Lead Cloud Architect

Lead Cloud Architect - GCP - SC Cleared

Outside IR35: £650-£700 per day
Hybrid - 2-4 days per month in London
ASAP - long-term engagement

We are supporting a requirement for a Lead Cloud Architect for a high-profile central-government cloud transformation. This is an opportunity to shape the foundations of a large-scale GCP estate, defining how the platform will be structured, governed, secured and operated for the long term.

You will lead the current-state assessment and establish the future architecture, landing zone and operating model. A central part of the programme involves transitioning platform ownership and administration into the organisation, giving you significant influence over its future governance, identity, security, FinOps and operational capabilities.

Role responsibilities

• Lead the current-state assessment of the GCP estate and identify architectural, governance and operational improvements.

• Define the target GCP landing zone, organisation hierarchy and folder structure.

• Design enterprise-scale organisation policies, IAM controls and role-based access models.

• Develop the cloud operating model, including ownership, responsibilities, controls and service management.

• Define the identity strategy across Cloud Identity, Workforce Identity Federation and Microsoft Entra ID.

• Design security architecture aligned with Secure by Design, NCSC guidance and the Cyber Assessment Framework.

• Establish FinOps governance, billing hierarchies, cost-allocation and chargeback approaches.

• Produce an operational transition model for the transfer of platform ownership and administration.

Key experience and requirements

• Active SC clearance is essential.

• Significant enterprise or cloud-architecture experience within large, complex organisations.

• Strong experience with GCP governance, organisation management and resource hierarchies.

• Experience designing enterprise GCP landing zones and cloud operating models.

• Strong knowledge of GCP IAM, organisation policies and identity-management approaches.

• Experience designing cloud-security architecture within government or regulated environments.

• Strong understanding of Secure by Design, NCSC guidance and CAF requirements.

• Experience designing FinOps and cloud cost-management models, alongside strong stakeholder and architecture-governance skills.