Lead Solution Architect

Lead Solution Architect

Department: Cloud/DevOpps

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: London

Compensation: £80,000 - £100,000 / year

Description Job Title:Lead Solution Architect Location: Remote / Occasionally Bromley/Croydon Salary: £80,000 - £100,000 Must have or be eligible for UK Security Clearance. About the Role: We are looking for an experienced and highly skilled Solution Architect with expertise in cloud-based architectures to join our team. You will play a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and overseeing advanced cloud infrastructure solutions for mission-critical systems. With extensive experience and deep knowledge of security architecture on cloud platforms, you will provide technical leadership and strategic direction in building scalable, secure, and resilient cloud-native systems based on AWS, Kubernetes, Kafka, microservices, Java, and event-driven design.
Key Responsibilities

• Cloud Architecture Design: Lead the design of cloud-based systems and solutions, utilising AWS and modern architectural patterns such as microservices, event-driven architectures, and serverless computing to meet both current and future business needs.
• Cloud Security: Develop and implement robust security architectures for cloud solutions, ensuring data protection, regulatory compliance, and alignment with industry best practices (e.g., AWS IAM, encryption, VPC, security monitoring, and auditing).
• Containerisation & Orchestration: Architect and oversee containerised environments using Kubernetes, ensuring high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance for critical applications.
• Event-Driven Systems: Architect event-driven systems using Kafka, designing and managing messaging frameworks to handle real-time data processing across distributed microservices.
• Microservices Architecture: Design and oversee the development of microservices-based systems, establishing best practices for modularity, scalability, and maintainability, with a focus on Java-based backend services.
• Technical Leadership: Provide technical leadership and mentorship to architecture and development teams, guiding them through complex technical challenges and architectural decisions.
• Security & Compliance: Ensure that cloud architectures are compliant with industry regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) and company security policies, and implement security controls across the infrastructure.
• CI/CD & Automation: Champion the development of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (IaC), and automation to enable fast and reliable delivery of cloud services.
• Work closely with DevOps, engineering teams, product management, and stakeholders to ensure that architectural strategies align with both technical and business objectives.
• Performance & Cost Optimisation: Drive performance tuning, cost optimisation, and cloud resource management strategies to maximise efficiency and minimise cloud spend.
• Risk Management: Identify and mitigate technical risks in cloud-based systems and infrastructure.
  Documentation & Best Practices: Develop and maintain architectural standards, design patterns, and documentation, ensuring a shared understanding of technical solutions.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field or professional equivalent maybe considered.
• Extensive experience in designing and implementing large-scale, distributed cloud systems, with a strong focus on AWS.
• Extensive experience with cloud security architecture, including knowledge of AWS security best practices (e.g., IAM, network security, encryption).
• Deep expertise in containerisation technologies (Docker) and Kubernetes for orchestration in production environments.
• Proven experience in designing and implementing event-driven architectures, with strong expertise in queue-based systems including Kafka.
• Strong background in microservices architecture and hands-on experience with Java-based backend systems.
• In-depth understanding of CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation), and automated deployment processes.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and provide technical mentorship.
• Experience with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack) and cloud cost optimisation strategies.

Preferred Skills:

• AWS certification(s) (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect, AWS Certified Security - Specialty).
• Experience with other cloud platforms (e.g., Azure, GCP).
• Familiarity with serverless architectures and AWS Lambda.
• Expertise in compliance standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2, and ISO 27001.
• Experience with advanced security practices such as zero-trust architecture, encryption key management, and security incident response.

Why Apply?

• Senior/Lead role with the ability to influence key architectural decisions.
• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge cloud technologies and large-scale projects
• Employer pension contribution of up to 5%
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Continuous learning and development opportunities, including cloud certifications.
• Training allowance
• A collaborative and innovative work environment.