Solution Architect - Microsoft Azure (Public Sector)

About the Role

We are looking for a Platform Architect to shape the architecture and operating model for JTC's Digital Factory Platform on Microsoft Azure. This role is mapped to a solution architect profile, with strong emphasis on cloud platform architecture, reusable platform patterns, governed self-service, automation and enterprise-scale delivery.

The successful candidate will translate business goals into practical architecture choices that balance speed, control, cost, security, compliance and accountability. The role will work across platform engineering, product teams, cybersecurity, data, AI, finance and leadership stakeholders to define architecture guardrails, golden paths and platform services that enable faster and safer delivery of digital products and AI-enabled solutions.

Key Responsibilities

1. Define and evolve the Azure platform architecture for the Digital Factory, covering landing zones, network topology, identity and access, policy-as-code, security guardrails and multi-environment design across sandbox, QA, UAT and production.
2. Design platform operating models that enable infrastructure-as-code, automation, CI/CD, self-service provisioning, golden paths and repeatable environment patterns for product teams.
3. Translate business and delivery goals into architecture decisions that balance speed of delivery, control, cost, security, compliance, resilience and clear accountability.
4. Develop composable platform architecture patterns that support a system-of-systems approach, reusable services, APIs, platform integrations and modular capabilities across product teams.
5. Define architecture standards and reference patterns for cloud-native applications, shared platform capabilities, AI-enabled applications, APIs, container workloads and managed Azure services.
6. Guide the design of governed data platform and AI/ML architecture patterns, including data products, managed AI services, AI application hardening, model access controls, monitoring and production-readiness practices.
7. Embed observability, incident response, service health, reliability and operational transparency into platform architecture so teams can understand cost, usage, performance, compliance posture and service ownership at scale.
8. Shape FinOps and TCO architecture practices, including tagging strategy, cost allocation, budget controls, usage dashboards, showback reporting and cost accountability mechanisms.
9. Partner with platform engineers, product owners, developers, security, audit, finance and leadership stakeholders to align platform architecture with business outcomes and governance expectations.
10. Document architecture decisions, reusable patterns, trade-offs, principles and operating procedures to support adoption, knowledge retention and continuous improvement.

Required Skills and Experience

1. 10+ years of experience in solution architecture, platform architecture, enterprise architecture or cloud architecture, including significant experience designing platforms on Microsoft Azure in enterprise or regulated environments.
2. Strong experience with Azure cloud platform architecture, including Azure Landing Zones, hub-and-spoke or virtual WAN network designs, identity and access models, subscription design, management groups, Azure Policy and multi-environment architecture.
3. Experience designing platform operating models that support infrastructure-as-code, automated provisioning, CI/CD, GitOps, self-service workflows, reusable templates, golden paths and platform product management practices.
4. Ability to translate business objectives, policy constraints and delivery needs into architecture principles, target states, patterns, trade-offs and roadmap recommendations.
5. Strong understanding of security, compliance and governance-by-design, including policy-as-code, least-privilege access, network segmentation, secrets management, secure release controls and auditability.
6. Experience with modern software delivery architecture, including CI/CD pipelines, deployment promotion, rollback patterns, quality checks, release governance and developer experience design.
7. Understanding of data platform and AI/ML architecture patterns, including governed data products, managed AI services, Azure AI services, model integration patterns, AI application hardening and responsible AI controls.
8. Experience designing observability and operational architecture using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, dashboards, service health metrics, incident management patterns and business-relevant platform measures.
9. Strong understanding of FinOps, TCO and cloud cost architecture, including tagging, cost allocation, budget controls, usage reporting, optimization levers and cost accountability.
10. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain architecture trade-offs clearly to senior leaders, technical teams and non-technical stakeholders.
11. Comfortable working in an agile, product-oriented environment where platform capabilities are delivered incrementally and improved through adoption feedback.

Preferred Skills

1. Experience operating in Government Commercial Cloud, public sector cloud environments or regulated enterprise environments.
2. Experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub, ShipHATS, Terraform, Azure Bicep, API Management, Azure Container Apps, Azure App Service, Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Sentinel, Defender for Cloud or equivalent tools and services.
3. Exposure to Microsoft Fabric, Azure OpenAI, Synapse, data lakehouse patterns, data governance, model operations or AI governance frameworks.
4. Experience designing developer portals, internal platforms, platform APIs, service catalogues, self-service workflows or reusable engineering patterns.
5. Understanding of SRE practices, incident response automation, reliability engineering, platform SLIs/SLOs and operational readiness reviews.
6. Familiarity with enterprise architecture methods, architecture decision records, capability mapping, technology roadmaps and architecture governance forums.

What Success Looks Like

1. The Digital Factory has a clear Azure platform architecture covering landing zones, networking, identity, policy, environments, security and operational controls.
2. Product teams can consume governed platform services through reusable golden paths, templates and self-service workflows instead of bespoke delivery patterns.
3. Architecture decisions provide practical guardrails that support faster delivery while maintaining cost discipline, security, compliance and accountability.
4. Data and AI solutions are designed with governed data products, managed AI services, secure integration patterns and production-readiness controls from the start.
5. Cost, service health, usage, incidents, compliance posture and ownership are visible through platform dashboards and operating rhythms.
6. The platform evolves as a composable system of reusable capabilities that can scale across squads, business domains and future digital products.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a practical architect who can connect business outcomes, platform strategy and engineering execution. They should be comfortable defining architecture direction, making pragmatic trade-offs, designing reusable platform patterns and guiding teams toward secure, automated and cost-conscious delivery. They should be equally effective with senior stakeholders and engineering teams, and motivated by building a platform that improves delivery speed, governance, resilience and responsible AI adoption.