Security Solution Architect in Cardiff

The Security Architecture team sits within the CTO department. The team is structured in two parts: Security Solution Architecture – responsible for defining and maintaining security solution architectures and designs, and supporting development of the enterprise security architecture. Security Enterprise & Domain Architecture – responsible for defining and maintaining the enterprise security capability model and associated security domain architectures and roadmaps.

This Security Solution Architect role will work in the Security Solution Architecture team. The successful candidate will be a delivery‑focused expert in security solution architecture and design matters. They will be a trusted adviser to the Admiral IT and business teams, enabling them to deliver secure solutions at pace.

The Security Architecture Team is engaged on all areas of significant IT change in Admiral, such as the design and delivery of major cloud solutions in Azure and GCP, the roll out of new business product lines, customer-facing Digital projects, building out new security technologies, and the creation of Admiral’s Next Generation Architectures. The Security Architecture Team has people working across Wales, Scotland and England. The team mostly works remotely but we’re a friendly team, with regular team meetings throughout the week, and we get together face to face in the office in Cardiff and for offsite meetings when we can.

Role Purpose

Security Solution Architects play a key role in the delivery of all new IT and security solutions in Admiral. Our aim is to be a trusted partner for the IT and business teams that we support, providing expertise and thought leadership to meet their security needs.

The Security Solution Architects lead the creation of the high‑level security design for all new solutions. We own the security design end‑to‑end, meaning that we work with IT Architects, InfoSec, the Engineering teams, and project delivery teams to help resolve any security solution delivery challenges and ensure that the final solution is effective.

The Security Solution Architects also lead on the development of re‑usable security solution patterns and reference architectures. We work with the Security Domain Architects to align solutions and patterns to the security technology roadmaps and overall security strategy.

Responsibilities

• Define security solution architectures and high‑level security designs.
• Own security solutions end‑to‑end to ensure the security architecture is delivered and effective.
• Deliver high quality security solution architecture and design artefacts in a timely fashion.
• Participate in design governance processes to shape security solutions and strategy.
• Maintain the security solution architecture repository.
• Work with InfoSec colleagues to assess security risks and define security control requirements.
• Provide security architecture coaching and consultancy to help embed security architecture thinking across all areas of IT.
• Work with the wider architecture function including Solution, Enterprise and Domain Architects to understand the business goals and vision, and contribute to the security domain strategies and roadmaps.
• Identify security technical debt and maintain the debt management repository and processes.
• Manage key stakeholders including technical and non‑technical.

Who are we looking for?

We take on many different roles within IT, but we consistently look for people who are:

• Happy to take ownership of challenges and lead the way in overcoming them.
• Passionate about what they do.
• A continual learner (forever inquisitive for self‑improvement).
• Self‑motivated & Delivery‑focused.
• Positive and a great team member.
• Articulate in describing technical topics for non‑technical audiences.
• Comfortable interacting with audiences up to senior management level.

If this role excites you and you can see yourself growing into it, we’d love to hear from you – even if you don’t tick every box.

Requirements / Technologies

Essential

• Experience of working in architecture / design roles.
• Knowledge of security frameworks and practices, with a strong technical grounding.
• Proven track record of solving complex and challenging technical problems.
• Excellent communicator, comfortable with audiences up to and including senior management.
• Drive and enthusiasm for the benefits of security architecture and design.
• Experience of architectural governance, standards, and methodologies.

Desirable

• Security design experience in at least one major cloud platform (Azure, GCP, AWS, OCI).
• Secure Design Lifecycle experience, understanding code based approaches and DevSecOps.
• Experience of working in large organisations in regulated sectors.
• Certification in architecture frameworks (eg., SABSA, TOGAF).
• Cloud security design certifications (eg., AZ500, GCP PCA or GCP PCSE).
• Security certifications such as CISSP, CISM etc.

Admiral: Where You Can

We take pride in being a diverse and inclusive business. It's a place where you can Be You, and show up as you are. We’re committed to fostering a people‑first culture where everyone is accepted, supported, and empowered to be brilliant. You can, Grow And Progress at a pace and direction that suits you, Make A Difference for our customers and each other, and Share In Our Future with all colleagues eligible for up to £3,600 of free shares each year after one year of service.

Everyone receives 33 days holiday (including bank holidays) when they join us, increasing the longer you stay with us, up to a maximum of 38 days (including bank holidays). You also have the option to buy or sell up to an additional five days of annual leave.

We’re proud of our people‑first culture. In fact, we’ve been recognised as a Great Place to Work for Women, a Great Place to Work for Wellbeing, and an overall Great Place to Work for over 25 years! We’re fully committed to making sure your progression is not slowed or halted by barriers related to race, gender, age, sexuality or any of the protected characteristics.

Our fantastic benefits make sure our colleagues have a great work‑life balance; You can view some of our other key benefits here.

Disability Confident Leader

As a Disability Confident Leader, for candidates with a disability or long‑term health condition that opt into the Disability Confident scheme, we’ll invite a fair and proportionate number of applicants that meet the essential requirements of the role to the first stage of our selection process.