Job Title: Infrastructure Architect Location: Sheffield (Hybrid Working) Contract Type: Day Rate Contract (via Umbrella Company) Industry: Financial Services Job Description We are seeking a highly skilled Infrastructure Architect to join a prestigious financial services client based in Sheffield. The role involves driving the design and implementation of end-to-end infrastructure solutions while ensuring alignment with the organization’s technology strategy, governance, and compliance standards. As part of this critical function, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Enterprise and Platform Architects, to deliver secure, scalable, and resilient solutions that address both current and future business needs. Key Responsibilities End-to-End Solution Design * Define and oversee detailed end-to-end solution designs for infrastructure products and features in alignment with the organization's technology strategy and roadmap. * Translate business requirements into technical architectures, addressing architectural risks, issues, and technical debt. * Ensure infrastructure solutions are cost-effective, scalable, and adaptable to meet business outcomes. * Embed Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) into all solution designs. Risk and Dependency Management * Collaborate with Platform Architects to manage and escalate risks/issues and mitigate dependencies across multiple platforms and value streams. * Proactively identify cross-platform dependencies and work towards seamless integration. Governance and Architecture * Collaborate with Platform Architects to ensure all designs comply with governance processes, including Decision-Driven Design and Solution Architecture Frameworks. * Ensure risk-based architecture deliverables meet governance quality standards and address exceptions to reference architectures, strategies, and policies. * Facilitate peer review processes and ensure traceability in design decision-making. Leadership and Collaboration * Work with engineering teams, business analysts, and architects to fulfill architectural deliverables. * Partner with Enterprise and Platform Architects to continuously evolve the architectural strategy and identify opportunities for landscape improvement. * Provide technical leadership and evaluate new technologies to meet emerging business requirements. Skills and Experience Required * Proven experience as an Infrastructure Architect in complex, enterprise-scale environments. * Strong abilityto compare and recommend technical solutions based on business requirements. * Expertise in at least some of the following areas: * Data Centre Infrastructure: Servers, networking, storage solutions. * Networking: Cisco/F5 devices, VPN, LAN/WAN, SDN, TCP/UDP protocols. * Security: Firewalls, proxies, IDS/IPS, network segmentation, WAFs. * Cloud Technologies: AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, APIs, hybrid cloud integration. * Automation: Ansible, Puppet, Terraform. * Middleware: WebSphere, Tomcat, Java, messaging services. * Operating Systems: Linux, Windows, Solaris. * Virtualization: VMware, Hyper-V, KVM. * Databases: Oracle, SQL Server, NoSQL databases. * Storage: EMC SAN, NetApp NAS, object storage, backup/recovery