Lead AWS Cloud Architect - SC & NPPV3 cleared

We're looking for an experienced SC/NPPV3 Cleared Lead AWS Cloud Architect to support a major public-sector technology programme involving secure, scalable and resilient cloud solutions.

This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who can shape cloud architecture, establish engineering standards and guide delivery teams through complex design and implementation challenges. You'll work across cloud infrastructure, security, automation and modernisation, helping ensure solutions are secure, reliable, cost-effective and built for the long term.

The role is suited to an architect who combines strong AWS technical expertise with the ability to influence decisions, provide architectural assurance and communicate effectively with both technical teams and business stakeholders.

Key responsibilities

• AWS architecture: Design secure, scalable and highly available cloud solutions using AWS services, selecting appropriate technologies to meet business, performance and cost requirements.

• Architecture governance: Establish and maintain cloud architecture standards, reusable patterns and best practices, aligned with the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

• Technical leadership: Provide direction to engineering, DevOps and data teams; review designs and support delivery through complex technical challenges.

• Security and compliance: Design security controls covering IAM, encryption, network segmentation, monitoring and threat detection within regulated environments.

• Infrastructure as Code: Drive the use of Terraform, CloudFormation or AWS CDK, developing reusable modules and standardised deployment approaches.

• Performance and cost optimisation: Improve reliability, operational performance and cloud efficiency using AWS monitoring and optimisation tools.

• Cloud migration and modernisation: Shape migration strategies and modern architectures involving microservices, serverless, APIs, containers and event-driven solutions.

• Stakeholder engagement: Work with product, business and delivery stakeholders to translate requirements into practical technical solutions.

• Technical escalation: Lead investigation and root-cause analysis of complex issues across cloud infrastructure, applications and integrations.

• Continuous improvement: Identify opportunities to automate, modernise and improve cloud platforms and engineering practices.

Essential experience

• Extensive hands-on experience designing and delivering AWS cloud architectures.

• Strong knowledge of AWS services, including EC2, Lambda, S3, RDS, DynamoDB, IAM, VPC and CloudFront.

• Experience setting architecture standards and providing technical governance and assurance.

• Strong cloud security knowledge and experience working with compliance requirements.

• Practical experience with Infrastructure as Code, particularly Terraform, CloudFormation or CDK.

• Experience with cloud migration, modernisation and contemporary application architectures.

• Proven ability to lead technical teams and engage confidently with senior stakeholders.

• Active SC clearance and NPPV3.

• Single nationality requirement applies.