Salary: £18,000 - 18,900 per year Requirements: STEM degree or equivalent experience One or more major certifications, e.g.: CCNP, VCP, PCNSE, Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Associate, AWS Solutions Architect – Associate Proven experience designing secure enterprise networks across on-prem, private cloud, and public cloud Experience with network automation, orchestration, and provisioning Strong datacentre design and infrastructure integration capability Skilled in producing architecture across conceptual, logical, and physical layers Experience leading and developing technical architecture teams Ability to influence senior stakeholders with evidence-based recommendations DV clearance required (sole British nationals only) Responsibilities: Design and govern secure network architectures across VMware private cloud, Microsoft on-premise, and Azure/AWS Lead creation of scalable, resilient LAN, WAN, hybrid cloud, and datacentre solutions Translate business/security needs into conceptual, logical, and physical architectures Produce high-quality HLDs/LLDs aligned to TOGAF Lead and mentor technical architects, providing direction and coaching Act as escalation point for complex technical incidents Evaluate design options and advise on cost, security, quality, and delivery trade-offs Design secure architectures, ideally with government/defence exposure Develop DDoS, firewall, WAF, IDS/IPS, EDR/XDR/NDR protection strategies Design business continuity, disaster recovery, and resilient datacentre solutions Review and assure complex solutions for compliance and performance Use operational data to identify optimisation opportunities Maintain technical roadmaps aligned with organisational goals Stay current with emerging tools and technologies Technologies: AWS Architect Azure Cloud Firewall Support LAN Network Security TOGAF VMware WAF More: We are seeking an experienced Lead Technical Architect with strong networking expertise and end-to-end datacentre design experience to support a secure government programme. This role is based in the Milton Keynes area and requires on-site presence for 3 days each week. We offer a 6-month contract at a competitive day rate of £790 inside IR35. You will work within a high-security environment, ensuring the integrity and reliability of our technical architecture. last updated 13 week of 2026