation tooling.
• Experience with container platforms (AKS, EKS, GKE, Kubernetes) and serverless architectures.
• Strong background in identity and access management (Azure AD, IAM, RBAC).
• Proven experience building scalable, resilient, and secure cloud architectures.
• Solid understanding of cloud cost optimisation and FinOps principles

Grow with Acorn

At Acorn Insurance, we're proud of our Liverpool roots - and even prouder of how far we've come. As part of the Acorn Group, we bring over 40 years of specialist insurance expertise to the table. From humble beginnings, we've grown into a national leader, now employing 1,700+ people across the UK and reached a milestone £750 million in total value of insurance policies written in 2024.

Benefits:

• A maximum of 35 days' holiday (including bank holidays) with additional buy/sell options
• 24/7 mental health support & free counselling available
• Grow with us: Through career fairs, leadership programs, and learning on the go!
• Flexible benefits, including early access to salary via our internal platform
• Hybrid working options to support work-life balance and individual needs
• Recognition awards, social events & more

A Few Things to Know Before You Apply

Checks & Clearances

All roles at Acorn are subject to DBS and financial checks. Any offer we make will be conditional until these are completed to a satisfactory standard.

Visa Requirements

Because our training is quite comprehensive, we can only consider applicants who have at least one year remaining on their Graduate or Post-Study Work visa. At the moment, we're not able to offer visa sponsorship.

We're Here to Support You

We're committed to creating an inclusive, supportive workplace where everyone can flourish. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process-or once you're part of the team-just let us know. Whether it's flexible hours, adapted equipment, or a bit of extra support, we'll work with you to make sure you can do your best work.

Candidates with experience or relevant job titles of; Cloud Infrastructure Administrator, IT Architect, Systems Developer, Software Architect may also be considered for this role.