Security Architect

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Manchester; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is seeking a Security Architect to design and deliver secure architectures for government services, embedding security from the outset of product development. You will guide discovery options, align with enterprise standards, and support governance across the lifecycle.

The role involves mentoring teams, collaborating with Solution Architects and agile squads, and shaping security roadmaps in a complex digital environment.

Qualifications

• Has proven experience as a Security Architect within complex, large-scale digital or government environments.
• Has a strong understanding of secure-by-design principles, enterprise architecture and cloud-native security.
• Has experience working in agile, multidisciplinary teams delivering user-centric services.
• Has the ability to influence senior stakeholders and communicate complex security concepts clearly.
• Can demonstrate experience of shaping architecture standards, roadmaps and governance frameworks.
• Has a passion for mentoring others and developing organisational capability.

Responsibilities

• Leading the design and delivery of secure architectures, ensuring security controls are embedded from the outset of product development.
• Developing and recommending secure solution options during discovery and inception to inform design decisions.
• Collaborating with Solution Architects and agile teams to produce secure, value-for-money designs aligned to user needs.
• Creating clear security architecture artefacts and documentation to support governance and enable secure engineering practices.
• Ensuring all designs comply with the Digital Blueprint, Enterprise Architecture standards, and agreed product roadmaps.
• Providing expert security guidance across the full product lifecycle, including assurance activities such as control self-assessments.
• Owning and evolving security product roadmaps, contributing to Digital Blueprint improvements and reusable security patterns.
• Build organisational security capability through mentoring, sharing best practice, and supporting the growth of the Architecture community.

Skills

Secure architecture

Enterprise architecture

Cloud security

Agile teams

Education

CISSP certification

Master's degree in Information Security

Job description

As our Security Architect, you will use your technical knowledge, architecture design knowledge and development skills to help secure services used by millions of people against cyber threats. DWP is a huge and complex organisation. We have unique architectural and security challenges that you won't find in other roles. The reason for this vacancy is for a security architect to provide advice and guidance to this team. This role will involve our Corporate Centre Services function. We also welcome applications from candidates from a range of backgrounds including those with academic, consultancy and military experience, who hold a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification or a Master's degree in Information Security or willing to work towards obtaining either qualification as this will support your career development. The Security Architect will provide guidance and advice ranging from scoping IT Health Checks, providing guidance in risk assessment, providing security guidance, checking the cloud posture management platform for vulnerabilities. Each team is made up of a number of architects, so relationships will need to be built with other teams, the security community and the design authority. Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the design and delivery of secure architectures, ensuring security controls are embedded from the outset of product development.
• Developing and recommending secure solution options during discovery and inception to inform design decisions.
• Collaborating with Solution Architects and agile teams to produce secure, value-for-money designs aligned to user needs.
• Creating clear security architecture artefacts and documentation to support governance and enable secure engineering practices.
• Ensuring all designs comply with the Digital Blueprint, Enterprise Architecture standards, and agreed product roadmaps.
• Providing expert security guidance across the full product lifecycle, including assurance activities such as control self-assessments.
• Owning and evolving security product roadmaps, contributing to Digital Blueprint improvements and reusable security patterns.
• Build organisational security capability through mentoring, sharing best practice, and supporting the growth of the Architecture community.

Qualifications

• Has proven experience as a Security Architect within complex, large-scale digital or government environments.
• Has a strong understanding of secure-by-design principles, enterprise architecture and cloud-native security.
• Has experience working in agile, multidisciplinary teams delivering user-centric services.
• Has the ability to influence senior stakeholders and communicate complex security concepts clearly.
• Can demonstrate experience of shaping architecture standards, roadmaps and governance frameworks.
• Has a passion for mentoring others and developing organisational capability.