Contract: 3 months (initial)
Daily rate: £700
Location: Onsite – London (primary), with engagement across London & Manchester environments
Working Hours: 9:00–17:00, Monday to Friday
Engagement Type: Contract
Role Overview
We are seeking an experienced Hybrid Cloud & Network Security Architect to lead the design and definition of a secure, scalable hybrid cloud edge and DMZ hosting architecture. The role is architecture-led and outcome-focused, responsible for defining target state designs, security controls, governance alignment, and delivery planning to enable future migration phases.
This is a hands-on architecture and design role, not an implementation-only position.
Key Objectives & Outcomes
Business Objectives (what outcomes are you looking to achieve through this service):
· Target Architecture Document for cloud edge and DMZ hosting (including diagrams, logical and physical topology).
· Hybrid Connectivity Design Principles and Standards (DNS-based policy, Zero Trust segmentation, firewalling).
· Detailed Bill of Materials (vendor/platform options, sizing, licence models, costs to Class 4 estimate).
· Delivery Project Plan (work breakdown structure, stage gates, dependencies, critical path).
· Security & Compliance Controls mapping (ISO 27001, NIST, GDPR alignment).
· Risk Register and Mitigation Plan (including security risks during migration).
· Stakeholder Engagement & Governance Plan (EICTH Futures tollgates, comms plan).
· Migration Strategy outline (phasing, cutover options, rollback), to inform later phases.
In-Scope Activities:
· Establish full inventory of services impacting hybrid flows and analyse existing traffic patterns.
· Target architecture design for cloud edge, DMZ hosting model, and hybrid connectivity (including DNS-based policy enablement).
· Network & security BoM definition (hardware, software, licences), and delivery project plan with stage gates.
· Liaison with internal teams (Digital Distribution, Connectivity, Architecture, InfoSec, Service Assurance, Commercial) to define cross-connects, circuits, and governance alignment.
· Assessment of hyperscaler scope (AWS in baseline; Azure/GCP to be evaluated) and interconnection locations (carrier-neutral DCs/IX presence).
Deliverables or KPI’s (e.g. uptime %, response times, resolution targets, etc)
· Target Architecture Document for cloud edge and DMZ hosting (including diagrams, logical and physical topology).
· Hybrid Connectivity Design Principles and Standards (DNS-based policy, Zero Trust segmentation, firewalling).
· Detailed Bill of Materials (vendor/platform options, sizing, licence models, costs to Class 4 estimate).
· Delivery Project Plan (work breakdown structure, stage gates, dependencies, critical path).
· Security & Compliance Controls mapping (ISO 27001, NIST, GDPR alignment).
· Risk Register and Mitigation Plan (including security risks during migration).
· Stakeholder Engagement & Governance Plan (EICTH Futures tollgates, comms plan).
· Migration Strategy outline (phasing, cutover options, rollback), to inform later phases.
Technical Environment
Key Technologies, Platforms or Vendors where experience is required:
· Core Networking
· Enterprise LAN/WAN/SD-WAN architecture and design.
· Routing & switching (L2/L3), Wi-Fi controllers/enterprise deployments.
· Network performance engineering (capacity planning, QoS, traffic engineering).
· Security Expertise
· Firewalls, VPNs, IDS/IPS, secure segmentation, Zero Trust architecture.
· Threat detection/response, SIEM integration, incident response.
· Compliance frameworks (ISO 27001, NIST, GDPR).
· Cloud & Hybrid Networking
· AWS/Azure/GCP networking (VPC/VNet, Transit Gateway, cloud firewalls).
· Hybrid integration, secure tunnels, SASE/SD-WAN.
· Platforms & Tools
· Cisco, Arista, Aruba, ClearPass, Infoblox, Mist, Fortinet, Check Point.
· Security Service Edge (Zscaler ZIA, ZPA, ZDX, ZIdentity, Cloud/Branch Connector).
· Monitoring/automation (SNMP, NetFlow, Ansible, Terraform); packet analysis (Wireshark).
· Soft Skills
· Stakeholder communication, documentation/reporting, leadership/mentoring.
Number of locations / Sites covered
Key 2 locations : Existing DMZ infrastructure all exists in London and Manchester, so ideally either of those.
Operational Requirements
Reporting Requirements (Monthly Reporting / Dashboards / Reviews):
· Regular stand up meetings and ad hoc project meetings
· Programme governance: EICTH Futures; tollgates for key decisions/milestones.
· Weekly status report: progress, risks/issues, decisions required.
· Stakeholder reviews: Architecture (TDA), InfoSec, Service Assurance, Commercial.
Communication Channels (Teams / Slack / Ticketing / Emails):
MS Teams, emails
Knowledge Transfer / Handover Expectations when Service Concludes:
Fully documented knowledge articles/handover