Principal Cloud Architect - ACTIVE Security Clearance required.

Appvia; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A technology consultancy in London is seeking a Principal Cloud Architect to shape national cloud strategy for UK government clients. This role requires extensive cloud architecture experience along with proven stakeholder engagement abilities. The ideal candidate should have active SC clearance and experience in multi-stakeholder environments, particularly in public sector settings. This role offers a hybrid work model with competitive pay and benefits.

Benefits

25 days’ holiday a year

Enhanced maternity and paternity leave

Full Private Healthcare cover

Learning budget of £1,000 a year

Dog friendly office

Free snacks in the office

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Cloud or Principal Architect in complex, multi‑stakeholder and public sector environments.
• Ability to align technical direction, policy, and organisational goals at scale.
• ACTIVE SC clearance (UK passport or ILR, 5+ years UK residency).

Responsibilities

• Lead on defining and advising national cloud strategy and governance for UK government.
• Collaborate with senior government stakeholders, translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable strategies.
• Evaluate emerging tools, policies, and frameworks to inform cloud best practice and compliance.

Skills

Cloud architecture

Platform engineering

DevOps practices

Infrastructure as Code

Stakeholder engagement

Technical communication

Thought Leadership

Education

Certification in relevant cloud technologies (AWS, Azure)

Certification in Kubernetes administration

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

AWS

Azure

Job description

Job Title: Principal Cloud Architect

Location: London, UK (Hybrid ~ 2-3 days on-site/ in office per week)

Contract: Permanent, Full-time

Salary: £90,000–£120,000 + 10% Bonus + 10% Shares + Benefits

About Us

At Appvia, we help governments and enterprises deliver secure, scalable, and modern digital services in the cloud. As a trusted cloud and platform engineering consultancy, we work with public sector and enterprise organisations to accelerate cloud adoption, build capability, and establish best practices across Cloud, DevOps, and Platform Engineering.

We’ve built our reputation working with some of the UK’s most complex and highly regulated environments, including central government and financial institutions, where we help customers cut through complexity and deliver lasting change.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Principal Cloud Architect to represent Appvia in a strategic engagement with an existing UK government customer. This role will play a key part in shaping national-level cloud strategy and policy, working with multiple technical and non-technical stakeholders across departments. This is an architecture-focused role suited to someone with a strong hands‑on foundation in cloud infrastructure and platform engineering, now operating at a strategic, consultative level.

You’ll act as a trusted advisor, guiding best practice in cloud architecture, governance, and platform engineering, to lead and help define government standards, policies, and long‑term objectives. Reporting into Appvia's Head of Pre‑Sales and working closely with the COO, you’ll bridge technical strategy and executive engagement, helping to form a clear, evidence‑based roadmap for the UK’s cloud future.

Interview process - 3 stage

• Initial conversation with our Talent Acquisition Manager
• Interview with COO
• Final Interview with Hiring manager and Engineering Leadership

Important

This is an urgent requirement for a public sector client and will require ACTIVE Security Clearance approval to start.

About You

• Proven experience as a Cloud or Principal Architect in complex, multi‑stakeholder and public sector environments.
• Deep understanding of cloud architecture, platform engineering, and DevOps practices.
• Broad knowledge of modern tooling and methods (IaC, Kubernetes, CI/CD, DevSecOps, automation).
• Strong consultancy and stakeholder engagement skills - confident with senior civil servants and technical leaders alike.
• Ability to align technical direction, policy, and organisational goals at scale.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the confidence to influence, lead, and build trust in fast‑moving environments.
• ACTIVE SC clearance (UK passport or ILR, 5+ years UK residency).

Key Responsibilities

• Lead on defining and advising national cloud strategy and governance for UK government.
• Collaborate with senior government stakeholders, translating complex technical concepts into clear, actionable strategies.
• Evaluate emerging tools, policies, and frameworks to inform cloud best practice and compliance.
• Shape architecture principles and standards for modern platform engineering (IaC, CI/CD, containers, DevSecOps, automation).
• Conduct and review strategic research and analysis across departments to inform a unified approach to cloud adoption.
• Represent Appvia as a trusted technical and advisory lead, building credibility and long‑term relationships with customers.
• Work closely with Appvia leadership to expand capability, influence direction, and identify opportunities for innovation.

Skills and experience

• Platform Architecture Expertise: Demonstrated experience designing scalable, secure cloud platforms, particularly within AWS or/and Azure.
• Microservice Applications Development: Advanced knowledge of AWS/Azure application architecture (containers, databases, serverless etc), security tooling best practices.
• Infrastructure as Code: Mastery of infrastructure‑as‑code practices and tools like Terraform.
• Cloud‑Native Solutions: Strong understanding of DevOps, CI/CD, and containerization best practices to support modern application development and deployment.
• Public Sector Experience: Experience engaging with public sector clients, understanding their unique challenges, and delivering tailored solutions.
• Technical Communication: Ability to communicate complex technical concepts effectively to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Thought Leadership: Commitment to staying current with industry trends, contributing to knowledge sharing, and driving best practices within the team.

Qualifications

Certification in relevant cloud technologies (AWS, Azure) at an expert/professional level is highly desirable, e.g

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• AWS Certified: Solutions Architect Professional

Certification in Kubernetes administration is desirable

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKSS)

Why join Appvia?

We are a self‑funded, London based startup; providing businesses with a fast and secure way to deploy containerised applications into the cloud.

We are on a mission to enable organisations to make cloud‑based software delivery simple and efficient, whilst having the insights into costs, security and cadence. As a company that holds customers at the heart of everything we do, we are looking for candidates that want to make a real change to how Dev and Ops is working in the industry.

With us our customers, like the UK’s Home Office & Bank of England, are harnessing cloud‑native technologies, limiting the challenges of infrastructure management and rapidly delivering digital products.

What’s on offer?

⚖️Work‑life balance

• Flexible working with core hours of 10‑4pm because we know life happens outside of work
• Hybrid working - only one compulsory office day per month
• 25 days’ holiday a year, plus bank holidays
• An additional day off for your birthday
• Enhanced maternity and paternity to full pay
• Workplace Nursery Benefit to help working parents

💚For your well‑being

• Full Private Healthcare cover for you with partners and children covered 50%
• Death in Service
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Electric Car Scheme
• Pension plus a salary sacrifice option for even greater savings
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Free hygiene products available in the London office

🧠Mental health support

• Free therapy through AXA
• Access to the Headspace App
• Trained Mental Health First Aiders

😃 Other fun perks

• Learning budget of £1,000 a year
• Your own MacBook Pro while you work at Appvia
• Dog friendly office
• Wear what makes you comfortable
• Free snacks in the office
• Pool table & ping pong table
• Regular team socials, board game nights, industry meetups and more!

But don’t just take our word for it, you can check out what our Appvians say about us on Glassdoor and by following us on LinkedIn, Twitter and TikTok.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and actively encourage, respect, and recognise diversity of thought and background throughout the business. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, or veteran, neurodiversity, and disability status.

Note:While all roles are active and approved at the time of posting, the dynamic nature of our start‑up means some applications may be processed to pipeline talent for future opportunities rather than current openings. We will strive to keep you informed of any changes to the status of your application.