Security Architect - Entra ID/MS/Azure

Methods Business and Digital Technology Limited

Methods is a £100M+ IT Services Consultancy who has partnered with a range of central government departments and agencies to transform the way the public sector operates in the UK. Established over 30 years ago and UK-based, we apply our skills in transformation, delivery, and collaboration from across the Methods Group, to create end-to-end business and technical solutions that are people-centred, safe, and designed for the future.

Our human touch sets us apart from other consultancies, system integrators and software houses - with people, technology, and data at the heart of who we are, we believe in creating value and sustainability through everything we do for our clients, staff, communities, and the planet.

We support our clients in the success of their projects while working collaboratively to share skill sets and solve problems. At Methods we have fun while working hard; we are not afraid of making mistakes and learning from them.

Predominantly focused on the public-sector, Methods is now building a significant private sector client portfolio.

Methods was acquired by the Alten Group in early 2022.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Security Architect to join a major technology transformation programme and provide security architecture leadership across the full transformation lifecycle.

This is a key role responsible for defining and assuring the security architecture across identity, endpoints, Microsoft 365, applications, infrastructure, networks and migration activities.

You will work at the intersection of security, architecture and delivery, ensuring that appropriate security controls are embedded into both coexistence and target-state designs without creating unnecessary barriers to practical delivery.

The programme will involve significant technology change and will need to operate across existing environments while progressively introducing new services and capabilities. You will therefore play a critical role in ensuring that security is considered from the outset, rather than being treated as a final-stage assurance activity.

You will establish the security principles, patterns and control requirements that underpin the programme, assess threats and risks across current and future states, and provide independent assurance over technical designs and migration approaches.

The successful candidate will bring strong technical security expertise together with sound risk judgement. You will be comfortable challenging designs where necessary, but equally capable of finding pragmatic solutions that allow the programme to move forward while maintaining an appropriate level of security.

What you will do

As the Security Architect, you will provide security architecture leadership and assurance across the transformation programme.

You will:

• Establish and maintain the programme's security architecture principles, patterns, standards and control requirements.
• Define clear security design-assurance criteria and ensure that technical designs are assessed consistently against agreed requirements.
• Assess threats, risks, vulnerabilities and control gaps across the current, coexistence, transition and target states.
• Develop proportionate security controls that support secure coexistence between existing environments and new target services.
• Define and assure Zero Trust principles across identity, devices, applications, data and network access.
• Establish security patterns for identity protection, privileged access, least privilege, Conditional Access and administrative boundaries.
• Work closely with the identity and directory architecture function to ensure that authentication, access and administrative controls are appropriately designed and secured.
• Define security requirements for endpoint, email, Microsoft 365, data, application and network architectures.
• Establish appropriate requirements for security logging, monitoring, alerting, threat detection and incident response.
• Review technical architecture and solution designs, identifying security weaknesses, control gaps, dependencies and areas requiring further assurance.
• Assess migration strategies and cutover approaches from a security perspective, ensuring that risks associated with transition between environments are understood and controlled.
• Review proposed security exceptions and deviations from established standards, documenting the rationale, residual risk, compensating controls and required treatments.
• Maintain visibility of significant security risks and ensure that appropriate owners and mitigation plans are established.
• Work with technical teams to develop practical remediation and risk-treatment approaches rather than simply identifying problems.
• Ensure security requirements are incorporated into programme plans, technical designs, migration patterns, testing strategies and operational handover.
• Support security testing and assurance activities, including validation of security controls before major migrations or go-live decisions.
• Provide security input into operational readiness, ensuring that monitoring, alerting, incident response and support arrangements are in place before services transition into production.
• Align programme designs with organisational security policies, information-security standards, data-protection obligations and relevant regulatory or assurance requirements.
• Maintain appropriate security architecture documentation, including HLDs, security principles, control matrices, threat models, risk assessments, exception records and architecture decision records.
• Provide clear security recommendations and risk-based advice to programme leadership and senior stakeholders.
• Support continuous improvement of security controls as the transformation progresses and new risks, technologies and requirements emerge.

The security challenge

This is a transformation programme where security needs to be built into the architecture while delivery continues at pace.

The programme will need to coexist with existing technology environments while introducing new identity, endpoint, productivity, application, infrastructure and network services. This creates a range of security challenges around trust boundaries, authentication, privileged access, data protection, legacy dependencies, migration paths and operational control.

You will therefore need to take a risk-based and pragmatic approach to security architecture.

The role is not about preventing change or applying controls without considering their operational impact. Instead, you will help the programme understand the risks it is taking, identify appropriate controls and determine where residual risk can reasonably be accepted, mitigated or transferred.

You will be expected to challenge weak security decisions while also helping delivery teams find workable alternatives.

A key part of the role will be ensuring that security controls remain effective throughout the transition. A design that is secure in the target state may not be appropriate during coexistence, and migration activities can introduce temporary risks that need to be explicitly understood and controlled.

Your role will be to make those risks visible and ensure that the programme has a clear path to managing them.

Requirements

Skills and experience required

We are looking for an experienced Security Architect with a strong background in Microsoft cloud and hybrid enterprise environments.

You will ideally have:

• Extensive experience working as a Security Architect across complex enterprise technology environments.
• Strong technical knowledge of Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft 365, Azure, endpoint security, networks and application security.
• Strong understanding of hybrid and cloud security architectures and the challenges associated with transitioning from legacy environments.
• Proven experience applying Zero Trust, least privilege, privileged access and defence-in-depth principles.
• Strong knowledge of identity and access security, including authentication, Conditional Access, identity protection and administrative controls.
• Experience designing security controls across endpoints, email, data, applications, infrastructure and networks.
• Strong understanding of security logging, monitoring, threat detection and incident-response requirements.
• Demonstrable experience in threat modelling, security risk assessment, control mapping and architecture assurance.
• Experience assessing security risks associated with migration, coexistence, cutover and transition activities.
• Understanding of data protection, information governance and relevant regulatory or assurance requirements.
• Experience reviewing security exceptions and developing pragmatic risk-treatment or compensating-control strategies.
• Strong technical writing skills, with experience producing security architecture documentation, risk assessments, threat models, control matrices and design-assurance outputs.
• Experience working within formal architecture and security-governance frameworks.
• Ability to translate technical security risks into clear business impacts, choices and recommendations.

What we are looking for in you

You will be a pragmatic security professional who understands that effective security is about managing risk, not eliminating change.

You will have the technical depth to challenge architects and engineers, but also the judgement to understand delivery constraints and work collaboratively towards solutions.

You will be confident operating in an environment where information is incomplete and decisions need to be made based on a combination of evidence, risk and professional judgement.

You will be comfortable engaging with senior stakeholders and explaining complex security matters in straightforward language. When a risk needs to be escalated, you will be able to clearly articulate the issue, potential impact, available options and your recommended approach.

You will also be able to distinguish between genuine security risks and theoretical concerns that do not warrant disproportionate controls.

Most importantly, you will be able to embed security by design while maintaining the momentum of a major transformation programme.

Location : the role will be onsite in London initially and then 50/50 hybrid.

Benefits

Methods is passionate about its people; we want our colleagues to develop the things they are good at and enjoy.

By joining us you can expect:

·        Autonomy to develop and grow your skills and experience

·        Be part of exciting project work that is making a difference in society

·        Strong, inspiring, and thought-provoking leadership

·        A supportive and collaborative environment

As well as this we offer:

Development – access to LinkedIn Learning, a management development programme, and training

Wellness – 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme

Flexible Working – including home working and part time

Social – office parties, breakfast Tuesdays, monthly pizza Thursdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and commitment to charitable causes

Time Off – 25 days of annual leave a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy 5 extra days each year

Volunteering – 2 paid days per year to volunteer in our local communities or within a charity organisation

Pension – Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution

Life Assurance – of 4 times base salary

Private Medical Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)

Worldwide Travel Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)

Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay

Travel – season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme

For a full list of benefits please visit our website (www.methods.co.uk/careers/benefits)