Description
We are seeking a Principal Architect to own the architecture, reference designs, technical standards, and engineering direction for our end-user computing estate. This is a hands-on-capable role that requires prototyping, proving, and pressure-testing designs personally. The successful candidate will be accountable for ensuring the estate is secure by design, cloud-native, automatable, cost-efficient, and genuinely pleasant to use.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the target-state architecture for end-user computing
- Produce and maintain reference architectures, design patterns, technical standards, and architecture decision records
- Define the technical roadmap that underpins the EUC strategy
- Continuously evaluate the market and separate genuine capability from vendor narrative
- Act as the design authority for all endpoint change
- Set and police the exception process
- Review and assure supplier and MSP technical designs
- Set engineering standards for configuration-as-code, packaging, testing, release management, and rollback
- Prototype and prove new capability in a lab
- Mentor and technically develop senior engineers and platform leads
- Partner with Cyber Security to embed zero-trust principles at the endpoint
- Architect for regulated and validated environments
- Own the technical response to endpoint-relevant threat scenarios
- Architect the digital employee experience (DEX) telemetry model
- Design for self-healing and self-service by default
- Translate architecture into business consequence for senior stakeholders
- Represent EUC architecture in enterprise architecture forums, security governance, and vendor executive briefings
Professional Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline
- Relevant certifications desirable (e.g., Microsoft Certified: Endpoint Administrator Expert, Azure Solutions Architect Expert)
Area of Specialisation
- End-user computing architecture at global enterprise scale
- Modern endpoint management (Intune/MECM) and macOS management (Jamf)
- Endpoint security architecture and zero-trust design
- Regulated and validated endpoint environments
Experience Required
- Overall 15 years and 12+ years in IT infrastructure or end-user computing
- 5+ years in a principal, lead, or enterprise architect capacity
- Architecture ownership for an endpoint estate of 20,000+ devices
- Expert-level, hands-on-derived command of modern endpoint management
- Demonstrable advanced scripting and automation portfolio
- Working fluency in enterprise endpoint security and zero-trust architecture
Skills/Background
- Deep technical breadth across Windows and macOS internals, modern endpoint management, identity, endpoint security, application delivery, virtual desktop/cloud PC, and mobile
- Advanced PowerShell and at least one general-purpose language (Python, C#, Go)
- Configuration-as-code and GitOps discipline
- API-first integration
- Telemetry and data craft
- Architectural discipline
- Trade-off reasoning
- Scale intuition
- Technical leadership without authority
- Executive communication
- Constructive challenge