Azure Solution Architect (SC Cleared)

Scrumconnect Consulting is a leading UK digital and technology consultancy specialising in delivering impactful, user-centred services for the public sector. We work with central government departments, agencies, and local authorities to build digital products and services that improve outcomes for citizens.

With a team of engineers, architects, delivery professionals, and designers, we bring deep expertise in digital transformation, cloud technologies, and agile delivery. We are committed to engineering excellence, innovation, and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Azure Solution Architect to design, architect, and deliver scalable, secure, and high-performance cloud data solutions on Microsoft Azure. This role requires deep expertise in Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Azure Synapse Analytics, and modern data engineering practices. The successful candidate will also possess a strong understanding of cloud networking, security architecture, governance, and enterprise-scale data platform design.

You will work closely with business stakeholders, delivery teams, engineers, and technical leaders to translate business requirements into robust, scalable cloud solutions while driving architectural best practices across programmes and projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Design end-to-end cloud data architectures using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Fabric.
• Define scalable, resilient, and cost-effective data platform architectures.
• Lead architecture design reviews and technical governance activities.
• Produce architecture documentation, design patterns, and implementation roadmaps.
• Architect and implement solutions using Microsoft Fabric, Lakehouse, Data Warehouse, Dataflows Gen2, Pipelines, Dedicated SQL Pools, Serverless SQL Pools, Data Integration, and Workflow Orchestration.
• Design data ingestion, transformation, and orchestration frameworks.
• Architect batch and real-time data processing solutions.
• Lead implementation of enterprise-scale data lake and data warehouse platforms.
• Establish data modelling strategies including Star Schema, Snowflake Schema, Lakehouse Architecture, and Medallion Architecture.
• Design and implement secure Azure environments including Identity & Access Management, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Managed Identities, Conditional Access Policies, Network Security, Virtual Networks (VNets), Subnets, Network Security Groups (NSGs), ExpressRoute, Firewall Rules, Data Security, Encryption at rest and in transit, Data Governance and Compliance Controls, and Security Best Practices and Frameworks.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand requirements and define technical solutions.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineering teams.
• Present architectural decisions and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Support project planning, estimation, and technical risk management.
• Ensure solutions meet scalability, availability, and performance requirements.
• Define disaster recovery and business continuity strategies.
• Monitor and optimise Azure service consumption and costs.
• Drive continuous improvement across cloud platforms and engineering practices.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric, Fabric Lakehouse, Dataflows Gen2, Fabric Pipelines, Fabric Warehouse, Lakehouse Architecture, ETL/ELT pipeline design and implementation, Data transformation using SQL and PySpark, Large-scale structured and unstructured data processing, Data modelling and warehouse design, Real-time and batch processing architectures, Enterprise cloud migration and transformation programmes, Scalable and resilient distributed systems design, API integration and data integration architectures, VNets, Subnets, NSGs, ExpressRoute, RBAC, Key Vault, Encryption and governance frameworks, DevOps & Automation, GitHub Actions, Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Preferred: Terraform, Bicep, ARM Templates, Monitoring & Operations, Application Insights, Operational Monitoring and Alerting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Preferred Certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate (desirable).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication abilities.
• Ability to lead architecture workshops and technical design reviews.
• Strong decision-making and technical leadership capabilities.
• Experience influencing architecture strategy across large programmes.
• Ability to mentor engineers and establish engineering best practices.

Nice to Have

• Experience integrating Power BI with Microsoft Fabric solutions.
• Experience with multi-cloud or hybrid cloud architectures.
• Knowledge of data governance frameworks and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Experience working within public sector, financial services, or highly regulated environments.

Why Join Scrumconnect Consulting?

• Work on complex and impactful cloud transformation programmes.
• Collaborate with highly experienced architects, engineers, and consultants.
• Influence enterprise-scale cloud and data strategies.
• Access continuous learning and professional development opportunities.
• Join a collaborative and innovation-driven technology culture.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

At Scrumconnect Consulting, we are committed to building diverse and inclusive teams. We actively encourage applications from women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, disabled people, those returning after a career break, and individuals from groups underrepresented in technology and leadership roles.