Lead IAM Technical Architect

Job Title: Lead IAM Technical Architect
Location: Remote with occasional travel to Swindon
Contract Duration : until end 31/3/27
Daily Rate: £750/day (Umbrella)
IR35 Status: Inside IR35

Role Summary

• Lead IAM Technical Architect responsible for defining and delivering the enterprise identity architecture, establishing identity as the primary security control plane across services.
• The role combines cross-programme IAM design authority with secure-by-design, risk-led decision making, providing leadership across multiple IAM project workstreams and stakeholder groups.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and govern the target-state IAM architecture, covering:
• Identity verification and assurance
• Identity governance & life cycle (IGA/JML)
• Authentication and access management (AM)
• Privileged access (PAM)
• Customer and citizen identity (CIAM)
• Non-human/machine identity (NHI/MIM)
• Federation and identity trust models
• Lead end-to-end IAM solution design across programmes, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture and UK Government standards
• Provide design authority and architectural assurance, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, and aligned to organisational strategy
• Embed secure-by-design principles, integrating identity into risk-based access control and Zero Trust models
• Define identity life cycle and governance controls, including provisioning, access review, and deprovisioning
• Design integration and federation patterns, enabling secure identity exchange across the organisation, partners, and suppliers
• Develop transition architectures and migration strategies from Legacy identity services
• Deliver a phased IAM roadmap aligned to Discovery, Alpha, and enterprise rollout
• Engage senior stakeholders and provide technical leadership and advisory support across business and technology teams

Deliverables

• Enterprise IAM target architecture and design blueprint
• Current-state IAM assessment and risk analysis
• Identity governance and life cycle (IGA) operating model
• Authentication and access management design (including MFA/passwordless)
• Privileged access management control model
• Identity integration and federation architecture
• Transition and migration architecture
• Phased delivery roadmap with defined outcomes and milestones

IAM Project Background

• Strategic multi-year programme to establish identity as a core control plane aligned to Zero Trust principles
• Transformation of IAM services into a policy-driven, standards-aligned, enterprise capability

Specific skills required for the role:

Technical and Architecture Expertise

• Enterprise IAM architecture across IGA, AM, PAM, CIAM, federation, and NHI/MIM
• Strong experience in Zero Trust architecture and identity-driven access control
• Design of identity life cycle governance models and audit controls
• Integration and migration architecture across Legacy and modern platforms

Experience with platforms such as:

• Entra ID
• AWS Cognito
• IGA and PAM tooling

Security and Risk Capability

• Strong understanding of modern authentication and assurance models
• Experience embedding risk-based access controls and policy-driven identity
• Ability to translate risk into pragmatic architectural controls

Delivery and Leadership

• Proven delivery of large-scale IAM transformations
• Stakeholder engagement across business, security, and technical domains
• Ability to lead multi-team and supplier delivery environments
• Experience delivering phased roadmaps with measurable outcomes

Desirable

• Experience with UK Government identity services (eg GOV.UK One Login)
• Knowledge of ISO/IEC 24760, NIST SP 800-63, and NCSC guidance
• Experience in public sector or federated research environments

Disability Confident

As a member of the disability confident scheme, CLIENT guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group.

Armed Forces Covenant

CLIENT is proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant and as such, we guarantee to interview all veterans or spouses/partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates/military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group.

If you qualify for the above, please notify us

We will be in touch to discuss your suitability and arrange your Guaranteed Interview.

Should you require reasonable adjustments at any point during the recruitment process or if there is a more accessible way for us to communicate, please do let me know.

To apply for this role please submit your latest CV or contact Aspect Resources