Lead Cloud Architect - Azure

The Company

Christie’s, the world’s largest Art Business, is an incredibly exciting & enriching place to start or continue your career. Whether you work within one of our Specialist Art Departments, or in one of our more Operational teams, we are all working together with one common goal in mind: to continue the success of this 250 year old company, steeped in history, bringing fresh ideas whilst not forgetting our shared values; Integrity, Excellence, Innovation, Responsibility & Relationships. Colleagues across all departments are truly passionate about what they do and it is inspiring to work with industry leaders across our business.

Why This Role Matters

We are seeking a Lead Cloud Architect with deep expertise in Microsoft Azure, particularly its Platform as a Service (PaaS) technology. This role is responsible for designing and governing the strategic use of Azure PaaS technologies across the enterprise to enable scalable, secure, and high-performing cloud-native solutions.

You will partner closely with engineering, security, DevOps, and product teams to drive cloud modernization, define best practices, and ensure alignment with business and technology objectives.

How You\’ll Make an Impact

• Architect scalable Azure PaaS solutions including App Services, Azure Functions, Azure Container Apps, Event Grid, API Management, and other cloud-native services.
• Define and maintain enterprise cloud architecture standards, patterns, and governance frameworks tailored to Azure.
• Collaborate with engineering and architecture teams to design resilient, loosely coupled cloud-native architectures.
• Provide architectural oversight and design assurance on major cloud initiatives and transformation programs.
• Lead cloud platform strategy, with a focus on platform reusability, standardization, automation, and security.
• Champion automation standards using tools such as Bicep, ARM templates, GitHub actions, Azure Devops.
• Drive innovation by evaluating and piloting new Azure services and capabilities.
• Ensure architecture compliance with security, compliance, and operational requirements.
• Optimize performance, cost, and availability of Azure-hosted services.
• Mentor engineers across the organization, promoting continuous learning and knowledge sharing.
• Define standard architecture patterns for re-use across the organization, driving cloud principles into local on-premises data center environments.

What you’ll bring to the team

Technical Expertise:

• Proven experience designing and delivering Azure-based PaaS architectures at scale.
• Deep understanding of:
  • App Services, Azure Functions, API Management, Event Hub/Service Bus, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Logic Apps, and Containerization services
  • Azure networking, identity (AAD), and security best practices
• Strong knowledge of microservices, APIs, and event-driven architecture.
• Expertise in Infrastructure as Code with Bicep, or ARM.
• Experience integrating with DevOps pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, etc.)

Leadership & Strategy:

• Ability to drive architectural decisions across multiple teams and stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of IT architecture, cloud governance, and modernization strategies.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Certifications:

• Preferred: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Devops Expert
• Additional certifications in Azure networking and cloud security are a plus.

Desirable Experience

• Exposure to hybrid cloud or multi-cloud environments.
• Understanding of regulatory and compliance frameworks (e.g., ISO 27001, GDPR, SOC 2).
• Experience working in Agile delivery models.

What’s great about working for us

• 25 days annual leave + 1 day Birthday leave

• Christie’s Christmas office closure (guaranteed between 25th Dec – 2nd Jan) – in addition to annual leave: almost two weeks to fully switch off and spend time with friends and family

• Additional 1 week’s annual leave within the year of a 5-year anniversary i.e. 5th, 10th, 15th and so on

• Volunteering day: Take an additional day of annual leave to volunteer for a charitable organisation that’s important to you

• Donation matching of up to £500 per annum to help you support the organisations you care about

• Flexible Fitness Fund – £400 per year expense allowance for health and wellness related activity (taxable)

• Access to world-renowned art: with regular exhibitions in our galleries to wander around and exclusive guided tours hosted by specialist colleagues

• Discretionary Bonus (dependent on the business and employee performance payable in March each year)

• Generous retirement plan: We will double match your pension contribution up to 5% of your basic salary (Max 10% contribution from Christie’s)

• Private Health Insurance – no employee contribution needed, subsidised for other family members

• Dental Insurance – (may be extended at personal cost)

• Generous Income Protection Insurance in the event of accident, sickness or injury after 12 months

• Competitive Life Insurance policy from first day

• Employee Assistance Programme – access to personal advice and support services including counselling

• Eyecare vouchers (once a year)

• Cycle to Work scheme

• Christie’s Extras – discounts on over 800 retailers, holiday packages, dinners and weekly shops

• Seniorcare by Lottie, a comprehensive eldercare solution

• Robust family first policy:

• 16 weeks full pay on Maternity Leave

• Four-day week, for eight weeks, at full pay on return from Maternity Leave

• Dependent back-up care: 10 sessions/ days of childcare or eldercare per year

• The Stork Club: Our community of parents who meet regularly over breakfasts, lunch, afternoon tea…

*Christie’s reserves the right to change company benefits at any time

Closing Date: Sunday 27th July

#LI – Hybrid

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