Senior Technical Architect
Posted 1 day ago by Akoni Technologies
Negotiable
Outside
Hybrid
England, United Kingdom
Summary: The Senior Technical Architect role at Akoni Technologies involves leading the design and implementation of a large-scale federated digital infrastructure and research platform. This strategic position requires collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders to define technical architecture, integration patterns, and scalable solutions. The architect will also ensure compliance with governance and security standards while supporting prototype testing and validation. Occasional travel for workshops and meetings is expected, and the role is outside IR35.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead the design of federated and distributed reference architectures
- Define scalable architecture patterns for distributed data platforms
- Design API-first integration approaches enabling secure cross-organisation data access
- Define interoperability standards, integration models and technical governance principles
- Design semantic integration and knowledge graph architecture approaches
- Support the implementation of federated access, authentication and authorisation models
- Define cloud and hybrid infrastructure patterns aligned to research computing environments
- Produce architecture diagrams, technical specifications and reference documentation
- Lead technical discovery workshops with stakeholders and delivery teams
- Translate business and technical requirements into practical solution designs
- Ensure prototype components operate as a coherent end-to-end workflow
- Define scalability, resilience and sustainability considerations for future infrastructure evolution
- Provide technical leadership across development, data, infrastructure and integration teams
- Support governance, security and compliance discussions across the programme
- Contribute to prototype testing, validation and technical assurance activities
- Support open-source publication and reusable architecture outputs
Key Skills:
- Strong experience as a Technical Architect, Solution Architect or Enterprise Architect
- Proven experience designing federated or distributed architectures
- Strong understanding of API-first architecture and integration patterns
- Experience designing scalable cloud or hybrid infrastructure solutions
- Experience with distributed data access and interoperability frameworks
- Strong knowledge of enterprise integration patterns and microservices architecture
- Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP
- Experience designing secure authentication and authorisation models
- Strong understanding of governance, scalability and technical assurance principles
- Experience producing architecture documentation and technical standards
- Experience working within multidisciplinary technical delivery teams
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Experience leading technical workshops and stakeholder engagement sessions
Salary (Rate): undetermined
City: undetermined
Country: United Kingdom
Working Arrangements: hybrid
IR35 Status: outside IR35
Seniority Level: Senior
Industry: IT
Job Title: Senior Technical Architect
Location: Hybrid / Remote (UK-based)
Occasional travel may be required for workshops, stakeholder meetings and collaborative sessions.
Job Type: 7 months (Outside IR35)
About the Role
Akoni Technologies is looking for an experienced Senior Technical Architect to support the delivery of a large-scale federated digital infrastructure and research platform programme. The role will lead the definition of the overall technical architecture, federated access models, integration patterns and scalable prototype solutions supporting distributed datasets, semantic integration and research computing workflows. This is a strategic technical leadership role working with multidisciplinary teams, public sector organisations, research partners and technical stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design of federated and distributed reference architectures
- Define scalable architecture patterns for distributed data platforms
- Design API-first integration approaches enabling secure cross-organisation data access
- Define interoperability standards, integration models and technical governance principles
- Design semantic integration and knowledge graph architecture approaches
- Support the implementation of federated access, authentication and authorisation models
- Define cloud and hybrid infrastructure patterns aligned to research computing environments
- Produce architecture diagrams, technical specifications and reference documentation
- Lead technical discovery workshops with stakeholders and delivery teams
- Translate business and technical requirements into practical solution designs
- Ensure prototype components operate as a coherent end-to-end workflow
- Define scalability, resilience and sustainability considerations for future infrastructure evolution
- Provide technical leadership across development, data, infrastructure and integration teams
- Support governance, security and compliance discussions across the programme
- Contribute to prototype testing, validation and technical assurance activities
- Support open-source publication and reusable architecture outputs
Required Skills & Experience
- Strong experience as a Technical Architect, Solution Architect or Enterprise Architect
- Proven experience designing federated or distributed architectures
- Strong understanding of API-first architecture and integration patterns
- Experience designing scalable cloud or hybrid infrastructure solutions
- Experience with distributed data access and interoperability frameworks
- Strong knowledge of enterprise integration patterns and microservices architecture
- Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP
- Experience designing secure authentication and authorisation models
- Strong understanding of governance, scalability and technical assurance principles
- Experience producing architecture documentation and technical standards
- Experience working within multidisciplinary technical delivery teams
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Experience leading technical workshops and stakeholder engagement sessions
Desirable Experience
- Experience working with research, academic or public sector organisations
- Experience with semantic technologies, linked data or knowledge graph architectures
- Experience with research computing or HPC environments
- Experience with federated identity and access management
- Knowledge of Trusted Research Environment (TRE) principles
- Experience contributing to open-source platforms or infrastructure projects
- Understanding of metadata interoperability standards and distributed datasets
- Familiarity with AI/ML infrastructure considerations
Technologies & Architecture Areas
- REST APIs / GraphQL
- OAuth2 / OpenID Connect
- Microservices Architecture
- Cloud & Hybrid Infrastructure
- Kubernetes / Docker
- Infrastructure as Code
- Distributed Data Platforms
- Semantic Integration & Knowledge Graphs
- CI/CD & DevSecOps
- Research Computing Environments
- Enterprise Architecture Frameworks