Technical Architect

Technical Architect - up to £90K

• 12-month FTC with potential to go perm
• You must be immediately available or have maximum 1-month notice period
• You must be based in London as there are 3 days per week in Central London office

This is a rare opportunity to join a government-backed initiative at a very early stage, helping to design and deliver a new digital platform that enables transparent licensing and ethical access to high-quality digital content at scale.

We are assembling a project team to run a pilot that will test key assumptions, prototype a technical solution, build a minimum lovable product, and inform the long-term shape of the platform. The environment is fast-moving and ambiguous, and suits individuals who are resourceful, collaborative, and motivated by building scalable solutions from the ground up.

The Technical Architect works closely with the platform provider to define, govern, and evolve the platform's technical architecture, with a strong emphasis on data, integrations, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and security. The role is instrumental in ensuring technical standards are met and that the platform is secure, intuitive, and reliable for all users.

This is a hands-on architecture role focused on system design and technical delivery rather than business development or account management. The role also plays a key part in shaping the future technical service offering by applying lessons learned from real implementations and early platform usage.

• Define and maintain platform architecture across cloud infrastructure, data platforms, application services, APIs, integration layers, and security

• Identify, define, and maintain content data standards, schemas, and metadata norms in collaboration with Solutions Architects

• Champion best practices in platform architecture, cloud infrastructure, API design, integration patterns, and security, with hands-on involvement in implementation support and complex troubleshooting

• Contribute to technical governance and architectural standards to ensure reliability, security, and future adaptability

• Develop and maintain architecture documentation, design artefacts, and technical roadmaps in close collaboration with Product

• Work closely with Product, project leadership, and the platform provider to deliver the minimum lovable product and inform future platform evolution

• 10+ years' experience in software engineering, systems design, platform engineering, or technical architecture

• Proven experience designing and supporting cloud-native, distributed systems in production

• Strong hands-on expertise in at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including compute, networking, storage, and identity and access management

• Strong data architecture skills, including structured and unstructured data, metadata management, and schema design

• Ability to analyse, challenge, and improve technical designs proposed by engineers or third-party vendors

• Experience working in environments with meaningful security, compliance, or data governance requirements

• Design and implementation of scalable, data-intensive platforms

• Integration of multiple internal and external systems

• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code, automation, and modern DevOps practices

Sphere Digital Recruitment currently have a variety of job opportunities across digital so feel free to get in touch with us to find out how we can help you. Please take a look at our website.

Sphere is an equal opportunities employer. We encourage applications regardless of ethnic origin, race, religious beliefs, age, disability, gender or sexual orientation, and any other protected status as required by applicable law.

If you require any adjustments or additional support during the recruitment process for any reason whatsoever, please let us know.