Cyber Security - Architecture and Assurance Lead

Architecture and Assurance Lead. 6 months Fixed Term Contract

Our client is looking for an Architecture and Assurance Lead to provide independent technical leadership, architecture governance, and assurance across their Cyber Recovery Technology Programme. The role will act as a trusted technical advisor, responsible for defining, governing, and assuring the target cyber recovery architecture and ensuring all programme components operate as a cohesive end-to-end recovery capability. The role will work closely with technology teams, business stakeholders, and third-party suppliers to ensure solutions are aligned to business, operational, security, and recovery objectives. The successful candidate will provide independent challenge and assurance across the programme life cycle, identifying risks, dependencies, integration challenges, and recovery constraints while ensuring solutions adopt industry best practices and support target recovery objectives

The successful candidate will provide independent challenge and assurance across the programme life cycle, identifying risks, dependencies, integration challenges, and recovery constraints while ensuring solutions adopt industry best practices and support company target recovery objectives. Services. The successful candidate will be expected to. Become the technical architecture lead for the Cyber Recovery Technology Programme Develop, maintain, and govern the Target Cyber Recovery Architecture Define architecture principles, standards, reference architectures, and design patterns for cyber recovery and operational resilience Ensure all programme workstreams, technologies, and suppliers integrate into a cohesive recovery capability Review and assure technical designs produced by internal teams and third-party suppliers Challenge technical assumptions, architectural decisions, and supplier proposals Identify architectural risks, technical debt, hidden dependencies, and single points of failure Validate recovery strategies, recovery operating models, and technology roadmaps Support procurement activities, technology evaluations, and supplier selection exercises Participate in Design Authority and technical governance forums Review and assess recovery runbooks, recovery methodologies, and recovery testing approaches Support cyber recovery testing, simulation exercises, and recovery readiness reviews Produce architecture assurance reports, dependency assessments, and technical recommendations Ensure programme solutions align with agreed Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) Review industry trends, emerging technologies, and cyber recovery best practices to ensure adoption to best-in-class recovery capability Provide architecture leadership and assurance across recovery infrastructure, immutable backup platforms, cyber recovery vaults, clean room environments, application recovery workstreams, and supporting technology domains.

Expected Knowledge & Qualifications
1 Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, Infrastructure Architecture, or Cyber Recovery Architecture experience (Essential)
2 Demonstrable experience designing and governing Cyber Recovery, Disaster Recovery, or Operational Resilience programmes (Essential)
3 Experience working within Critical Infrastructure, Transport, Aviation, Utilities, Financial Services, or NIS2-regulated environments (Highly Desirable)
4 Experience leading Design Authority, Architecture Governance, and Technical Assurance activities (Essential)
5 Proven experience managing architecture across multi-supplier technology programmes (Essential)
6 Strong understanding of recovery architectures, cyber resilience principles, and operational resilience frameworks (Essential)
7 Strong understanding of Identity, Access Management, Active Directory, MFA, PAM, and recovery authentication models (Essential)
8 Experience with VMware vSphere, enterprise infrastructure, storage, and virtualisation technologies (Essential)
9 Experience with Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle RAC, and enterprise database recovery architectures (Essential)
10 Experience with Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes, and container platform recovery architectures (Desirable)
11 Experience with immutable backup platforms, cyber recovery vaults, air-gapped recovery solutions, and clean room environments (Essential)
12 Knowledge of Microsoft 365, Azure, hybrid cloud services, and enterprise platform recovery models (Desirable)
13 Strong risk assessment, dependency analysis, and problem-solving capabilities (Essential)
14 Experience supporting recovery testing, cyber exercises, validation activities, and recovery readiness assessments (Essential)
15 Strong stakeholder management, communication, and technical documentation skills (Essential)
16 Industry certifications such as TOGAF, SABSA, CISSP, Azure Architect, VMware, or equivalent (Desirable)
17 Good understanding of ITIL practices, governance, change management, and continual improvement (Desirable)