Contract | Inside IR35 | 6 months Location: Manchester preferred (hybrid, flexibility offered) Security clearance SC clearance is required Active SC is preferred, though candidates with lapsed but transferable SC may be consideredThe opportunity We're looking for a hands‑on Lead Technical Architect with a strong engineering background to help design, build and evolve cloud‑native platforms used by other developers. This is not a strategy‑only architecture role. You'll work closely with engineers, contribute to codebases, and lead architectural decisions by building and delivering real systems. If you're an engineer at heart who's progressed into architecture - or a technical architect who still codes - this role is likely to suit you well. What you'll be doing Designing and building scalable, secure, cloud‑native platforms on AWS Working directly alongside engineers, writing and reviewing production code Defining and implementing serverless architectures in large, multi‑account AWS environments Using Infrastructure as Code, particularly AWS CDK, to shape platform foundations Designing and evolving authentication and authorisation solutions (OAuth2 / OIDC) Communicating architectural vision clearly to engineers and non‑technical stakeholders Building internal tooling and shared platforms, where your primary users are other developersWhat we're looking for ...