Technical Solutions Architect
23 hours ago
Birmingham
5 months with possible extension, Outside IR35, remote working with occasional meetings in London office. Daily rate to be discussed. Role Summary: The Technical Solution Architect (TSA) provides end‑to‑end technical leadership for complex network‑security deployments and migrations delivered to business units. The TSA owns solution integrity from high‑level architecture through to hand‑over, acting as the single technical point of contact for customers and MES engineering squad. The role combines deep multi‑domain engineering expertise (LAN, WAN, firewalls, F5, Zscaler ZPA/ZIA, routing protocols such as BGP/OSPF) with exceptional soft skills, documentation discipline and change‑management rigour. 2 · Key Responsibilities: Area Core Expectations Technical leadership • Own overall solution architecture and low‑level designs (LLDs)., • Validate and integrate component designs for LAN, firewall, F5, WAN, VPN, ZPA/ZIA and related security controls., • Lead pre‑migration readiness checks, cut‑over planning and post‑migration hyper‑care., • Provide 24 / 7 escalation cover during migration windows when rostered. Customer engagement • Function as the face of customer to stakeholders., • Run bi‑weekly customer forums, status calls and design workshops., • Translate complex technical details into business‑relevant language for non‑technical audiences., • Proactively surface risks, options and recommendations. Documentation & branding • Produce and maintain architecture decks, LLDs, change packs (ER/CR forms), rollback procedures and run‑books., • Adhere to customer document templates, style guides and branding (logo, colour palette, slide master)., • Ensure every change record contains accurate commands/scripts – no copy‑paste mismatches. Process & governance • Drive full compliance with customer change‑management policy (from submission to PIR)., • Keep trackers, RAID logs and SharePoint libraries current; update at least twice per week., • Uphold C3 confidentiality, seeking permission before sharing artefacts externally. Collaboration with MES engineering • Brief Rob’s LAN engineering team on design intent and acceptance criteria., • Review implementation artefacts (configs, Ansible/ Terraform scripts, F5 iRules) for alignment with the LLD., • Mentor engineers on broader solution context and soft‑skill best practices. Continuous improvement • Feed lessons‑learned into standard operating procedures and reference designs., • Champion automation and template‑driven change documents to cut rework and errors. 3 · Required Skills & Experience: • Technical depth, • 8 + years in network‑security architecture or senior engineering across enterprise environments., • Hands‑on design / migration of at least two of the following at scale: Check Point R8x firewalls, Cisco or Juniper LAN and WAN, F5 BIG‑IP LTM/GTM/AFM, Zscaler ZIA & ZPA, SD‑WAN., • Strong routing fundamentals (BGP, OSPF, route maps, redistribution)., • Scripting or automation (Python, Ansible, Terraform) is desirable., • Soft skills, • Proven ability to lead multi‑vendor, multi‑disciplinary teams., • Confident facilitator—able to run workshops, present to senior stakeholders and manage challenging conversations., • Proactive communicator: provides unsolicited progress updates, raises blockers early, documents decisions promptly., • Documentation & tooling, • Expertise with Visio or draw.io for architecture diagrams; PowerPoint for executive decks; Word/Confluence for LLDs., • Familiarity with customers change tools (ServiceNow, Remedy) and SharePoint governance., • Qualifications (any two preferred), • CCNP/CCIE Enterprise or Security, JNCIP/JNCIE, F5 CTS, Check Point CCSE, Zscaler ZCCA‑IA / ZCCA‑IAE, TOGAF, ITIL v4.