System Design Authority (SC)

System Design Authority (SC) - Contract - Hybrid Working/Bristol - £competitive

Our client, a multinational defence and security company, is looking to recruit an experienced Leader and Design Authority to fulfil the System Design Authority (SDA) role for a key public sector project. The SDA will bring leadership and governance to support the solution's development and ensure the design aligns with the strategic vision.

The SDA will verify the solution from conception to production deployment and as the solution owner, will monitor change and act as the focal point for issues, opportunities, and risks. They will also ensure that the Target Operating Model is achievable in terms of resources, objectives, and benefits, in alignment with the overall strategy.

The role will require occasional work outside regular office hours, as well as site visits to locations around the South Coast of the UK. The SDA will work closely with and provide leadership to a specialised engineering team responsible for the ongoing system support of a significant government contract.

The SDA should have solid knowledge and experience across the full life cycle of software and systems engineering. In particular, they should have a strong background in systems integration, with emphasis on software-led integration, API design and implementation, secure interoperability, and scaling solutions from development into production environments.

What You Will Do

• Take responsibility for the end-to-end design and implementation of a key software system, from analysis and design through to successful IT health checks, testing, deployment, and transition into production.
• Provide leadership and governance to software development, hosting, and integration activities, ensuring compliance with standards and alignment with strategic goals.
• Drive modular design principles, adopting existing products, technologies, and subsystems where possible.
• Oversee and maintain all system and architectural specifications, drawings, and related design data.
• Prepare and submit certificates of design for acceptance.
• Maintain responsibility for design integrity and suitability, leading life cycle management including reviews, verification, and qualification activities.

What We Are Looking For

The successful candidate will have an outstanding range of knowledge and experience in integrating systems containing electronic, electrical, mechanical, and software-driven subsystems.

Core skills and experience (essential and advantageous):

• Defining and maintaining architectural principles, patterns, and frameworks.
• Ensuring adherence to technical and security standards and identifying corrective actions.
• Advanced software architecture, API integration, and design for scalability.
• Leadership in software-led systems integration, including cross-domain interoperability.
• Formal methods for analysis and design.
• Containerisation and orchestration technologies: Kubernetes, OpenShift (for CI/CD), Podman.
• Database architectures and concurrency management.
• Linux platforms such as RHEL and/or Ubuntu.
• System administration including patch management, monitoring (eg SCOM), and security vulnerability mitigation.
• Secure by Design principles.
• Design and implementation of CI/CD pipelines with Embedded DevSecOps practices.
• Machine learning models for object detection and optical character recognition.
• IT networking and secure interoperability.

Emerging Technologies & Tools

We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in:

• NVIDIA technologies - GPU acceleration for AI/ML workloads and system optimisation.
• OpenShift - leveraging containerisation for CI/CD pipelines and production readiness.
• Cilium - advanced networking, observability, and security in Kubernetes clusters.
• MongoDB - scalable database design and integration.
• Podman - secure container runtime and management.
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) - enterprise-level platform experience.

Personal Attributes

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to operate under broad direction with minimal supervision in technically challenging environments.
• Collaborative, adaptable, and capable of working effectively as part of a high-performing team.
• Willingness to work flexibly in a demanding and focused environment.

Due to the nature of the client it would be an advantage for candidates to hold, or be eligible and willing to undergo, a certain level of security clearance (SC).

If you are looking to take the next exciting step in your IT career, please send in your CV for immediate consideration.