Lead Technical Architect

Lead Technical Architect / Lead Network Architect / 6 Months / Contract / Milton Keynes / £790 / DV Cleared

For this role we are looking for a Lead Technical Architect with strong and broad knowledge and experience across the wide Technical Architecture space but focussing on Networking. 
You will own the end-to-end network architecture across physical and logical domains, including but not limited to, WAN, LAN, SD-WAN, Wi-Fi, VPN, firewalls, load balancers, and network security services. Lead the design and planning of scalable, resilient, and secure network solutions that meet business, technical, and cyber security requirements.
Contribute to the Technical Design Authority (TDA) as a voting member when required, providing expert review of network-related proposals and influencing strategic technical direction.
Essential
Degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Network Engineering, or Telecommunications.
Holds or is willing to work towards recognised qualifications such as TOGAF, ITIL, Agile Project Management, PRINCE2, or equivalent experience.
You will ideally hold professional certifications such as Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP), VMware Certified Professional – Network Virtualisation (VCP-NV), Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE), Microsoft Certified: Azure Network Engineer Associate, AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, or equivalent experience.
Proven experience designing and governing secure networks using VMware (private cloud), Microsoft on-premise, and multi-cloud (Azure and/or AWS) technologies.
Led scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient LAN, WAN, and hybrid cloud network designs.
Translate business/security requirements into secure, efficient, and cost-effective designs.
Experience in reviewing and assuring complex solutions and authored concise and high quality high and low-level designs (conceptual, logical, and physical architecture layers) using the TOGAF framework.
Demonstrable expertise in network automation, provisioning, and orchestration.
Experience leading and managing technical architects, providing direction, coaching, and professional development to build capability and technical excellence across functions.
Knowledge:
Knowledge in designing secure or air-gapped platforms within the government sector.
Knowledge of NCSC, GDS, and UK government security frameworks, including Secure by Design, Cloud Security Principles, Government Functional Standards, and the Technology Code of Practice.
Design knowledge of modern practices such as zero trust architecture and network automation.
Designing cloud-native networking within Microsoft Azure/AWS (Azure VNet/AWS VPC).
You will have deep technical knowledge across physical and logical network architectures, including Cisco (ACI, ASA, Firepower (NGFW), ASR, Catalyst, and Nexus), VMware NSX, and Palo Alto Firewalls.
You will have a strong understanding of networking protocols and technologies such as VLANs, MPLS, IPsec, OSPF, BGP, SD-WAN, SDN, TCP/IP, ICMP, VPN, DNS, and QoS.
Design knowledge of F5 BIG-IP (LTM, ASM) and experience with monitoring platforms such as SolarWinds and PRTG.
You will understand the design, configuration, integration, and operation of high-grade encryption devices used to protect classified sensitive information.

Experience:
Designed architectures for secure environments, ideally within government or defence.
Developed and maintained technical roadmaps aligned with organisational strategy.
Evaluated solution options and advised on time, cost, quality, and security trade-offs.
Experience architecting DDoS protection and mitigation alongside firewalls, WAF, IDS/IPS, and EDR/XDR/NDR systems.
Experience designing business continuity, disaster recovery, robust datacentre and resilience solutions.
Led or managed teams, providing direction and professional development.
Influenced senior stakeholders through credible, evidence-based recommendations.
Acted as an escalation point for complex technical incidents to restore service.
Used operational data and metrics to identify and deliver optimisation opportunities.
Maintained continuous professional development and awareness of emerging tools.