Technical Architect Contractor

Role ; Technical Architect Contract
Location ; UK-based home working with travel to MOD, defence industry, and secure customer sites as required
Duration ; Initial 3-month contract with extension options available
Clearance ; SC clearance required

Rate ; £650-850/day Outside IR35

Key skills ; Working with ambiguity that comes from an R&D environment, Technical Architecture, Secure Cloud, Kubernetes, Systems Integration, Zero Trust, Defence Digital Transformation, AI-enabled Systems

You’ve spent years designing complex technical solutions in environments where security, resilience, interoperability, and operational effectiveness genuinely matter.

You’re the person people rely on when systems need to work properly, scale correctly, integrate cleanly, and remain secure under pressure. You know how to balance technical detail with strategic thinking, and you’re comfortable operating in environments where there are a lot of moving parts, stakeholders, and evolving requirements.

If that sounds familiar, this role could be a very interesting next step.

I’m working with a cyber security technology company and I’m looking for a Technical Architect to support major MOD capability, transformation, and systems integration programmes across secure and highly regulated R&D environments.

This is not a role where you’ll just produce diagrams and disappear.

You’ll be heavily involved in shaping technical direction across complex defence programmes, helping design secure and resilient architectures that support operational capability, future technology adoption, and long-term digital transformation goals.

A major focus of the environment is around modern defence technology and AI-enabled systems.

You’ll be working on programmes exploring technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, secure cloud services, edge computing, data fabric, data-centred security, and advanced cyber security platforms. They’re looking for someone who understands how to translate these emerging technologies into practical, supportable solutions that can operate effectively within secure defence environments.

You’ll spend your time designing and assuring technical architectures across infrastructure, applications, integrations, data platforms, and operational systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, interoperable, secure, and aligned with both operational and enterprise requirements.

There’s also a strong focus around hybrid cloud, private cloud, Kubernetes, secure networking, and modern platform architecture, particularly within environments where legacy and modern technologies need to coexist successfully.

You’ll be involved throughout the full lifecycle, supporting technical governance, design authorities, architecture reviews, supplier assurance activities, and wider engineering teams delivering operational capability into live environments.

Stakeholder engagement is a huge part of the role as well. You’ll work closely with Enterprise Architects, Operational Analysts, engineering teams, MOD stakeholders, security authorities, and industry partners, so being able to communicate complex technical concepts clearly is very important here.

From a technical perspective, they’re looking for experience across areas such as:

• Technical and infrastructure architecture
• Secure cloud and hybrid cloud environments
• Kubernetes and containerisation
• Systems integration and interoperability
• Secure network design and Zero Trust principles
• API and event-driven architecture
• Cyber security architecture and technical assurance
• Infrastructure-as-Code and modern DevOps tooling

Experience with technologies and tooling such as VMware, Kubernetes, Git, Jira, Confluence, DevOps platforms, Sparx Enterprise Architect, and Infrastructure-as-Code tooling would all be very useful.

Experience working in R&D within defence, MOD, NATO, government, or other highly regulated environments is highly desirable, especially where you’ve supported secure systems, cloud transformation, operational technology, or complex integration programmes previously.

They’re looking for someone who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, influencing technical direction, and helping organisations modernise their technology environments without compromising security, resilience, or operational effectiveness.

If you enjoy architecture work that has genuine strategic importance, exposure to emerging defence technologies, and the opportunity to shape large-scale secure technical environments, this is a role well worth exploring.

If it sounds like the kind of challenge you’d enjoy, apply now or get in touch to find out more.