Azure Technical Lead

Azure Technical Lead – Shape the Backbone of a Leading Insurance Platform £100K+ | London | Hybrid (3–4 days onsite) Are you a technically strong infrastructure specialist with real depth across Azure, Kubernetes, modern security, and enterprise‑scale engineering? Do you want to shape, build, and lead the evolution of a modern cloud-first infrastructure estate within a highly regulated financial services environment? This organisation is investing heavily in its technology platforms and is looking for an Azure Technical Architect / Lead who can combine hands-on engineering with architectural thinking, security best practice, and strategic influence. If you're someone who enjoys solving complex infrastructure challenges, elevating standards, and making a real impact—this is the role where your expertise will truly matter. The Role As the Technical Lead/ Azure Platform Specialist, you will take ownership of the organisation's infrastructure and cloud platforms, ensuring they are secure, scalable, resilient, and aligned with best practice. This is a hands-on role with influence. You will be responsible for cloud engineering, Kubernetes/AKS, identity and endpoint management, security alignment, architectural governance, vendor oversight, and proactive platform improvement. This is a role for someone who is technically deep, enjoys autonomy, and thrives in a regulated environment where architecture, security, and resilience are paramount. What You'll Be Doing Cloud, Infrastructure & Platform Leadership

• Lead the design, build, and optimisation of cloud and on‑prem infrastructure.
• Act as the subject matter expert across Azure, including compute, networking, storage, and databases.
• Own and mature Kubernetes (AKS) and containerisation across the estate.
• Oversee identity platforms (Entra ID/M365), network design, and core infrastructure services.
• Ensure modern endpoint and VDI/endpoint management capabilities are secure and effective. Architecture, Strategy & Governance
• Develop and maintain infrastructure patterns, standards, and design principles.
• Contribute to and challenge architectural decisions, ensuring enterprise-scale thinking.
• Collaborate with architecture, security, and group technology teams.
• Lead continuous improvement across infrastructure maturity, tooling, and automation. Security, Resilience & Compliance
• Maintain a strong security posture across cloud, identity, network, and endpoints.
• Support threat detection, vulnerability management, patching, and privileged access governance.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory expectations (FCA/PRA/regulated environment).
• Contribute to operational resilience, disaster recovery, and business continuity planning. Service Delivery & Vendor Management
• Manage key third‑party technology providers, SLAs, and service performance.
• Oversee procurement, contract reviews, and platform assurance.
• Provide technical direction across internal projects and transformation initiatives. What We're Looking For: Must‑Have Technical Skills ✔ Strong hands‑on Azure cloud experience (compute, networking, storage, databases) ✔ Deep knowledge of AKS/Kubernetes & containerisation (major requirement) ✔ Broad experience across infrastructure security and governance ✔ Strong understanding of Entra ID/M365 identity, access controls, and conditional access ✔ Experience with VDI/endpoint and modern workplace technologies ✔ Strong understanding of enterprise-scale architectures and infrastructure patterns ✔ Awareness of Power BI / Power Platform in a cloud-integrated environment Experience & Behaviours
• 5+ years in senior infrastructure, cloud, or platform engineering roles
• Experience working in financial services, insurance, or highly regulated environments
• Strong communicator with the ability to articulate technical concepts clearly
• Able to operate across hands-on engineering, design thinking, and stakeholder influence
• Comfortable challenging, improving, and evolving standards and practices Why This Role?
• Real influence over the future state of the infrastructure and cloud platforms
• Hands-on ownership combined with strategic input
• Modern, cloud‑centric environment
• Greenfield maturity building, not legacy firefighting
• Tight-knit technology function with room to innovate and lead Interested? If you're ready to shape a cloud-first, secure, modern infrastructure environment—and want a role where your technical depth is genuinely valued—apply now or reach out for a confidential chat.