6 jobs found

Spectrum IT are working with an enterprise digital platform to recruit a Contract Principal Software Architect to support their widely used, real-world consumer technology platform. This is an O UTSIDE IR35 role, for an initial 6 months contract and will be hybrid working: 2 days onsite in Uxbridge per week. This is a brownfield architecture environment . The successful architect will not be designing a new platform from scratch. Instead, they will be working within a live production estate, balancing existing technology, legacy decisions, technical debt, team structures and commercial priorities against the need to improve scalability, resilience, maintainability and customer experience. The role therefore requires a pragmatic, delivery-focused architect who can understand where the platform is today, identify the areas that genuinely need to change, and work with engineering teams to make those improvements incrementally. The Role You will play a key role in defining and guiding the technical architecture underpinning the organisation's products and whole platform. The focus will be on creating a coherent, scalable and maintainable technology landscape, while supporting the incremental evolution of existing systems. You will work closely with Engineering, Product, Platform and Technical Operations teams to make pragmatic architectural decisions that support both immediate delivery and longer-term platform strategy. This is not a purely strategic architecture role. The successful contractor will need to be comfortable getting into the detail of system design, service boundaries, integrations, data ownership, cloud architecture and non-functional requirements, while providing technical direction across multiple engineering teams. Key Responsibilities Define and maintain architectural principles, standards and target-state designs across the technology landscape. Provide architectural leadership for complex initiatives, system changes and cross-platform integrations. Define clear service boundaries, ownership models and integration patterns . Support engineering teams in delivering scalable, maintainable and well-structured solutions. Assess existing systems and identify opportunities to simplify, consolidate and modernise platform capabilities. Support the evolution of legacy systems towards agreed target-state architectures through pragmatic, incremental change. Make and guide technical decisions around distributed systems, APIs, integrations, data and cloud architecture . Ensure security, resilience, observability, performance and scalability are incorporated into solution designs. Identify architectural risks, technical debt and platform constraints, and establish appropriate mitigation strategies. Provide technical review and architectural guidance for significant changes across multiple engineering teams. Work closely with Engineering and Product leadership on major technical decisions and platform roadmaps. Promote consistent architectural standards, engineering quality and technical decision-making. Act as a trusted technical advisor across complex, cross-functional technology initiatives. Support and mentor senior engineers and technical leads, helping embed architectural thinking within delivery teams. Required Skills & Experience Strong commercial experience working as a Software Architect / Principal Architect within complex software environments. Proven experience designing distributed systems and modern software platforms . Strong understanding of software architecture patterns, APIs, integrations and cloud-based systems. Experience operating within Microsoft Azure or another major cloud environment. Demonstrable experience defining service boundaries, ownership models and integration patterns . Strong understanding of SQL and NoSQL data technologies and the architectural considerations involved in selecting appropriate data stores. Experience working with transactional systems where data integrity, consistency, resilience and reliability are critical. Strong understanding of non-functional architecture, including security, scalability, performance, observability and resilience . Experience modernising or evolving existing platforms incrementally, including working with legacy systems and technical debt. Technical Environment .NET / C# Microsoft Azure Python Node Distributed and service-based architectures REST APIs and integrations SQL and NoSQL data technologies Cloud infrastructure and platform services Modern DevOps and CI/CD practices GitHub Jira Confluence What We're Looking For This role would suit a software focused architect who is comfortable operating between high-level architecture and hands-on technical detail. You'll be able to look at a complex existing platform, understand where the architectural problems and constraints sit, and then work with engineering teams to determine what should change, why it should change, and how to get there pragmatically. For more information and to submit your interest, please apply with an updated CV. Candidates for this role must be within a commutable distance of Uxbridge due to the hybrid working requirement. Spectrum IT Recruitment (South) Limited is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.

Private Cloud Principal Engineer - Cloud & Platform Engineering Location: Sheffield (3 days onsite per week mandatory)Duration: Initial 3-6 Month ContractRate: Up to £700 per dayEngagement: PAYE via Umbrella Only Overview An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Principal Engineer to join a large-scale enterprise cloud engineering function. This role will provide technical leadership across critical platform engineering initiatives, focusing on private cloud technologies, Kubernetes, container platforms, event streaming and microservices enablement.Working closely with Product Owners, Architects, Infrastructure Engineers and Engineering teams, you will play a key role in shaping platform strategy, defining engineering standards and driving the delivery of secure, resilient and scalable cloud services. This is an excellent opportunity for a senior engineering professional who thrives on solving complex technical challenges and influencing technical direction across enterprise environments. Key Responsibilities Provide technical leadership across cloud and platform engineering initiatives Define and drive engineering standards, best practices, reference architectures and platform guardrails Act as a senior technical authority, reviewing designs and ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, supportable and cost-effective Lead the design and evolution of platform capabilities spanning compute, storage, networking, orchestration and platform services Work closely with Product Owners and Architects to translate strategic objectives into practical engineering solutions Drive improvements in reliability, scalability, performance and operational excellence across multiple environments Champion automation-first approaches through Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD and platform engineering best practices Influence platform roadmaps and engineering strategy Kubernetes & Container Technologies Lead architectural decisions relating to Kubernetes and container platforms Define standards for cluster architecture, networking, multi-tenancy, securityand workload onboarding Establish repeatable deployment patterns using GitOps, automation and configuration management Drive platform resilience,observability and operational maturity Support platform upgrades, governance and lifecycle management Event Streaming & Microservices Provide leadership across Kafka and event-driven technology platforms Establish standards for event streaming, resiliency, monitoring and governance Support engineering teams in adopting event-driven architectures and microservices patterns Drive best practice around API design, domain boundaries and service resilience Improve developer productivity through self-service capabilities, reusable templates and engineering standards E ngineering Leadership Mentor engineering teams and promote engineering excellence Build strong relationships across Product, Architecture, Security and Engineering functions Drive alignment between technical strategy and delivery objectives Produce clear technical designs and influence decision-making forums Support operational excellence, security-by-design and risk management practices Essential Skills & Experience Proven experience as a Principal Engineer, Lead Engineer, Senior Staff Engineer or equivalent Strong background in Cloud, Infrastructure or Platform Engineering Deep expertise in Kubernetes and container technologies Experience with Kafka and event streaming platforms Strong knowledge of private cloud technologies and enterprise virtualisation platforms such as VMware Excellent understanding of distributed systems, networking, scalability and performance engineering Experience with Infrastructure as Code and CI/CD toolsets Strong understanding of security,governance and operational readiness Experience operating within large-scale enterprise environments Desirable Skills Service Mesh technologies API Gateway solutions Secrets Management platforms Policy as Code Observability and monitoring platforms SRE and operational excellence practices Platform-as-a-Product environments Developer self-service capabilities and service catalogues Multi-region architecture and resilience design What You'll Bring Strong technical leadership and decision-making skills Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication abilities A passion for engineering excellence and platform modernisation The ability to influence technical direction across complex environments A pragmatic approach to solving large-scale engineering challenges What you need to do now If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career. 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Matchtech are working closely with a UK defence technology organisation delivering secure communications and cyber solutions used in mission-critical environments. Their teams build high-assurance cryptographic and key management capabilities that enable the confidential exchange of sensitive information for customers operating across tactical and strategic settings. If you enjoy solving hard engineering problems where security, reliability, and real-world outcomes matter, this is a good fit. Important information Clearance Due to the nature of the work, applicants will need to meet UK security clearance eligibility requirements (including UK residency criteria). DV clearance is required (you must be eligible and willing to obtain and maintain DV; SC is typically required first). Working arrangement Fully onsite: please only apply if you can work onsite in Maidenhead The role You'll provide technical leadership in a software engineering team (typically 5 to 20 engineers) delivering multiple concurrent R&D and production programmes. The focus is on embedded and/or application software in secure environments, with end-to-end ownership across the software lifecycle (requirements through design, implementation, test, verification, deployment and support). You may also have line management responsibility (up to c. 5 engineers, depending on team structure). Key responsibilities Lead the architecture, design, development, documentation, and testing of embedded and/or application software. Derive software requirements and architecture from higher-level system requirements and design artefacts. Apply object-oriented design principles to support reuse and integration with test frameworks. Produce and maintain designs/models using tools such as UML/SysML approaches and modelling environments (e.g., Enterprise Architect-type tooling). Promote strong engineering practice: secure development, coding standards, static/runtime analysis, CI, and automated testing. Estimate effort and deliver against agreed cost/schedule commitments. Contribute to improving tools, processes, and engineering standards across the wider software community. Provide technical input to bids/proposals, including estimates and risk assessments. Mentor engineers; lead reviews and sign-off of significant technical deliverables. Maintain information security in line with government and programme requirements. Essential skills and experience Degree in an engineering/science/maths discipline (or equivalent practical experience). Strong experience in at least one of the following: Embedded product development (bare-metal and/or RTOS, e.g., ThreadX/QNX or similar) Embedded Linux application, kernel, and/or driver development Strong C and C++ development background. Solid understanding of modern software lifecycle practices (requirements, design, implementation, test/verification). Experience with OO design, design patterns, and principles such as SOLID. Strong testing mindset: design for test, automated test approaches, and verification. Desirable Rust JavaScript / Node.js / React (where relevant to tooling or supporting applications) Communications protocols (e.g., TCP/IP) CI/CD and automated test frameworks Secure/defensive coding standards (e.g., MISRA exposure) Requirements/model-based tooling exposure (e.g., DOORS-like requirements tools, UML/SysML modelling) Working pattern & benefits Fully onsite role in Maidenhead. Competitive package including bonus, pension, private medical, strong holiday allowance, and security allowance (where applicable and dependent on clearance held).

Who We Are Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation-inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact. To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures-and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive. What You'll Do The Principal Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is a senior technical leader responsible for shaping how reliability, automation, and operational excellence are engineered across the organisation. Operating across domains including traditional infrastructure, cloud engineering, network operations, identity, observability, security, AI-driven operations, and automated data workflows, the role focuses on designing scalable systems, reusable engineering patterns, and standardised controls that reduce operational toil, improve resilience, and embed reliability, governance, and compliance directly into delivery pipelines and operational platforms. This role will drive organisational change towards automation-first, measurable, and repeatable practices. A key part of the role is building and evolving reusable CI/CD and Terraform modules, engineering guardrails, observability patterns, and automation frameworks that can be adopted across multiple teams and domains without requiring each team to solve the same problems independently. The Principal SRE also plays an important enablement role beyond deeply technical teams, helping less technical areas of the business adopt structured, governed, and scalable ways of working. This includes translating complex engineering practices into practical standards, improving how governance is implemented through engineering controls rather than manual oversight, and driving operational maturity across a broad and diverse technology landscape. The ideal candidate is a systems thinker who understands how services, networks, identity, data flows, and operational processes fail in real-world conditions, and can apply that understanding to build automation-first, reliability-focused operating models that scale across both technical and non-technical functions. Key Responsibilities Cross-Domain Reliability Engineering Design and evolve reliability patterns across cloud, network, identity, and security domains. Identify systemic risks and failure modes across platforms and services, and define engineering solutions to mitigate them. Ensure operational activities are embedded into delivery models through automation, CI/CD integration, and event-driven workflows. Automation & Toil Reduction at Scale Lead the design of automation frameworks that eliminate manual operational tasks across multiple domains. Translate incident learnings and operational inefficiencies into scalable automation and preventative controls. Drive adoption of automation-first principles, reducing dependency on human-driven processes. Contribute to AI-driven operational use cases, including event correlation, anomaly detection, noise reduction, operational insights, and automated remediation. Ensure AIOps capabilities are grounded in reliable telemetry, clear control boundaries, and measurable operational outcomes. Observability & 24/7 Operational Excellence Define standards for telemetry, monitoring, alerting, and operational visibility across all critical systems. Ensure services are observable, measurable, and support proactive detection of issues. Improve operational readiness, incident response effectiveness, and time-to-recovery through engineering solutions. CI/CD & Platform Integration Contribute to the design of CI/CD patterns that embed reliability, security, and operational controls into pipelines. Ensure infrastructure, network, identity, and security configurations are managed through code and validated automatically. Support integration of platform services into delivery pipelines to enable consistent, repeatable deployments. Security & Identity Integration Contribute to secure-by-design patterns, including least privilege, identity-based access, and short-lived credentials. Support integration of security controls (e.g. secrets management, authentication, policy enforcement) into engineering workflows. Ensure security and compliance requirements are met through engineering controls rather than manual processes. Network & Infrastructure Reliability Support the design of resilient network architectures and segmentation aligned with Zero Trust principles. Ensure network configurations and controls are automated, validated, and observable. Contribute to infrastructure design patterns that improve availability, scalability, and fault tolerance. Design and improve operational patterns for network reliability, segmentation, visibility, and change validation. Support automation and standardisation of network controls and operational procedures to reduce manual intervention and configuration drift. Technical Leadership & Enablement Provide technical leadership across teams, influencing standards, architecture, and engineering practices. Mentor engineers on reliability engineering, automation, and systems thinking. Drive consistency through reusable patterns, frameworks, and documentation. Strategic Influence & Continuous Improvement Contribute to reliability engineering strategy and roadmap across the organisation. Communicate technical concepts, risks, and recommendations to senior stakeholders and leadership. Lead initiatives that improve reliability maturity, engineering efficiency, and operational scalability. Support less technical teams and functions in adopting structured, automated, and measurable operational practices. Act as a bridge between engineering capability and organisational change, helping scale good practice beyond core platform teams. Automated Data Workflows Design and improve automated data workflows that support operational reporting, observability, governance, and decision-making. Ensure operational data pipelines are reliable, timely, and aligned to engineering and business needs. Reusable Engineering Frameworks Build and evolve reusable modules, patterns, and frameworks for CI/CD, Terraform, and operational automation. Embed governance, validation, and reliability controls into these shared engineering assets by default. Governance by Engineering Translate governance requirements into practical engineering controls, automated checks, and repeatable standards. Help teams adopt compliant and supportable operating models without relying on manual policing or process-heavy interventions. What You'll Bring Required Qualifications 10+ years of experience in Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, or related fields. Strong hands-on experience across multiple domains, including: Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g. Terraform) Observability tools (e.g. Datadog, Splunk) Automation and scripting (e.g. Python) Experience designing and implementing scalable automation and reliability solutions. Deep understanding of distributed systems, failure modes, and resilience patterns. Experience integrating operational and security controls into engineering workflows. Strong stakeholder engagement and technical communication skills. Preferred Qualifications Experience with identity and access management systems (e.g. Entra ID, Vault). Experience with network architecture and security controls (e.g. firewalls, segmentation). Familiarity with Zero Trust principles and security engineering practices. Experience working in large, federated organisations with diverse technology stacks. Exposure to compliance and regulatory requirements (e.g. PCI, HIPAA, SOX). Additional info Hybrid or on-site work model. Operates as a senior individual contributor with broad cross-organisational influence. Expected to balance hands-on technical leadership with strategic direction. Occasional travel may be required for team or stakeholder engagement. Boston Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under national, provincial, or local law, where applicable, and those with criminal histories will be considered in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws. BCG is an E - Verify Employer. Click here for more information on E-Verify.

Who We Are Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we help clients with total transformation-inspiring complex change, enabling organizations to grow, building competitive advantage, and driving bottom-line impact. To succeed, organizations must blend digital and human capabilities. Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives to spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting along with technology and design, corporate and digital ventures-and business purpose. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, generating results that allow our clients to thrive. What You'll Do The Principal Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) is a senior technical leader responsible for shaping how reliability, automation, and operational excellence are engineered across the organisation. Operating across domains including traditional infrastructure, cloud engineering, network operations, identity, observability, security, AI-driven operations, and automated data workflows, the role focuses on designing scalable systems, reusable engineering patterns, and standardised controls that reduce operational toil, improve resilience, and embed reliability, governance, and compliance directly into delivery pipelines and operational platforms. This role will drive organisational change towards automation-first, measurable, and repeatable practices. A key part of the role is building and evolving reusable CI/CD and Terraform modules, engineering guardrails, observability patterns, and automation frameworks that can be adopted across multiple teams and domains without requiring each team to solve the same problems independently. The Principal SRE also plays an important enablement role beyond deeply technical teams, helping less technical areas of the business adopt structured, governed, and scalable ways of working. This includes translating complex engineering practices into practical standards, improving how governance is implemented through engineering controls rather than manual oversight, and driving operational maturity across a broad and diverse technology landscape. The ideal candidate is a systems thinker who understands how services, networks, identity, data flows, and operational processes fail in real-world conditions, and can apply that understanding to build automation-first, reliability-focused operating models that scale across both technical and non-technical functions. Key Responsibilities Cross-Domain Reliability Engineering Design and evolve reliability patterns across cloud, network, identity, and security domains. Identify systemic risks and failure modes across platforms and services, and define engineering solutions to mitigate them. Ensure operational activities are embedded into delivery models through automation, CI/CD integration, and event-driven workflows. Automation & Toil Reduction at Scale Lead the design of automation frameworks that eliminate manual operational tasks across multiple domains. Translate incident learnings and operational inefficiencies into scalable automation and preventative controls. Drive adoption of automation-first principles, reducing dependency on human-driven processes. Contribute to AI-driven operational use cases, including event correlation, anomaly detection, noise reduction, operational insights, and automated remediation. Ensure AIOps capabilities are grounded in reliable telemetry, clear control boundaries, and measurable operational outcomes. Observability & 24/7 Operational Excellence Define standards for telemetry, monitoring, alerting, and operational visibility across all critical systems. Ensure services are observable, measurable, and support proactive detection of issues. Improve operational readiness, incident response effectiveness, and time-to-recovery through engineering solutions. CI/CD & Platform Integration Contribute to the design of CI/CD patterns that embed reliability, security, and operational controls into pipelines. Ensure infrastructure, network, identity, and security configurations are managed through code and validated automatically. Support integration of platform services into delivery pipelines to enable consistent, repeatable deployments. Security & Identity Integration Contribute to secure-by-design patterns, including least privilege, identity-based access, and short-lived credentials. Support integration of security controls (e.g. secrets management, authentication, policy enforcement) into engineering workflows. Ensure security and compliance requirements are met through engineering controls rather than manual processes. Network & Infrastructure Reliability Support the design of resilient network architectures and segmentation aligned with Zero Trust principles. Ensure network configurations and controls are automated, validated, and observable. Contribute to infrastructure design patterns that improve availability, scalability, and fault tolerance. Design and improve operational patterns for network reliability, segmentation, visibility, and change validation. Support automation and standardisation of network controls and operational procedures to reduce manual intervention and configuration drift. Technical Leadership & Enablement Provide technical leadership across teams, influencing standards, architecture, and engineering practices. Mentor engineers on reliability engineering, automation, and systems thinking. Drive consistency through reusable patterns, frameworks, and documentation. Strategic Influence & Continuous Improvement Contribute to reliability engineering strategy and roadmap across the organisation. Communicate technical concepts, risks, and recommendations to senior stakeholders and leadership. Lead initiatives that improve reliability maturity, engineering efficiency, and operational scalability. Support less technical teams and functions in adopting structured, automated, and measurable operational practices. Act as a bridge between engineering capability and organisational change, helping scale good practice beyond core platform teams. Automated Data Workflows Design and improve automated data workflows that support operational reporting, observability, governance, and decision-making. Ensure operational data pipelines are reliable, timely, and aligned to engineering and business needs. Reusable Engineering Frameworks Build and evolve reusable modules, patterns, and frameworks for CI/CD, Terraform, and operational automation. Embed governance, validation, and reliability controls into these shared engineering assets by default. Governance by Engineering Translate governance requirements into practical engineering controls, automated checks, and repeatable standards. Help teams adopt compliant and supportable operating models without relying on manual policing or process-heavy interventions. What You'll Bring Required Qualifications 10+ years of experience in Site Reliability Engineering, Platform Engineering, or related fields. Strong hands-on experience across multiple domains, including: Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g. Terraform) Observability tools (e.g. Datadog, Splunk) Automation and scripting (e.g. Python) Experience designing and implementing scalable automation and reliability solutions. Deep understanding of distributed systems, failure modes, and resilience patterns. Experience integrating operational and security controls into engineering workflows. Strong stakeholder engagement and technical communication skills. Preferred Qualifications Experience with identity and access management systems (e.g. Entra ID, Vault). Experience with network architecture and security controls (e.g. firewalls, segmentation). Familiarity with Zero Trust principles and security engineering practices. Experience working in large, federated organisations with diverse technology stacks. Exposure to compliance and regulatory requirements (e.g. PCI, HIPAA, SOX). Additional info Hybrid or on-site work model. Operates as a senior individual contributor with broad cross-organisational influence. Expected to balance hands-on technical leadership with strategic direction. Occasional travel may be required for team or stakeholder engagement. Boston Consulting Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under national, provincial, or local law, where applicable, and those with criminal histories will be considered in a manner consistent with applicable state and local laws. BCG is an E - Verify Employer. Click here for more information on E-Verify.