Technical Architect

6-month contract £600 per day Inside IR35 Bedford (3-4 days onsite)

Our client is seeking an experienced Technical Architect to support a major estate transformation programme spanning internet-connected and air-gapped environments. You'll work closely with technical teams and security stakeholders to define secure, compliant solution architectures across a highly complex OT and on-prem infrastructure estate.

• Lead architectural discovery and requirements gathering with internal teams.

• Interpret and apply defence-grade security and compliance requirements (up to SECRET).

• Develop solution options and produce target-state and N-state phased architectures.

• Design solutions across mixed internet-connected and air-gapped environments.

• Architect on-prem infrastructure with heavy use of VMware technologies.

• Support design work across highly specialised Operational Technology (OT) systems.

• Document architectures, provide design governance, and support technical teams through delivery.

• Work collaboratively across engineering, operations, and security to validate solutions.

• Minimum SC clearance and ability to work with SECRET-level systems.

• Strong infrastructure and network architectural background.

• Experience designing for secure, classified, air-gapped, or defence environments.

• Background in Operational Technology (OT), CNI, or other critical estates.

• Proven ability to work in complex, highly regulated technical environments.

• Comfortable being onsite in Bedford 3-4 days per week.

• Strong understanding of VMware-based virtualisation and on-prem architectures.

• Experience within defence, RAF, MoD, or defence-aligned organisations.

• Experience designing solutions for SECRET-classified environments.

• Prior work in mixed IT/OT operational estates.

A great opportunity to shape secure infrastructure and influence the technical direction of a critical, high-impact transformation programme.