Job Specifications
Job title: Cloud Architect (SC / DV Cleared)
Location: Hybrid – 1 day a week onside in Croydon, London
Rate: Negotiable depending on experience
Duration: 12-month contract
Security Clearance:
Active SC or DV clearance required (UK nationals only).
Candidates must be eligible to work within secure government / defence environments.
Role Overview:
We are seeking two experienced Cloud Architects operating at SFIA Level 5 to design, guide, and assure the delivery of secure, scalable application solutions across cloud and hybrid environments.
This role requires strong hands-on architectural experience, the ability to influence delivery teams, and confidence operating within regulated and security-sensitive programmes.
Key Responsibilities:
Design and own application architecture for complex, business-critical systems
Lead application design decisions across cloud-native and hybrid environments
Define and promote application architecture patterns and standards
Support delivery teams with architectural guidance throughout the development lifecycle
Design and assure API-led and integration-heavy architectures
Ensure applications meet performance, scalability, resilience, and security requirements
Collaborate closely with infrastructure, security, DevOps, and platform teams
Produce and maintain architecture documentation (HLDs, LLDs, design patterns)
Contribute to architectural governance and technical assurance activities
Essential Skills & Experience:
Proven experience as an Application Architect or Senior Software Engineer operating at an architectural level
Strong experience designing and delivering scalable, high-performance applications
Solid understanding of application architecture patterns, including: Microservices, Event-driven architectures, SOA and Monolith-to-microservices transformation
Experience with cloud-native application design across AWS, Azure, and/or GCP
Strong knowledge of:
API design and management
Integration patterns
Messaging technologies (e.g. event streams, queues)
Experience with application lifecycle management, including:
CI/CD pipelines
DevOps practices for build, test, and release
Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code and platform services as they relate to application deployment
Strong understanding of application security principles, including:
Authentication and authorisation
Secure API design
Data protection and secure data handling
Ability to engage effectively with developers, architects, security teams, and stakeholders
Desirable Experience:
Experience designing and deploying containerised applications using Docker and Kubernetes
Exposure to DevOps and CI/CD tooling in restricted or secure environments
Background working within government, defence, or highly regulated enterprise programmes
Architecture or cloud certifications such as:
TOGAF
AWS Solutions Architect
Azure Solutions Architect
GCP Professional Architect
Experience with application monitoring, logging, and observability tools to support reliability and performance
Additional Information:
Roles require working within secure environments (on-site or hybrid depending on project)
Candidates must be comfortable working with classified systems and strict governance controls
Clearance transferability will be considered where applicable
At Lucid, we celebrate difference and value diverse perspectives, underpinned by our values of Honesty, Integrity, and Pragmatism.
We welcome applications from all suitably qualified or experienced candidates, regardless of personal characteristics. If you have a disability or health condition and seek support throughout the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to contact us.
About the Company
Lucid is a multi-award winning established, reliable and trusted IT Employment Services and IT Project Delivery provider throughout the UK. For the past 20 years, we have supplied specialist qualified and certified IT Professionals for interim, project, temporary, back-fill and executive level roles. Our mission is to go beyond just simply providing another person or team. We want to deliver a rapid, relevant and cost effective solution that will exceed expectations, reducing the amount of stress and inconvenience that can b...
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