Lead Enterprise Architect

Initialize; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Initialize is seeking a Lead Enterprise Architect to anchor a high-priority transformation portfolio from London, with 1–2 days on-site and occasional remote work for a global payments organisation.

You will design the multi-year infrastructure roadmap, drive EOL decommissioning and re-platforming, and provide technical governance for ITDR remediation. Strong FinOps discipline and cost-aware decision making are essential.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in enterprise, cloud, or infrastructure architecture leadership.
• 8+ years in leading large hybrid cloud transformations.
• Strong FinOps framework and cloud cost management knowledge.
• Experience with EOL decommissioning and re-platforming projects.
• Knowledge of ITDR remediation governance and security posture assessment.

Responsibilities

• Architect the target-state vision for a resilient hybrid environment across on-prem and multi-cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Build and govern a phased, multi-year technology lifecycle roadmap and EOL mitigation.
• Drive FinOps and cost optimization for cloud spend and TCO sizing of re-platforming options.
• Champion ITDR remediation governance for Identity Threat Detection and Response programs.
• Guide engineering teams across compute, storage, network, IAM, and cloud toward compliant, budget-aware target states.

Skills

Enterprise architecture

Hybrid cloud

FinOps

ITDR governance

Cost optimization

Technical leadership

Tools

Kubernetes

OpenShift

Terraform

Ansible

ArchiMate

Job description

Lead Enterprise Architect - London (may be 1-2 days a week) and remote - global payments organisation!

Role

You will be high-calibre, technically broad Lead Enterprise Architect (EA). In this role, you will be the architectural anchor for a high-priority transformation portfolio: designing the multi-year infrastructure roadmap, driving the End-of-Life (EOL) decommissioning and re-platforming pipeline, and providing technical governance for our Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) remediation program. Combine deep infrastructure engineering with financial discipline, embedding FinOps frameworks across cloud and on-premise environments (ensure that every milestone on the strategic roadmap optimizes unit economics, eliminates waste during EOL migrations, and remains tightly aligned with corporate fiscal and security goals).

Core Key Responsibilities

Architect the target-state vision for a highly resilient hybrid environment, seamlessly blending on-premise data centers with multi-cloud architectures (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Build & Govern the Strategic Roadmap: Design and maintain a phased, multi-year technology lifecycle roadmap tracking infrastructure dependencies, technical debt, and aggressive EOL asset mitigation.

Drive FinOps & Cost Optimization: Establish cloud financial accountability by embedding FinOps practices into the architecture lifecycle. Manage cloud spend, model TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for EOL re-platforming options, and eliminate Legacy waste.

Champion ITDR Remediation: Provide primary technical and architectural governance for the Identity Threat Detection and Response program. Harden hybrid identity environments across Active Directory and cloud IDPs (Entra ID).

Guide & Influence Engineering Teams: Act as the ultimate technical bridge across diverse infrastructure silos (Compute, Storage, Network, IAM, Cloud). Confidently guide engineering execution toward compliant, budget-aware target states.

Technical Skills & Domain Expertise

Extensive experience designing, deploying, and migrating applications across hybrid environments (On-Premises to Public Cloud: AWS, Azure, or GCP).

Strong grasp of container orchestration (Kubernetes, OpenShift) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible) to ensure consistency across cloud environments.

Proven track record of managing large-scale infrastructure decommissioning, hardware refreshes, and Legacy system modernization.

Deep familiarity with the FinOps Framework (Inform, Optimize, Operate phases) and cloud cost management tooling (eg, AWS Cost Explorer, Azure Cost Management, CloudHealth, Kubecost).

Capability to design architectures optimized for cost efficiency, incorporating spot instances, savings plans, auto-scaling parameters, and data egress optimization.

Strong capability to calculate TCO and ROI comparison models, guiding the team to select the most cost-effective cloud or hybrid landing zones for migrating EOL systems.

3. Identity & Cyber Resilience (ITDR Focus)

Advanced architectural knowledge of hybrid Identity & Access Management (IAM) ecosystems, including Active Directory tiering models, Entra ID, and PAM solutions (CyberArk, BeyondTrust).

Understanding of identity threat vectors and security posture assessment tools designed to detect privilege escalation, lateral movement, and misconfigurations.

Financial & Technical Diplomat: Able to effectively bridge the gap between Enterprise IT Engineering, Finance (CFO office), and Procurement to drive cultural accountability around cloud spend.

Risk-Aware Decision Maker: Competent at balancing the urgency of security remediation (ITDR) and EOL risk management against immediate financial constraints and operational SLAs.

Architectural Communicator: Expert visual modeler (Miro, Visio, ArchiMate) capable of distilling complex infrastructure topologies and financial metrics into clear executive roadmaps.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience: Total of 15+ years of experience with 8+ years in an Enterprise, Cloud, or Infrastructure Architecture leadership role driving large hybrid cloud transformations.

Certifications (Highly Regarded):

FinOps Certified Practitioner or FinOps Certified Enterprise Architect.

TOGAF, Zachman, or SAFe framework certifications.

Professional Cloud Architect certifications (eg, AWS Certified Solutions Architect Pro, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect).