Lead Architect - £850 per day - SC Cleared - 6 Month Contract

Lead Architect - £850 per day - SC Cleared - 6 Month Contract Rate: £850 per day IR35: Outside IR35 Duration: 6 months (initial)Location: Warrington (2 days per week on-site)The Role A leading organisation is seeking an experienced Lead Architect (SC Cleared) to support the delivery of a Shared Layer 3 programme. This role will focus on defining and driving both high-level and low-level architecture designs while ensuring secure-by-design principles across complex IT and operational technology environments.The successful candidate will provide architectural leadership, own critical technical decisions, and ensure alignment with governance, security standards, and business requirements across the programme.Essential Experience

• Strong IT architecture background, including virtualisation, platform services, monitoring, and infrastructure management.
• Exposure to Operational Technology (OT) environments.
• Experience delivering large-scale infrastructure or platform programmes.
• Demonstrated leadership in multi-million-pound technology deployments.
• Experience delivering enterprise virtualisation platforms, private cloud solutions, and modern infrastructure environments.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with cross-domain solutions within secure or regulated environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of high-level and detailed architecture designs for the Shared Layer 3 programme.
• Produce and maintain architecture documentation and design artefacts to support delivery.
• Provide technical leadership and decision ownership across the architecture domain.
• Act as the domain lead architect for the Shared Layer 3 platform, ensuring design integrity and security best practices.
• Translate business and risk requirements into secure architectural solutions spanning IT and OT environments.
• Develop architecture artefacts such as threat models, design patterns, and solution blueprints aligned with strategic frameworks.
• Support programmes through architecture governance processes and risk assessments.
• Conduct architecture reviews and security assurance activities for new and evolving technology solutions.
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the Security Architecture Framework, providing insight into emerging threats and technologies.
• Maintain an up-to-date understanding of cyber security threats and defensive technologies within the relevant domain.

If you are available and interested, please apply in the first instance and a member of the team will be in touch to discuss the opportunity further.