Security Architect

Location: Huntingdon

UNLEASH YOUR POTENTIAL

At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers’ success. We empower our teams in the UK to address some of the most complex problems in defence, government, safety and security, and transportation. Everything we do is built on a commitment to do the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community.

We are seeking an experienced Cyber Security Architect to be based at our customer site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, with occasional travel to other UK locations. You will work alongside engineering and delivery teams to design, assure, and maintain a strong and resilient cyber security posture across the customer estate. You will be responsible for ensuring that solution security designs meet all functional and non-functional security requirements, delivering the required level of assurance to the client. This will be achieved through the application of Secure by Design (SbD) principles, aligned to HMG standards (including MOD-specific JSPs) and frameworks such as NIST CSF and RMF.

You will also take ownership of design feasibility, support secure delivery, and lead service acceptance reviews and approvals, ensuring all security artefacts meet the required standard. You will work closely with security design partners across the programme, including customer and supplier representatives, as well as internal engineering and service teams. You will ensure the establishment and ongoing maintenance of an effective and efficient security architecture, capable of adapting to evolving customer requirements, legislation, and Secure by Design (SbD) principles across the programme lifecycle.

Within the programme, you will report to the Cyber Security Team Lead, taking responsibility for developing and delivering the relevant security architecture components while maintaining an understanding of the wider solution. You will support activities spanning new system implementation and the transformation of existing services. You will have a strong understanding of cyber risk and proportionate risk treatment approaches, with the ability to clearly articulate risk and its management to a range of stakeholders. You will be experienced in securing highly sensitive systems and applying appropriate controls within government environments.

You will be responsible for developing both high-level and low-level security architecture designs for solutions operating in secure and sensitive environments, ensuring controls are informed by detailed risk analysis. The Leidos client base includes several national government departments and arms-length bodies, local authorities and providers of critical national infrastructure. We take our security obligations very seriously and will ensure there is a strong security component to all our proposals and will be able to demonstrate a sound security operation is enabled by the solution we design for our clients.

You must hold, or be eligible to obtain, Developed Vetting (DV) clearance in line with UK National Security Vetting requirements. You will primarily be based at a customer site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire (typically 3–4 days per week), with the remaining time spent working from home. Occasional work at other customer or secure locations may also be required.

Your Role and Responsibilities:

• Experience of applying a defence-in-depth, multi-layered approach to security architecture design.
• Proven ability to apply proportionate preventative and detective controls to reduce risk to an acceptable level.
• Sound understanding of systems engineering lifecycle controls, with experience across key areas such as requirements and configuration management.
• Familiarity with a range of delivery methodologies, including waterfall, incremental, SAFe Agile, and DevOps.
• Experience of providing security review and assurance of High Level Design (HLD) and Low Level Design (LLD) artefacts as part of engineering lifecycle governance.
• Ability to perform design trade-offs in collaboration with architects and engineers to deliver integrated and coherent solutions.
• Understanding of service operations and security operational management planning.
• Experience supporting delivery activities within secure or sensitive environments.
• Familiarity with Defence Digital environments and approaches, including delivery within MOD-aligned programmes.

Technology skills:

• Strong understanding of Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA), with practical experience applying these principles to security architecture and design.
• Experience defining derived security requirements and maintaining traceability across system designs and supporting artefacts.
• Experience of delivering security assurance for secure and sensitive systems across the lifecycle, aligned to Secure by Design (SbD) principles.
• Experience producing and reviewing security documentation sets, such as SyOPs, RMADs, Security Management Plans, and DART submissions.
• Working knowledge of SIEM technologies, including their implementation, operation, and ongoing management within secure environments.
• Understanding of network and boundary protection technologies, including firewalls, mail gateways, load balancers, and endpoint protection solutions.
• Understanding of authentication and authorisation mechanisms, such as SAML, LDAP, and PKI.
• Professional certifications such as CISM or CISSP are desirable, alongside experience with SABSA or similar enterprise security architecture frameworks.

Communication and Soft Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary team environments.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage own workload, including associated administrative tasks, to meet delivery timelines and programme demands.
• Ability to develop and communicate a clear security vision in support of system requirements and overall solution outcomes.
• Capable of communicating complex technical concepts clearly and effectively across a wide range of stakeholders, both technical and non-technical.
• Good commercial awareness, supporting effective delivery within programme constraints and considerations.
• Experience of line management, including supporting, developing, and guiding team members to deliver against programme objectives.

Clearance Requirements:

You must hold, or be eligible and willing to undergo, Developed Vetting (DV) clearance at STRAP level.

What we do for you:

At Leidos we are PASSIONATE about customer success, UNITED as a team and INSPIRED to make a difference. We offer meaningful and engaging careers, a collaborative culture, and support for your career goals, all while nurturing a healthy work-life balance. We provide an employment package that attracts, develops and retains only the best in talent.

Our reward scheme includes:

• Contributory Pension Scheme
• Private Medical Insurance
• 33 days Annual Leave (including public and privilege holidays)
• Access to Flexible benefits (including life assurance, health schemes, gym memberships, annual buy and sell holidays and a cycle to work scheme)
• Flexi-Time

Commitment to Diversity:

We welcome applications from every part of the community and are committed to a truly diverse and inclusive culture. We foster a sense of belonging, welcoming all perspectives and contributions, and providing equal access to opportunities and resources for everyone. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages please let us know, and we will respond in a way that best fits your needs.

Who We Are:

Leidos UK & EUROPE – we work to make the world safer, healthier, and more efficient through technology, engineering and science. Leidos is a growing company delivering innovative technology and solutions focused on safeguarding critical capabilities and transformation in frontline services, our work in the United Kingdom includes addressing some of the most complex problems in defence, healthcare, government, safety and security, and transportation.

What Makes Us Different:

Purpose: you can use your passion and abilities at Leidos to keep the people you care about safe. We are at the forefront of machine learning, AI, cyber security and solutions. Using your skills in the technology frontline by helping to build a safer world. You can inspire change.

Collaboration: having flexibility to do your job is one of our core benefits, enabling you to become part of our extraordinary team. We have been empowering our people to work flexibly for years. Whether you work from home, the office or on customer sites, we will give you the digital tools and the flexibility to work smarter and align your needs and ours.

People: Leidos empowers people from every background to be themselves and gives you the tools to learn new skills by enabling growth whilst developing. We believe that extraordinary people need opportunities to grow, to be inspired and to inspire others. At Leidos, we invest in technical academies, career rotations and a career development plans that enhance your future.

If you're looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We're not hiring followers. We're recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail.